FrontierThe story, in brief
Ex-OpenAI CTO Murati's Thinking Machines drops Inkling, a 975B parameter model that leads US labs but trails China
975B parameters. Mira Murati's first move post-OpenAI positions Thinking Machines as the US open-weights leader—but China's still ahead.
The KeyNews take
Why it matters
Murati's startup enters the model race with a competitive open-weights release that signals a shift toward fine-tuning-first positioning rather than raw capability claims. The US-vs-China capability gap remains a strategic differentiator.
The key facts
7 to knowInkling: 975 billion parameter multimodal model
Leads US open-weights models on Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Trails top Chinese open models on some tasks
Pricing: $1.87 per million input tokens
Positioning: base model for fine-tuning, not max-capability play
Founder: Mira Murati (former OpenAI CTO)
Company: Thinking Machines Lab
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: Thinking Machines Lab, founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has released Inkling, a multimodal open-weights model with 975 billion parameters. It leads U.S. open-weights models on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, though top Chinese open models still beat it on some tasks. Pricing…