What smart people are saying about Lilian Weng's departure from Thinking Machines Lab

Lilian Weng said she didn't feel able to continue working at the "pace a startup requires." Business Wire/AP; Tyler Le/BI Lilian Weng left Thinking Machines Lab , citing the effect of the "consistent stress and workload" on her health. Tech workers from Google to ByteDance empathized with her story of struggling under a startup's expectations. "Making a lot of money is great, but you need to [be] healthy to spend it," Meta Superintelligence Labs' Wenhu Chen wrote. Lilian Weng is getting techies talking about the demanding startup lifestyle. In her exit Slack, the Thinking Machines Lab cofounder wrote that she'd "been in sickness more than what I've ever experienced in my life" over the prior seven months. "I'm constantly worried about my health," she wrote. People from within and outside Thinking Machines applauded Weng. "We'll miss you," CEO Mira Murati replied. "I'm glad that you're putting your health first."