OpenAI staff exit leaves safety behind for $2B drug discovery
openai researcher miles wang leaves to raise $200m for a $2b ai drug discovery startup. this exodus highlights the massive venture capital shift from general models to specialized, high-value biotech applications.
openai researcher miles wang is in talks to raise $200 million at a $2 billion valuation for a new ai drug discovery startup, with lightspeed venture partners leading the round. wang, who joined openai in 2024 after dropping out of harvard, aims to develop models that identify new uses for existing drugs to shorten the time to revenue. this exit coincides with a booming market for generative biology, chai discovery recently raised $400m at a $3.8b valuation, and isomorphic labs secured $2.1b in may. the flurry of funding indicates that while general llm development faces high costs and monetization hurdles, investors are betting heavily on ai's ability to solve expensive bottlenecks in life sciences.