Key Takeaways:
- The AI industry is being led by a new generation of young founders, with many barely out of their teenage years, who are creating billion-dollar companies and disrupting traditional industries.
- These young founders, such as Brendan Foody and Michael Truell, are intensely nerdy and ravenously ambitious, with a focus on creating superintelligent bots that can dramatically extend human lifespan and automate scientific discovery.
- The promise of remaking the world and getting rich has drawn a fresh wave of dropouts and new grads to San Francisco, with many tech investors believing that young people who have never spent time in an office are best-positioned to construct our AI future.
- The AI boom has created a culture of constant comparison, with people doing napkin math at the dinner table to calculate their friends’ net worths and fretting about declining job offers to join top AI companies.
- The country could be in for a shock if AI progress stalls or advances, leading to economic chaos, and many are warning of a potential "escape the permanent underclass" scenario where a select few AI companies produce most of the economic output.
Introduction to the New Generation of AI Founders
The AI industry is being led by a new generation of young founders who are creating billion-dollar companies and disrupting traditional industries. Brendan Foody, the 22-year-old CEO of Mercor, is a prime example of this trend. His company, which offers an AI-powered hiring platform, is worth billions and is poised to upend the global labor market. Foody’s success is not isolated, with many other young founders, such as Michael Truell, the 25-year-old CEO of Cursor, achieving similar success. These young founders are intensely nerdy and ravenously ambitious, with a focus on creating superintelligent bots that can dramatically extend human lifespan and automate scientific discovery.
The Rise of Young Founders in Silicon Valley
The promise of remaking the world and getting rich has drawn a fresh wave of dropouts and new grads to San Francisco. Many tech investors believe that young people who have never spent time in an office are best-positioned to construct our AI future. This has led to a surge in funding for young founders, with many receiving millions of dollars in investment for their start-ups. Rayan Krishnan, the 24-year-old CEO of Vals AI, is an example of this trend, having raised $5 million for his company, which helps evaluate AI models’ performance on real-world tasks.
The Culture of Silicon Valley
The AI boom has created a culture of constant comparison, with people doing napkin math at the dinner table to calculate their friends’ net worths and fretting about declining job offers to join top AI companies. This has led to a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) among young people, with many feeling pressure to join the AI industry in order to secure their financial future. The culture is also marked by a sense of absurdity, with parties and events that are more akin to those found in a sci-fi movie. For example, a recent party at San Francisco’s Tesla showroom featured a sci-fi-Barbie theme and a cocktail named after the Google employee who was famously fired for writing a memo arguing that women were less likely to end up in tech and leadership roles due to innate biological differences.
The Potential Consequences of the AI Boom
The country could be in for a shock if AI progress stalls or advances, leading to economic chaos. Many are warning of a potential "escape the permanent underclass" scenario, where a select few AI companies produce most of the economic output, leaving everyone else behind. This has led to a sense of urgency among young people, with many feeling that they need to get in on the AI boom in order to secure their financial future. The AI industry is also raising questions about the future of work and the potential for massive waves of automation, which could have significant economic and social implications.
The New Billionaires
In October, Mercor completed another funding round, which valued the company at $10 billion, making Foody and his 22-year-old co-founders the world’s youngest self-made billionaires. This is a testament to the rapid growth and success of the AI industry, and the potential for young founders to create massive wealth and disrupt traditional industries. However, it also raises questions about the sustainability of this growth and the potential consequences of the AI boom. As Foody himself said, "I don’t think about it much," when asked about being a billionaire, but it is clear that the AI industry is having a profound impact on the world, and its leaders are just getting started.
