In Brief
Posted:
2:07 PM PDT · July 29, 2026
Image Credits:Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto / Getty Images
Lilian Weng, co-founder of Thinking Machines, announced this week that she would step down from her role, citing health issues.
Thinking Machines co-founder Lilian Weng left the company citing health reasons, then joined OpenAI | TechCrunch
Weng previously served as the VP of AI Safety Research at OpenAI.
TL;DRAI
Lilian Weng exited Thinking Machines citing health stress and joined OpenAI to lead recursive self-improvement research. The move underscores fierce AI talent competition and how startup burnout influences researcher departures to structured research roles.
331 words~2 min read
