Reflections - Sam Altman:
We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it. We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents “join the workforce” and materially change the output of companies. We continue to believe that iteratively putting great tools in the hands of people leads to great, broadly-distributed outcomes.
We are beginning to turn our aim beyond that, to superintelligence in the true sense of the word. We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. With superintelligence, we can do anything else. Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity.
This sounds like science fiction right now, and somewhat crazy to even talk about it. That’s alright—we’ve been there before and we’re OK with being there again. We’re pretty confident that in the next few years, everyone will see what we see, and that the need to act with great care, while still maximizing broad benefit and empowerment, is so important. Given the possibilities of our work, OpenAI cannot be a normal company.
Emphasis mine. Those are tall claims. More from Zvi here.
How to grow a $3tn market cap? - John Gruber. When You Search for ‘Google’ on Bing, Bing Attempts to Trick You Into Thinking the Results Page Is Google. Don’t know if I should laugh or cry.
Having spent more time on LinkedIn last year than anyone should ever have to, I fully endorse this advice. via Shaan Puri.
It’s the Most Indispensable Machine in the World—and It Depends on This Woman - WSJ (Paywall). One can never get enough of ASML:
Brienna Hall has the most valuable role that you’ll never see at the most vital company that you’ve never heard of.
Until she began working at ASML last year, she didn’t know the first thing about the company. She also didn’t know what she would be doing as a customer-support engineer—a “fancy mechanic,” as she calls herself.
It’s the machine that produces the most advanced microchips on the planet. It was built with scientific technologies that sound more like science fiction—breakthroughs so improbable that they were once dismissed as impossible. And it has transformed wafers of silicon into the engines of modern life.
Even today, there are only a few hundred of these EUV machines in existence—and they are ludicrously expensive. The one that Hall maintains cost $170 million, while the latest models sell for roughly $370 million.
But maybe the most remarkable thing about these invaluable machines is that they’re all made by the same company: ASML.
ASML is the glue holding the chip business together. That’s because this one Dutch company is responsible for all of the EUV lithography systems that help make the chips in so many of your devices. Like your phone. And your computer. And your tablet. And your TV. Maybe even your car, too.
These machines have become indispensable. And they depend on the invisible work of Brienna Hall.
Truly a case of following the previous tweet’s advice. Brienna Hall still has a LinkedIn profile, but I give it another 18 months at most.
Meta announcements. If you’ve been hiding under a rock and missed this on the airwaves. Not much to add but Zuck knows how to nail a pivot.
