# Thinking Machines Releases Inkling Open AI Model

> Thinking Machines Lab, the startup founded in early 2025 by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has shipped its first model. Called Inkling, it is an open-weight multimodal release that developers can download and customize, and the company is refreshingly candid that it is not the strongest model on the market. The pitch is balance: usable performance at a cost and openness that invite tinkering. That framing tells you about the strategy. Rather than chase benchmark supremacy against OpenAI and Google, Thinking Machines is leaning into customization and a developer tool called Tinker for fine-tuning, already serving clients like Bridgewater. Revenue comes from helping others adapt the model, not from gating the model itself. There is also a geopolitical subtext. US open-source releases have lagged well behind Chinese labs shipping powerful open weights, and Inkling reads partly as an attempt to close that gap. A high-profile founder betting on openness rather than a closed flagship is a notable divergence from the prevailing playbook, and worth watching.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: Fortune · Published Tuesday, July 21, 2026_

## Wortins' read

Thinking Machines Lab, the startup founded in early 2025 by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, has shipped its first model. Called Inkling, it is an open-weight multimodal release that developers can download and customize, and the company is refreshingly candid that it is not the strongest model on the market. The pitch is balance: usable performance at a cost and openness that invite tinkering. That framing tells you about the strategy. Rather than chase benchmark supremacy against OpenAI and Google, Thinking Machines is leaning into customization and a developer tool called Tinker for fine-tuning, already serving clients like Bridgewater. Revenue comes from helping others adapt the model, not from gating the model itself. There is also a geopolitical subtext. US open-source releases have lagged well behind Chinese labs shipping powerful open weights, and Inkling reads partly as an attempt to close that gap. A high-profile founder betting on openness rather than a closed flagship is a notable divergence from the prevailing playbook, and worth watching.

## Source

[Read the full story at Fortune](https://fortune.com/2026/07/15/what-is-mira-murati-thinking-machines-first-ai-model-inkling/)

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