Anthropic just shared how they use Claude differently (Master it in 12 mins) — Transcript
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- 0:00In 1939, a student turned up late to a
- 0:02statistics class, copied two problems
- 0:04off the board thinking they were
- 0:06homework, and handed in his answers the
- 0:08next day. They were two unsolved
- 0:10problems in statistics, and he solved
- 0:13them because he didn't know that they
- 0:15weren't solved. And according to the
- 0:16lead engineer of the Claude app at
- 0:18Anthropic, that is the mindset that the
- 0:20top 1% of agentic AI users have. His
- 0:24article on it called how to be more
- 0:26ambitious, a tutorial for humans with
- 0:28models, now has over 4.5 million views
- 0:31on X. So today I'll share with you all
- 0:33the insights he shared and go through
- 0:35the three methods by which you can
- 0:37become more ambitious with AI. And for
- 0:40each one, I'll show you what most people
- 0:41do right now and what the top 1% of AI
- 0:44users' version looks like so that you
- 0:46can apply it on your own to become even
- 0:48more effective when you're using Claude
- 0:50for your business. And if you're new, my
- 0:52name is Jay. I spent over a decade
- 0:53working with brands you probably know,
- 0:55have been in AI since my master's in
- 0:57data science, and now I'm leading our AI
- 0:59business in one of the largest AI
- 1:00communities globally. So Felix Riesberg
- 1:02is a lead engineer at Anthropic, and
- 1:04he's led the engineering for the Claude
- 1:06app, co-work, and the Claude code
- 1:08desktop app, which means he's worked on
- 1:09a lot of the agents that we use every
- 1:11day. And what he noticed is that, as he
- 1:13puts it, some people seem to be flying
- 1:15with AI, while many others are still
- 1:17struggling to get their new wings to
- 1:19work. Now, his fix in just three words
- 1:22is to be more ambitious. But he admits
- 1:25that's pretty tricky and general advice
- 1:27to follow, so he broke it down into
- 1:29types of ambition. And today we'll go
- 1:31through three of them. So we'll go
- 1:32through each of those three, and to keep
- 1:34it concrete, I'll also give you examples
- 1:36from different kinds of businesses for
- 1:38each one. So let's start with the first
- 1:39method, which is altitude. Felix says
- 1:42people often flippantly call this
- 1:44letting the model operate at a higher
- 1:46abstraction, which basically means that
- 1:48instead of asking for the task, you ask
- 1:50for the outcome. Because when you give
- 1:52Claude a task, it's only carrying out
- 1:54your best guess at how to get what you
- 1:56want. So, the question Felix says to ask
- 1:58yourself is, "What do you actually want
- 2:00to happen next? Or what's the goal
- 2:02beyond the goal?" His own example is
- 2:04that at the start of the last year, he
- 2:05was still asking Claude to fix the
- 2:07crashes in his apps one at a time. And
- 2:10eventually, he just asked Claude to keep
- 2:12the apps crash-free. And what that
- 2:14resulted in is what Felix calls a
- 2:16durable workflow, one that is more
- 2:18effective at taking the human out of the
- 2:20loop. So, he no longer has to hand
- 2:22Claude task after task. So, in your own
- 2:25business, what you can do is to look at
- 2:26the task that you're about to hand
- 2:28Claude and ask what it's actually for.
- 2:30For example, let's say you're putting
- 2:31together a pitch deck for a client. And
- 2:33maybe you already have a slide template
- 2:35for this. Now, what most people do is
- 2:37ask Claude to just fill in the slides.
- 2:39And to be fair, that works for most use
- 2:40cases. But if the real goal is to
- 2:42impress the client, then if you give
- 2:44Claude that goal instead, it might come
- 2:46back with a completely different
- 2:48approach. If the pitch involves a venue,
- 2:50for example, maybe it builds an
- 2:51explorable 3D world of the space that
- 2:53you can walk the client through. Or
- 2:55instead of a boring slide pack made in
- 2:56PowerPoint, it now builds you beautiful
- 2:58HTML slides that are interactive, can
- 3:00animate, and clearly show what you're
- 3:02going to deliver. Now, Altitude works
- 3:04best when you really are after some
- 3:06ultimate definable outcome, like keeping
- 3:08the apps crash-free, for example.
