北大校友、OpenAI前安全副总裁翁荔宣布离职Thinking Machines Lab [1]。这一决定发生在她与前OpenAI CTO Mira Murati共同创立该公司20个月后 [1]。翁荔在离职信中透露，过去7个月因健康问题频繁请病假，生病次数超过人生任何阶段 [1]，长期压力已超过身体承受范围，她希望寻找节奏更可预测、职责边界更清晰的工作环境 [1]。
翁荔曾在OpenAI从零组建Safety Systems团队，团队规模超过80人 [1]。2024年8月她升任OpenAI研究与安全副总裁，三个月后离职 [1]。2025年2月，翁荔与Mira Murati等人共同创立Thinking Machines Lab [1]，并于同年7月完成约20亿美元种子轮融资，投后估值120亿美元 [1]。此后公司面临融资困难，融资谈判未能以500-600亿美元估值完成，估值回到120亿美元 [1]。联合创始人Barret Zoph和Luke Metz在2026年1月离职并重返OpenAI [1]。Thinking Machines Lab已发布首个开源大模型Inkling [1]。
Weng Li, former Vice President of Safety at OpenAI and Peking University alumna, has announced her departure from Thinking Machines Lab, the AI safety startup she co-founded with Mira Murati just over 20 months ago.[1] In her resignation letter, Weng cited recurring health issues over the past seven months—describing her illness frequency as exceeding any previous period in her life—and noted that prolonged stress had exceeded her physical capacity.[1] She expressed her intention to seek an environment with more predictable rhythms and clearer boundaries of responsibility.[1]
Weng's departure marks the latest setback for Thinking Machines Lab, which was established in February 2025.[1] The company had achieved a significant milestone with the release of its inaugural open-source large language model, Inkling, yet faced mounting challenges including stalled financing negotiations and key talent departures.[1] The startup secured approximately $2 billion in seed funding in July 2025, valuing the company at $12 billion post-investment, but subsequent funding discussions failed to materialize at the targeted $500–600 million valuation, reverting to the previous $12 billion figure.[1] Co-founders Barret Zoph and Luke Metz departed in January 2026 and rejoined OpenAI.[1]
Weng had built OpenAI's Safety Systems team from the ground up to over 80 people before her promotion to Vice President of Research and Safety in August 2024, a position she held for three months prior to launching Thinking Machines Lab.[1]
