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Lilian Weng, co-founder of Thinking Machines<\/a>, announced this week that she would step down from her role, citing health issues.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t feel I\u2019m able to continue at the pace a startup requires,\u201d she wrote in an internal Slack message, which she also shared<\/a> on X. \u201cAfter thinking about it for several months, I ultimately have to admit that the amount of consistent stress and workload have pushed me beyond what my health can sustain physically.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, OpenAI told TechCrunch that Weng would be rejoining the company, where she previously served as the VP of AI Safety Research. <\/p>\n According to a company spokesperson, Weng will lead a top-level team focused on accelerating OpenAI\u2019s internal research. This team will support cross-research work on recursive self-improvement, a process that would allow an AI system to iterate on itself to become more powerful.<\/p>\n This move could be read as contradictory to Weng\u2019s statements about the impact of working at a fast-paced startup on her health \u2014 however, she likely won\u2019t face as much direct pressure while working at a company where she isn\u2019t a co-founder. Still, in a time of fierce competition for talent among AI labs, this high-profile departure is notable. <\/p>\n Thinking Machines co-founder and former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati replied to Weng\u2019s X post earlier this week and expressed support<\/a> for her decision to focus on her health. It is unclear if Murati was aware that Weng would rejoin OpenAI.<\/p>\n