- 3:10However, at least with the models right
- 3:12now, it works less well for creative
- 3:14work. So, for example, if you just ask
- 3:16Claude to go make money and not make any
- 3:18mistakes, that doesn't really work for
- 3:20most businesses by itself in 2026.
- 3:23Because that part still takes a lot of
- 3:25creativity from you. Although Felix also
- 3:27does say that models seem to be able to
- 3:29handle higher and higher levels of
- 3:31abstraction the more capable they get.
- 3:33So, we'll see if that changes down the
- 3:35line. And also, as we go deeper into the
- 3:37next two types, just know that I've put
- 3:39every resource, prompt, and learning
- 3:41from this video into this free guide
- 3:42that includes a skill, which you can
- 3:44just send to your agent. So that if you
- 3:46want your agent to be more ambitious
- 3:47with a certain task, then it invokes all
- 3:50the key points and best practices from
- 3:52this video. That's just in the
- 3:53description below if you need it. So,
- 3:55now let's take it to a second level with
- 3:57depth because sometimes you just want a
- 3:59task done really, really well. And being
- 4:01ambitious in depth means getting the
- 4:03task done the way that a top expert in
- 4:06that field would. And the trap that
- 4:07Felix points out is that when you just
- 4:09tell a model to act like a professional,
- 4:11what it often does is just change his
- 4:13vocabulary. It uses the jargon without
- 4:15really changing its methods. So, how do
- 4:17you get your agent to work like an
- 4:19expert just sound like one? Well, Felix
- 4:22actually uses three techniques. To show
- 4:24them, we'll use his example, a company
- 4:26called Acme that's losing customers
- 4:27every month, which is called churn, and
- 4:29it needs to get ready for its quarterly
- 4:31review. The first technique is to insist
- 4:33on the same tools that the best in the
- 4:35industry use. Because to work on Acme's
- 4:37churn properly, Claude would need the
- 4:39tools that the experts themselves use.
- 4:42So, at least for this problem, maybe
- 4:43you're thinking of a customer success
- 4:44manager or a pricing strategist. Or for
- 4:47large-scale churn reduction work, you
- 4:49would also need a data scientist. So, if
- 4:51Claude just reaches for a simple table
- 4:53in the chat and just goes ahead and does
- 4:55the task, push back and ask it if that's
- 4:57really what the best in the field would
- 4:59use. And the good news is you don't even
- 5:01need to know or understand what the
- 5:02experts use because these models,
- 5:05including Claude, usually does. Second
- 5:07is that you need to pick goals that
- 5:09sound and reasonable and just tell the
- 5:10model to have a crack at it. For
- 5:12example, if you need your website to
- 5:14load in 5 seconds instead of 10, don't
- 5:16just ask for 5 and see if Claude can get
- 5:18it down to load in 1 second or even 200
- 5:21milliseconds. And if Claude says that's
- 5:22impossible, Felix says that you can just
- 5:24tell it that it's very much solvable and
- 5:26it just needs to keep going. Another
- 5:28technique is to use an outside judge,
- 5:30which means never asking the model to
- 5:32judge his own work for your most
- 5:34important tasks. And this is important
- 5:36because if you notice, a lot of the AI
- 5:37models that we have now are quite
- 5:39agreeable and it actually doesn't take a
- 5:41few prompts to convince them that what
- 5:43you are saying is right. Now, Felix does
- 5:45note that he expects this will get
- 5:47solved as the models get smarter, but
- 5:49for now he says to insist on outside
- 5:51validation. Ideally, this is a tool that
- 5:53the model can call, like let's say for
- 5:55that website example, it can be a speed
- 5:57test that it runs after every change. Or
- 5:59if it's more creative work, spawning a
- 6:01sub-agent which acts as a judge is
- 6:03proven by multiple independent tests to
- 6:05be quite effective in refining the final
- 6:07output. And the good news is you can get
- 6:09most of the way there for this method
- 6:11with just a single prompt. And Felix
- 6:13actually shares the one that he uses
- 6:14himself to get a deeper version of any
- 6:17task. It asks Claude four things before
- 6:19it starts. What would a top professional
- 6:21do here that you are not asking for?
