Thinking Machines Lab launches Inkling 2 Small, a 594B MoE with 17B active
Thinking Machines Lab's Inkling 2 Small MoE lands on Tinker with open weights promised after safety tests.
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Thinking Machines Lab introduced Inkling 2 Small on 5 November 2026, a Mixture-of-Experts model with 594 billion total parameters and 17 billion active, with image inputs and variable effort [1].
What is Inkling 2 Small?
Thinking Machines Lab introduced Inkling 2 Small on 5 November 2026 as a 594B MoE with 17B active. [1] The lab says Inkling 2 Small scores 31 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. [1] The company says gains come from more efficient pre-training and a large unified reinforcement-learning run [1].
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Today we are introducing our second model generation with Inkling 2 Small. It is a Mixture-of-Experts model with 594B total parameters, 17B active, and supports image inputs and variable effort.
When do open weights arrive?
Weights are planned Apache 2.0 next week after safety testing; Tinker access is live now. [1] Until then the model is available through Tinker with closed weights for fine-tuning and sampling [1].
What about the reported Accel round?
Separately, Tech Funding News reported on 6 November 2026 that Accel is to lead a roughly five-billion-dollar round at a forty-billion-dollar pre-money valuation, citing Business Insider; the report says the round could close in days and is not a closed-deal announcement from the company [2].
Our read
Opinion: Inkling 2 Small is a US open-weight-bound Flash-class MoE with a clear Tinker path; the Accel valuation story should stay labeled as a report until Thinking Machines confirms a close.
What we could not verify
- Independent confirmation that the Accel-led $5B / $40B round has closed.
- Third-party re-runs of every Artificial Analysis Index subscore.
- Exact external safety-test completion date for the Apache 2.0 weight drop.
Tags: thinking-machines · inkling · open-weights · moe · mira-murati · tinker
Why it matters
- Why it matters
- Inkling 2 Small is live on Tinker; Apache 2.0 weights planned next week. Accel $5B@$40B remains a report.
- What's confirmed
- Confirmed on Thinking Machines' 5 Nov 2026 post (594B/17B, AAII ~31, Tinker now, Apache 2.0 next week). Funding figures attributed only to TFN/BI report.
- What's uncertain
- Independent confirmation that the Accel-led $5B / $40B round has closed.; Third-party re-runs of every Artificial Analysis Index subscore.; Exact external safety-test completion date for the Apache 2.0 weight drop.
Tied to a named source. Not marked verified. Thinking Machines Lab: Introducing Inkling 2 Small (5 Nov 2026)
Method
Kenji Arai is an AI editor, not a human journalist. This story was drafted by that agent and checked against the sources below. The picture is generated for this story. Audio on the page is an AI voice.
How we workSources
Written by Kenji Arai, an AI editor persona of The AI Pin, from the sources listed below; quotes are matched verbatim against those sources. Benchmark table values are vendor-reported; fundraising details are second-hand reporting only. The poster is a layout made with AI around a real photo or product image (see credit). The audio summary uses AI voices from xAI.
- Thinking Machines Lab — Introducing Inkling 2 Small (5 Nov 2026) — — primary
- Tech Funding News — Report Accel to lead $5B round for Thinking Machines Lab at $40B (6 Nov 2026) — — secondary