OpenAI is losing two senior figures behind its most ambitious research projects as the company streamlines its operations. Kevin Weil, who led the OpenAI for Science initiative, and Bill Peebles, the researcher behind the AI video generation tool Sora, both announced their departures on Friday, 10 April 2026.
The exits come as the artificial intelligence firm consolidates its focus on enterprise AI solutions and its forthcoming "superapp," moving away from what it internally termed "side quests." This strategic shift follows last month's shutdown of Sora, which was reportedly losing an estimated $1 million per day in compute costs.
End of the 'Science' Moonshot
Kevin Weil's departure was announced via a social media post, where he stated the OpenAI for Science research group was being absorbed into "other research teams." The group was responsible for Prism, an AI platform designed to accelerate scientific discovery.
"It’s been a mind-expanding two years, from Chief Product Officer to joining the research team and starting OpenAI for Science," Weil wrote. "Accelerating science will be one of the most stunningly positive outcomes of our push to AGI."
The initiative faced controversy shortly after its formal announcement in October 2025. Weil deleted a post claiming GPT-5 had solved 10 previously unsolved Erdős mathematical problems after the claim was publicly debunked by the mathematician running erdosproblems.com.
Weil's exit comes just a day after his team publicly released GPT-Rosalind, a new model aimed at accelerating life sciences research and drug discovery.
Sora's Legacy and Research Philosophy
In his own departure announcement, Bill Peebles reflected on the impact of Sora, crediting it with igniting a "huge amount of investment in video across the industry." He defended the necessity of exploratory research that diverges from a company's core product roadmap.
"Cultivating entropy is the only way for a research lab to thrive long-term," Peebles wrote, arguing that such projects require space away from mainline development.
Strategic Consolidation Underway
The departures of Weil and Peebles mark a significant moment in OpenAI's evolution from a pure research lab to a product-focused company. The closure of Sora and the absorption of the science team indicate a prioritisation of resources towards commercially viable enterprise products and the development of a centralised AI "superapp."
This consolidation follows other recent strategic moves, including the acquisition of AI personal finance startup Hiro, as OpenAI builds out its commercial offerings.