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AI Startup Challenges Big Tech With Open-Weight Model
15 Jul
Summary
- Thinking Machines launched Inkling, an open-weight AI model.
- Inkling offers an alternative to dominant Chinese AI models.
- The model features 975 billion parameters, a significant size.
San Francisco-based AI startup Thinking Machines has introduced Inkling, a novel open-weight artificial intelligence model. This release aims to fill a void in the Western open-source AI landscape, offering a customizable alternative to models primarily originating from Chinese AI labs.
Inkling, which is available on platforms including Thinking Machines' own Tinker, features 975 billion parameters. This substantial size makes it one of the largest models of its kind. The company's founder, Mira Murati, formerly OpenAI's chief technology officer, established Thinking Machines last year.
The open-source AI ecosystem in the West has seen a decline, exacerbated by shifts to proprietary approaches by major tech companies. Businesses have increasingly turned to Chinese models as viable alternatives to expensive closed-source systems. Thinking Machines has published benchmarks comparing Inkling to leading closed and open models, indicating competitive performance, especially on agent-related tasks.
