Thinking Machines Lab co-founder Lilian Weng is returning to OpenAI after announcing earlier this week she was leaving TML over workload-related health concerns
THE SO WHAT
Top-tier AI research talent is cycling between startups and labs without actually reducing workload intensity — the constraint is mission and leverage, not hours. If you’re building in this space, assume senior researchers will optimize for impact surface and institutional support, and structure roles and governance accordingly.
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