There are very few people I’ve learned more from than Mike Moritz. But Ausländer reveals depths of him that even those lucky enough to know him may not have seen. It’s an extraordinarily moving exploration of family, exile, identity, and what it means to be an outsider. While my history could not be more different from Mike’s, I’ve often felt like an outsider myself, and that part of his story resonated with me a lot. It’s deeply personal, beautifully written (his writing is legendary for a reason!), and a reminder that understanding where we come from can shed light on who we become. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I disagree with Dario on most things, but this is spot on: “At this point, saying that AI will cure cancer is more a cliché than it is inspiring, and most people think it is deceptive. The thing that will work is actually curing cancer.” The thing that frustrates me is that some people often draw a straight line from smarter models → cures, without acknowledging how much infrastructure is missing in between. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, people. The regulatory bottleneck gets a lot of attention. But the bigger bottleneck may be that in many places, we’re lacking the right biological data. AI can’t reason its way to cures if we haven’t generated the data required to understand the disease in the first place. Ironically, that’s why I’m most bullish on AI making dramatic progress in cancer first: decades of investment have produced extraordinary datasets across genomics, pathology, imaging, clinical outcomes, and more. For complex chronic diseases, much of that infrastructure simply doesn’t exist yet. The good news is that many companies (including @ChronicleBioAI) are racing to build it. But model intelligence and biological infrastructure are going to have to scale together. I really do believe AI can cure all diseases but only if we build the infrastructure to translate intelligence into cures at the same pace that models improve (which is a high bar!). Otherwise, we risk having superintelligent AI with an incomplete picture of human biology, and delay that promise by years.

Today, I shared with the OpenAI team that I have decided to leave my full-time role at OpenAI and transition to being a part-time advisor. Three months ago, I had to go on medical leave after a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness I’ve lived with for seven years. During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated—and that I needed to focus on it fully. When I went on leave, many people told me I was courageous for prioritizing my health. The truth is that I am only making this decision now because I failed to make it many times before. Over the years, doctors, friends, colleagues, and loved ones encouraged me to slow down. Two years after I got sick, Facebook offered me the opportunity to take a full year of medical leave. I didn’t even pause to consider it. I immediately said no. At the time, Zuck told me I should play the long game. I wish I had listened. Looking back, I realize that a lot of what made me successful also made this decision incredibly difficult. I grew up believing that opportunities were precious and that when they appeared, you grabbed them with both hands. That mindset carried me from a small town in southern France to opportunities I never could have imagined. By the time I turned 40, I had already gotten to do more than I’d ever dreamed possible as a kid growing up in Sète. I love building. My work has always given me a deep sense of purpose. OpenAI in particular felt like a role that my entire career had been building toward, which made this decision even harder. But what I’m learning now is that grit and endurance are not the only skills required to have impact over decades. Sometimes the harder thing is to stop, listen, and trust that taking care of yourself today makes it possible to contribute for much longer tomorrow. This experience has also strengthened my conviction about why this work matters. It has been a jarring experience to spend my days helping build the future while simultaneously navigating a disabling disease that still has no cure. Over the last seven years, I’ve spent countless hours in doctors’ offices, dealing with symptoms, treatments, insurance, uncertainty, and all the invisible work that comes with being a patient. Like millions of others living with chronic illness, I’ve experienced firsthand how difficult healthcare can be to navigate, even when you have every possible advantage. More than ever, I believe that some of the most important opportunities for AI lie in helping people solve real problems in their daily lives: their health, their finances, their time and the everyday burdens that shape human experience. In particular, curing disease is the most important thing AI could accomplish. I’m excited to continue working towards cures through OpenAI but also through my work with @ChronicleBioAI and @CODA_research. I’m deeply grateful to @sama, @gdb and the OpenAI board for their support during this time and for offering a way for me to continue contributing to the mission without sacrificing my chances of recovery. I’m also so thankful to my team and the many extraordinary colleagues I’ve had the privilege to build alongside. For now, my focus is recovery. But my belief in the potential of technology to solve deeply human problems has never been stronger.