Thinking Machines Lab’s Inkling Borrows from DeepSeek V3

The story of the day

Thinking Machines Lab, co-founded by Mira Murati, launched its first model, Inkling—with an architecture "largely following" DeepSeek’s V3. The nod to China’s open-source work is a rare acknowledgment of cross-pollination in an ecosystem often fractured by geopolitics. For builders, this means a potential new open-weight option with proven scaling properties, but also a reminder that the most interesting innovations increasingly emerge from unexpected corners. The question now: will Inkling’s lineage translate to performance, or is this just a clever signal of alignment with the open-source vanguard?

New tools & launches

Graft AI — Maps company operations for autonomous agents. [Product Hunt]

Ventorah — Browser-based virtual wind tunnel for aerodynamic analysis. [Product Hunt]

River — Deploy autonomous AI employees from a prompt. [Product Hunt]

Models & research

Inkling (Thinking Machines Lab) — Proprietary model whose architecture mirrors DeepSeek V3. A rare case of a high-profile lab explicitly building on Chinese open-source work, suggesting either efficiency or a strategic bet on interoperability. Performance benchmarks pending. [The Information]

Industry pulse

Linus Torvalds dismissed AI critics in blunt terms, telling detractors to "fork off" rather than engage in ideological battles. The Linux creator’s stance underscores a growing divide between purists and pragmatists in open-source circles, where AI tools are increasingly seen as inevitable—if contentious—collaborators. [The Register]

Stat of the day

TSMC will invest an additional $100B in US chip fabrication, adding at least four plants in Arizona. The move doubles down on onshoring advanced AI semiconductors, but the timeline—stretching into the 2030s—means builders shouldn’t expect near-term capacity relief. [The Information]

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