Ex-OpenAI/DeepMind Core Member Igor Founds Local AI Startup, Says Closed Labs Are Squeezed
ibab · x · 2026-08-01
Igor (ibab), a former core member of OpenAI and DeepMind, recently shared his industry insights on a podcast. He believes that proprietary, closed-source model labs are increasingly being squeezed. To maintain margins, models must improve drastically, but at a certain level, they may become too sensitive to release externally.
Having worked on DeepMind's StarCraft project and early reasoning research at OpenAI, Igor is now co-founding River AI to build individualized, locally-run AI models. He firmly believes the future of AI will become more open.
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