OpenAI is losing two key researchers, Kevin Weil and Bill Peebles, who were instrumental in developing the company's ambitious projects. Weil led OpenAI's science research initiative, while Peebles developed AI video tool Sora, which was shut down last month due to estimated daily compute costs of $1 million.
Peebles credited Sora with sparking industry-wide investment in video technology and argued that such groundbreaking research requires space away from the company's main focus. Weil's team also released GPT-Rosalind, a model designed to accelerate life sciences research and drug discovery, just before his departure.
The exits come as OpenAI consolidates its efforts around enterprise AI and its upcoming "superapp." The company is also losing Srinivas Narayanan, its chief technology officer of enterprise applications, who reportedly announced he's leaving to spend more time with family. This marks the latest in a series of departures from OpenAI's research teams.
Weil wrote on social media that accelerating science will be one of the positive outcomes of OpenAI's push towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). His team's research group, OpenAI for Science, is being absorbed into other internal teams.
