The Exchanges

Q Yeah. Some have said, um, so you started inflection and, uh, can you tell us a little bit about how that came about and the focus of the company?

A So, uh, Mustafa Suleiman and Karen Simonian, uh, were talking about this amazing transformation that's gonna transform all industries, gonna affect every different kind of path where language and cognition plays a role in society. Like everyone, everyone on the planet is gonna have a medical assistant if, if we can just get them access to a, even our friend's smartphone. And there's all this stuff that's going to happen. And you say, well, what exactly is going to be happening with AI in 10 years from now? And all three of us can essay predictions. And all three of us are kind of probably look foolish in two years at whatever prediction we make today, right, in terms of how this works. That's the nature of the game. But we go, okay, startups, you're trying to go, well, things that would, would, would live as massive, interesting, independent companies developing a product. And so one of the things we came to was every individual will have a personal intelligence, a pie that's for them. Right? That's for Sarah, that's for Elad, that's for Reed, and helps you navigate whatever the particular version of your life is, right? So we were talking about me a little earlier. It's like, well, I try to do these scale things, but, you know, other people, you know, volunteer at the senior centers, but what's the thing that's useful to them? And we said, well, actually, in fact, like somethi…

AI assessment note: “one of the things we came to was every individual will have a personal intelligence”

Q know, they moved to the, you know, Tahiti or whatever it is, where people park their boats. Um, instead you've decided to start, um, Inflection, which recently releases Chatbot Pie, um, which is, you know, focused on empathetic chatbots and human interaction and everything else. Can you tell us more about your decision and not only, like, why start this specific company, but why even do anything at this point?

A Well, um, I'm not very good at being bored. Um, uh, I hate boredom. Cocktail parties or waiting in line. And so that's part of it. The other thing, of course, is how do we lead meaningful lives? It's because we leave the world in a much better place than we found it. Um, and we, um, you can work at any level of scale. I think it's very honorable to say, hey, I'm working at my local senior community. For me, you know, obviously blitzscaling and master scale podcasts and all the rest of the stuff. You know, scale is my particular thing. I just have no idea when I'll retire. Um, and, and I don't really have that much of an interest in yachts. I do have an interest in getting to Tahiti at some point. I've heard about it. It sounds kind of an interesting place to visit. Yeah.

AI assessment note: “I'm not very good at being bored. Um, uh, I hate boredom.”

Q How have you seen people use the product so far in terms of other typical types of interactions? Is it reflecting this original intention? Like how do you view user behavior relative to the product?

A Um, I think we're getting that. I mean, you know, just like the surprise I, I kind of shared with the GBD-IV, which is like, wow, that's an amazing use case that is great. Like, um, actually one of the, uh, one of the people at, at Greylock is a new parent, and one of the things she came up to tell me about was, oh my god, it's giving me great, like, how do I navigate, you know, all the things. I'm a first-time parent, and like, what are the things I should do? What should I pay attention to? You know, which, which, which things that I like read more about? Which things should I really obsess about? Which things do I not need to worry about? And it's just like, it's, it's there. Like when I go, oh, I encountered this and I can ask right now and it helps you right now. That's awesome. It's the thing that's useful to you. And so there's just a whole stack of them. And, and part of the reason I was using, uh, like the flat tire example is because I had personally conceptualized pie entirely, entirely conceptually. It's like, You know, how do I help navigate my, my, my path through human society, whether it's work, and the people I'm talking to, or friends, well, someone went up to Pi and said, okay, how do I fix my flat tire, right, and helped. It was the interactions with Pi that got me to, uh, update my, my recommendation, everyone, to experiment with AI, because it's like, look…

AI assessment note: “one of the people at, at Greylock is a new parent”

Q Consider the opportunity cost of, um, of all the good that, uh, we We think AI might do in the, in the short and long term. Um, one, one more thought on this in terms of more the short term. What is your advice for the many, uh, people increasingly in white collar jobs who are concerned about AI replacing them?

A For various reasons, in the medium and the long term, I'm actually pretty positive and counter a lot of, a lot of very smart AI thinkers that go, oh my god, we may have rampant unemployment and a bunch of other stuff, and, and, and this is one of the medium term ones that I actually really respect and think is going to be super, because, you know, steam engine, steam engine of mine, steam engine, you know, helping create capitals and what else had huge, Uh, human consequences of transformation of society, um, that's important to navigate. That's, uh, as important here and in part because the speed of transformation will be a lot faster. You know, you have five billion smartphones, um, your ability, you know, and commuted devices and the internet, your ability to have that transformation hit is at a much more intense and focused wave and, you know, call it You know, mid-level white-collar jobs, um, including some upper-level white-collar jobs, are one of the ones that are gonna get transformed first and most, most ferociously. And so I think, first, the advice to the, to the folks, which is, start playing with AI. Use it as amplification. You gotta learn it. I understand you may say, hey, look, I'm 40, 50. I've got my nice, experienced position. I'm comfy. I do not want my society changed. Look, The, the person who was driving the, the horse and buggy carriage felt the same way.…

AI assessment note: “first, the advice to the, to the folks, which is, start playing with AI”