The Logan Bartlett Show

EP 85: Alexandr Wang (CEO, ScaleAI): The 26-Year-Old Powering the AI Industry

Episode Notes

Alexandr Wang is a Co-Founder and CEO of Scale AI and one of the youngest self-made billionaires. At 19, he dropped out of college to found Scale AI and has since scaled it into one of the most important companies in the world of artificial intelligence today ($7B). In this episode, Alexandr shares the insights that are driving Scale AI, predictions on the future of AI, and other thoughtful tech and geopolitical takes.

(0:00) Intro

(1:01) Why data isn't the new oil

(2:42) Data is the new code

(7:47) Outsourcing problems

(10:34) Reinforcement learning and generative AI

(16:52) How execs and founders should think about AI

(18:59) AI VS computers, the internet, mobile, and other tech trends

(22:38) The next two to three years of AI will define decades

(26:05) Atomic bomb analogy

(28:30) Alexandr's biggest AI worries

(31:17) Undercover AI predictions

(35:55) Three components of model development

(39:57) Under-appreciating our reliance on Taiwan

(41:56) Democratization of AI

(43:54) The Turing Trap

(45:52) Misconceptions About AI

(47:29) Geopolitics and Artificial Intelligence

(53:00) The UK AI Summit

(54:45) What role does the government play in regulating AI?

(1:14:05) The risks of hiring from big brands

(1:19:36) The business of Scale AI

(1:22:25) Influence of playing violin

(1:24:19) Alexandr's childhood with physicist parents

(1:27:33) Being weird means being interesting

(1:29:09) The future of AI

 

Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky

Produced: Rashad Assir

Executive Producer: Josh Machiz

Music: Griff Lawson

 

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About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.