OpenAI loses two key executives as company shifts focus from 'side quests' to enterprise AI

OpenAI is losing two executives who led some of its most ambitious research projects as the company consolidates around enterprise artificial intelligence. Kevin Weil, who headed the company's science research initiative, and Bill Peebles, the researcher behind AI video tool Sora, both announced their departures on Friday. The exits come as OpenAI cuts back on what it calls 'side quests,' including customer-facing bets like Sora and OpenAI for Science. Sora was shut down last month after reportedly losing about $1 million per day in compute costs. The OpenAI for Science research group, which developed the Prism platform aimed at accelerating scientific discovery, is being absorbed into other research teams within the company. Weil's departure came a day after his team released GPT-Rosalind, a new model designed for life sciences research and drug discovery. In his announcement, Weil said accelerating science would be 'one of the most stunningly positive outcomes of our push to AGI.'