Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, released Inkling Small, an open-weights reasoning model that challenges the industry assumption that bigger models always perform better.
Inkling Small is less than one-third the size of its predecessor, Inkling, yet outperforms it on several coding and reasoning benchmarks. The release signals a shift in how AI labs approach model development. Instead of racing to build larger models with more parameters, Thinking Machines prioritizes efficiency and performance per unit of computational cost.
The move reflects a broader industry trend. As training costs soar and competition intensifies, labs are exploring ways to squeeze better results from smaller models through improved architecture, training techniques, and data curation. Smaller models also deploy faster, run on less powerful hardware, and consume less energy. For enterprises and developers, this means lower inference costs and faster inference times on consumer hardware.
Open-weights distribution is another key element of the strategy. By releasing model weights publicly, Thinking Machines enables researchers and developers to fine-tune, deploy, and experiment with the model freely. This approach contrasts with closed commercial models and helps build community adoption around Inkling Small.
Benchmark performance matters here. If Inkling Small genuinely beats Inkling on coding and reasoning tasks despite its smaller size, it validates the efficiency-first approach and gives developers a practical reason to adopt it. Real-world performance on specific tasks matters more than raw parameter count.
The release comes as reasoning models gain traction. Models that can break down problems step-by-step outperform those trained solely on pattern matching, particularly for math, code, and logic tasks. Inkling Small's reasoning capabilities position it directly against other efficiency-focused models in the market.
Thinking Machines continues building out its product line. Inkling Small represents the second major release