Lilian Weng leaves Thinking Machines due to illness
新智元 · wechat · 2026-07-28
Lilian Weng leaves Thinking Machines due to illness
Former OpenAI researcher and Thinking Machines cofounder Lilian Weng says she will leave the company tomorrow after seven months of serious illness. She says the company’s pace and intensity pushed her beyond what her body could sustain, and that she considered shifting to a narrower role but did not want to do the job at less than 100%.
The article also recounts her career path from OpenAI’s robotics group to Applied AI Research and then Safety Systems, and highlights how her blogging on Lil’Log helped popularize ideas such as the “Agent = LLM + memory + planning + tools” formula. It frames her exit against the backdrop of multiple departures at Thinking Machines since its 2025 founding and its $2 billion seed round at a $12 billion valuation.
Related event: Lilian Weng Leaves Thinking Machines Lab Due to Health Issues(16 posts)→
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