Lilian Weng, co-founder of Thinking Machines, is retiring due to illness – like more and more top executives from Silicon Valley.
Thinking Machines Lab co-founder Lilian Weng has said she is stepping down due to stress and illness.
Lilian Weng said in a post on
Weng, previously vice president of research and safety at OpenAI, said she has been sick more in the past seven months than ever before in her life. She did not give a specific diagnosis.
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“Despite all the laughter and challenges that building a Neolab has brought, I feel that I am no longer able to keep up with the pace that a startup requires,” Weng wrote in a message that she said she forwarded to her colleagues at the company known internally as “Thinky.”
She explained that “the ongoing stress and workload have pushed me beyond what my health can physically handle.”
Weng said she tried to rest and stay at home properly while Thinking Machines worked at full speed to launch Inkling, the company’s first open-weight model. But then she felt “feelings of guilt”.
She said she considered a narrower role that would cause less stress, but concluded it wasn’t a good fit for her. “If I can’t commit 100% to what I should be responsible for, I’m failing at my job,” she wrote.
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Instead, Weng said she would look for a more predictable, well-defined role outside of a co-founder position, while staying in the AI space.
“We will miss you, it was wonderful building Thinky together,” Murati wrote in a reply to X. “I’m glad you’re putting your health first.”
AI leaders are putting their health first
Weng’s resignation follows several recent health-related retirements by executives in the AI industry.
Earlier this month, Fidji Simo resigned from her full-time position as CEO of AGI at OpenAI after she experienced an episode of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). Simo moved into a part-time consultant role and said she would focus on recovering from her chronic illness.
In January, xAI co-founder Greg Yang said he had taken on an informal advisory role after doctors diagnosed him with Lyme disease. Yang said months of inexplicable exhaustion had sapped his energy and creativity, and he now wanted to “take care of my health in founder mode.”
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Weng’s departure also comes at a time when Thinking Machines Lab has lost a significant portion of its founding team as part of the battle for AI talent in Silicon Valley.
