9030 club reading "Inkling: Thinking Machines open-weights model": #61 - ML Paper Reading Group

​☕️📝 Paper Link 📝☕️

​https://thinkingmachines.ai/news/introducing-inkling/

​Abstract (summary); Inkling is the first open-weights foundation model from Thinking Machines Lab, designed around the idea that AI should be customizable, multimodal, and efficient rather than simply maximizing benchmark performance. The model combines text, image, audio, and video understanding within a single architecture and introduces controllable reasoning effort, allowing users to trade off speed and depth of thinking depending on the task. Rather than positioning Inkling as the strongest model available, the authors argue that the future of AI may depend on open, adaptable systems that users can fine-tune and shape to their own needs. Inkling also serves as the reasoning backbone for Thinking Machines' broader vision of real-time interactive AI, where models collaborate naturally with humans through continuous multimodal interaction. Together, the work raises fundamental questions about openness, customization, efficiency, and whether future AI systems should be optimized for general intelligence or for becoming highly personalized tools.

​Join us at Mox to explore:

​• Inkling prioritizes customization and adaptability over claiming state-of-the-art performance. As AI models become increasingly capable, is it more valuable for a model to be universally powerful or deeply customizable to individual users and organizations?

​• Thinking Machines argues that open-weight models can decentralize AI development and give users greater control. Will the future of AI be driven by a small number of frontier closed models, or by an ecosystem of open models that people can modify and build upon?

​Event Schedule;

​7pm to 8pm --> quiet reading time, grab and snack and read! (optional)

​8pm to 9pm --> open discussion about reading 📝

​9pm --> we have our space for a bit longer, stay to socialize or network!

​Our event is hosted within Mox SF, the gracious donors of the space we will meet.