OpenAI is experiencing the departure of two pivotal figures instrumental in some of its most ambitious endeavors. Kevin Weil, who spearheaded the company’s science research initiative, and Bill Peebles, the lead researcher behind the groundbreaking AI video generation tool, Sora, both publicly announced their resignations on Friday. These exits coincide with OpenAI’s strategic shift to concentrate its efforts on enterprise AI solutions and its anticipated “superapp.”
These significant departures come in the wake of OpenAI’s strategic decision to scale back what it termed “side quests,” encompassing ambitious, customer-facing projects such as Sora and OpenAI for Science. Sora, in particular, was reportedly incurring substantial operational costs, estimated at $1 million daily in compute expenses, leading to its discontinuation last month.
OpenAI for Science, the internal research division responsible for Prism—an AI-powered platform designed to significantly accelerate scientific discovery—is reportedly being integrated into “other research teams.” This information was shared by Weil in his social media announcement regarding his departure.
Reflecting on his tenure, Weil stated, “It’s been a mind-expanding two years, from Chief Product Officer to joining the research team and starting OpenAI for Science.” He further emphasized his conviction, adding, “Accelerating science will be one of the most stunningly positive outcomes of our push to AGI.”
Despite its ambitious goals, the team encountered a brief yet challenging journey following its formal announcement in October 2025. Notably, Weil had previously deleted a tweet asserting that GPT-5 had successfully resolved ten previously unsolved Erdős mathematical problems. This claim was swiftly discredited when the mathematician managing the website erdosproblems.com publicly challenged its veracity.
Intriguingly, Weil’s resignation occurred just one day after his team unveiled GPT-Rosalind, a novel model specifically designed to expedite research in life sciences and drug discovery.
In his own social media announcement, Peebles lauded Sora for sparking “a huge amount of investment in video across the industry.” He further contended that the exploratory nature of research leading to such innovative tools necessitates a degree of autonomy from a company’s primary strategic roadmap.
He concluded, asserting, “Cultivating entropy is the only way for a research lab to thrive long-term.”
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