Meet Thinking Machines, Mira Murati's New AI Startup

Thinking Machines: A New AI Venture

• 🚀 Mira Murati, former OpenAI CTO, has officially launched her new company, Thinking Machines Labs, with a team of scientists, engineers, and builders.
• 💡 The company's core mission is to make AI broadly useful and understandable, focusing on solid foundations, open science, and practical applications.
• 🧠 They aim to help people adapt AI systems to their specific needs, develop more capable AI, and foster a culture of open science to improve these systems.
• ✨ The team comprises top researchers from OpenAI, Meta, Character AI, and Google DeepMind, including Verett Off as CTO and John Schulman as Chief Scientist.

Initial Reception and Vision Clarity

• 🧐 Despite the high-profile team, the initial announcement and website provide little concrete detail on what Thinking Machines is actually building, leading to skepticism.
• 🎯 Their stated goal is to bridge key gaps where the scientific community's understanding of Frontier AI systems lags and knowledge is concentrated in top labs.
• 💬 Critics note the absence of terms like "reasoning" or "agent" in their manifesto, suggesting a vague vision for their product or service.
• ✅ Despite the lack of clarity, the strength of the founding team (many involved in ChatGPT's development) makes the company one to watch for future developments.

The Demise of the Humane AI Pin

• 📉 In contrast to new beginnings, the Humane AI Pin has officially failed, with the company being acquired by HP and servers shutting down with only 10 days' notice.
• ⚠️ The device, originally priced at $699, was plagued by universally terrible reviews, including Marques Brownlee calling it the "worst product" he ever reviewed.
• 🔋 Significant issues included battery fire concerns and a high return rate, leading to its ultimate failure less than a year after launch.

Lessons from AI Hardware Failures

• 🤖 The Humane AI Pin is seen by some as a cautionary tale for startups, highlighting how talented individuals can be distorted by working too long at large, successful companies.
• 💡 The failure sparks debate about the future of AI wearables, with some arguing that the issue is a "form factor problem" and that AI should upgrade existing software rather than new hardware.
• ✅ Despite Humane's failure, the success of products like the Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses suggests that the category of AI wearables is not "cooked" and experiments will continue.