- 6:23What's the rawest material that they
- 6:24would start from? Which methods and
- 6:26tools would they use? And what, other
- 6:28than you or Claude, would show that the
- 6:31result is right? Then it rewrites your
- 6:33prompt to ask for exactly that. And this
- 6:35prompt you can just screenshot it, or
- 6:37you can also access that skill that I
- 6:38mentioned below, so that it's always one
- 6:40short command away. And by the way, if
- 6:42you want to learn how to build and sell
- 6:44AI systems that businesses actually pay
- 6:46for, then that's pretty much all we do
- 6:48over at the Robo Nuggets community.
- 6:49Where not only do you get access to the
- 6:51Claude Living Masterclass, which we
- 6:53update every week and takes you from
- 6:54zero to mastery with the latest on AI,
- 6:56but you also get access to our Agents as
- 6:58a Service course, which walks you
- 7:00through how to actually get paid for all
- 7:02these AI skills that you are learning.
- 7:03You also get to be part of a genuinely
- 7:05great community of AI builders. In fact,
- 7:07you can see just some of the recent wins
- 7:09our members are getting from the program
- 7:11right here. So if you want to start
- 7:12earning from AI, then check that just in
- 7:13the pinned comment below. Now back to
- 7:15the video. And finally, the third
- 7:16component of being more ambitious is
- 7:19range. Because if altitude is looking at
- 7:21things at a thousand feet view, and
- 7:23depth is pushing each task to its
- 7:25maximum possible output, range goes
- 7:27sideways, which means looking at your
- 7:29work from the point of view of other
- 7:31fields. And probably more points of view
- 7:33than would have ever made sense to do
- 7:35versus the past. Now, this isn't a new
- 7:37idea, because every single heist movie
- 7:39that you to about would spend the first
- 7:4130 minutes putting together a crew of
- 7:43five different people and talents,
- 7:44right? So, that's basically the same
- 7:46principle. But, now it's really to have
- 7:47your agents split a job across several
- 7:50helpers at once. And for a very
- 7:52important task, it helps if those
- 7:54sub-agents have varying points of view
- 7:56so that you can figure out what we call
- 7:58unknown unknowns, which means the part
- 8:01of your work that you didn't even know
- 8:03is an option to begin with. Now, Felix
- 8:05admits this one isn't easy because it
- 8:07takes some creativity. For example, he
- 8:10said that until he saw his colleague use
- 8:12Blender, which is this free 3D software
- 8:15to render interior designs, he never
- 8:16thought of using Claude to build 3D
- 8:18environments for his own website. So,
- 8:20that's an example of an option that he
- 8:22didn't even consider in the beginning,
- 8:24an unknown unknown. So, given this
- 8:26challenge, how do you actually do it?
- 8:28Well, the first trick Felix uses is an
- 8:30old one from a book called The Art of
- 8:32innovation, which is to try replacing
- 8:35the nouns with verbs. So, if we talk
- 8:37about an example of a QBR, which is a
- 8:40quarterly business review that a lot of
- 8:41companies do, some people may describe
- 8:43that output as a PowerPoint
- 8:45presentation, which is the noun in this
- 8:47case. The verb, and I'll read verbatim
- 8:49from what Felix wrote here, is getting
- 8:51busy people to believe a story about
- 8:53cause and effect and to decide under
- 8:55uncertainty in 30 minutes. And having
- 8:58the verbs makes it much easier for not
- 9:00just your agent, but also yourself to
- 9:02see what the actual goal is and which
- 9:04fields could bring in a unique and
- 9:06useful point of view, which leads us to
- 9:08a follow-up trick, which is to assemble
- 9:10the crew. Meaning that you can insist
- 9:12that Claude bring in several roles and
- 9:15points of view and not just its own. So,
- 9:17for the quarterly review example, Claude
- 9:19would then bring an analyst, a sales
- 9:21manager, and if it's being presented, it
- 9:23can even bring in a graphic designer,
- 9:25too. And a good practice, as we
- 9:26mentioned in the earlier point, is to
- 9:28bring in the point of view of a red
- 9:30team, which if in case you don't know
