Ex-OpenAI CTO Murati's Thinking Machines drops Inkling, a 975B parameter model that leads US labs but trails China
Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, released Inkling, a 975‑billion‑parameter multimodal open‑weights model. It tops U.S. open‑weights benchmarks but is outperformed by Chinese models on some tasks.
- Inkling is a 975B parameter multimodal model with open weights.
- It leads U.S. open‑weights benchmarks but trails Chinese models on some tasks.
- Pricing is $1.87 per million input tokens, targeting fine‑tuning use cases.
- The model’s release reflects the push toward open‑weight large models for broader developer access.
Thinking Machines Lab, the startup created by ex‑OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, announced Inkling, a 975‑billion‑parameter multimodal model that is available with open weights. The model is positioned as a base for fine‑tuning rather than a final‑product powerhouse.
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Inkling ranks highest among U.S. open‑weights models, but several Chinese open‑weights models still beat it on specific tasks, highlighting the ongoing international competition in large‑scale AI.
Pricing is set at $1.87 per million input tokens, making it relatively affordable for developers who need a strong foundation model. The release underscores the growing trend of open‑weights offerings that allow broader community experimentation.
Inkling’s launch adds to the expanding ecosystem of very large models and may influence future research directions, especially in multimodal capabilities that combine text, image, and audio inputs.
Provides a powerful, affordable base model for fine‑tuning across modalities.
Enables companies to build customized AI solutions without training from scratch.
Signals continued investment in open‑weight large models and competitive pressure from China.
Offers a research‑grade model for academic projects and experimentation.
Shows the rapid scaling of AI models and the importance of open‑weight access.
- open-weights
- Model weights that are publicly released, allowing anyone to use or modify the model.
- multimodal
- Capability to process and generate multiple data types such as text, images, and audio.
- Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
- A benchmark suite that ranks AI models on a variety of analysis tasks.
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