Lilian Weng rejoins OpenAI after leaving Thinking Machines Lab over the startup's grueling pace
Lilian Weng is returning to OpenAI to lead a research team focused on recursive self-improvement after a brief stint at the startup Thinking Machines Lab. She cited the grueling pace of the startup environment as the primary reason for her departure.
Why it matters
Weng's return to OpenAI signals a strategic focus on developing AI capable of improving its own architecture, a key milestone in the race for AGI.
Lilian Weng, a Thinking Machines Lab cofounder, is returning to OpenAI. Business Wire/AP; Tyler Le/BI Thinking Machines Lab cofounder Lilian Weng returns to OpenAI, leading an AI research team. Weng said she left Thinking Machines Lab for health reasons, writing that the gig was grueling. At OpenAI, she'll support the high-stakes push to build AI models that can improve their successors. Lilian Weng , a cofounder of the AI startup Thinking Machines Lab who stepped down this week, is rejoining OpenAI. The researcher will lead a team focused on accelerating internal research at the ChatGPT maker, as part of OpenAI's bid to develop AI that can improve itself, a company spokesperson told Business Insider. Weng had shared on Monday that she would be leaving Thinking Machines after a grueling stretch at the startup, writing, "I don't feel I'm able to continue at the pace a startup requires."
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