- 9:31that red teaming is basically this
- 9:33practice where their job is to find
- 9:35holes in the work, sort of like a
- 9:37devil's advocate group. Now, obviously,
- 9:38deploying helpers can be
- 9:40token-intensive, so you can do this for
- 9:41just your most important work, and you
- 9:43can get started with a prompt like this
- 9:45one, which you can just screenshot. Now,
- 9:47just to provide an example before we
- 9:48leave this point. Say you're a real
- 9:50estate agent with a house to sell, and
- 9:52selling this house is extremely
- 9:53important to meet your revenue target
- 9:55for the year. Now, what most people do
- 9:57is just ask Claude to output the real
- 9:59estate listing, which is the noun in
- 10:01this case. But, the verb is, for
- 10:03example, helping a family picture their
- 10:05life in this house before they ever
- 10:07visit. And once you say it like that,
- 10:09then the mixture of experts that Claude
- 10:11can bring in can change and can become
- 10:13clearer. You can have it assume the role
- 10:15of an interior designer to stage each
- 10:17room, maybe a 3D artist to build a
- 10:19walk-through, a bit like Felix's a
- 10:20blender example. You can even assume the
- 10:23role of a local who knows the best
- 10:25restaurants nearby, so that the final
- 10:27listing page that you get in the end is
- 10:29not just some generic real estate page,
- 10:31but one that is customized for that
- 10:33project given its importance to you. So,
- 10:35those are the three lovers of ambition.
- 10:37But, what I really also like is how
- 10:39Felix ends, because it all leads up to
- 10:41one idea which he mentions, which is
- 10:43this term called self-efficacy. And
- 10:46basically, that means how much you
- 10:47believe that you can pull something off.
- 10:49And if you can increase it, especially
- 10:50now that we have AI, you also increase
- 10:52your chances of success in whatever
- 10:54field or game you're playing in. And the
- 10:56great thing is that self-efficacy can
- 10:58actually be hacked in some way. There's
- 11:00apparently more than 35 years of
- 11:02goal-setting studies behind this, and
- 11:04there's actually three hacks that are
- 11:05pretty well documented. So, very
- 11:07quickly, I'll just highlight each one
- 11:09because it is quite interesting. The
- 11:11first is believing it's possible, like
- 11:13that student George Dantzig who solved
- 11:15two never-before-solved problems in
- 11:17statistics back in the 1930s because he
- 11:20thought they were homework. The second
- 11:21is watching somebody else do it. For
- 11:23decades, for example, nobody could run a
- 11:25mile in under 4 minutes. Then, Roger
- 11:27Bannister did it in the 1950s, and only
- 11:30after a few days, someone else did it
- 11:32too. And the third is giving yourself
- 11:34permission to fail, which is just
- 11:36related to the idea that if you just
- 11:38ship things and put your work out there
- 11:40improving each time, then you will
- 11:42eventually succeed. And as Felix Enz and
- 11:44puts it, self-efficacy isn't really a
- 11:46new concept, but it's a more powerful
- 11:48one now. Because in a world where our
- 11:50abilities make leaps every couple of
- 11:53weeks, we can actually be more ambitious
- 11:55in the things that we can bring the
- 11:57world. But I think this also needs a
- 11:58counterpoint because when we talk about
- 12:00AI, we also need to talk about pacing
- 12:02that ambition and even finding the why
- 12:05behind that ambition. Or else you just
- 12:06end up going faster and faster and
- 12:08getting more and more ambitious without
- 12:10a clear reason why. So really,
- 12:12definitely taking these techniques and
- 12:14methods to become more ambitious given
- 12:16how powerful AI agents have become, but
- 12:18at the end of the day, remember why
- 12:20you're even doing it and feel free to
- 12:22pause when you need to. As usual, thanks
- 12:24for watching till the end. I usually do
- 12:26sessions like these to help you use AI
- 12:27better for your business. So if that's
- 12:28your thing, feel free to do subscribe.
- 12:30I'll see you next time. Cheers.
- 12:32>> [music]
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