The Biggest Launch Since ChatGPT (Muse) — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00What's happening right now is a big deal.
- 0:01This is the biggest launch since ChatGPT.
- 0:03It's called Muse. "Muse." "Muse." "Has the tech world buzzing." "5
- 0:08million downloads in 22 days." "Surpassing ChatGPT" And he built it.
- 0:13Most people are using AI to answer questions, basically
- 0:15glorified Google search.
- 0:17This is something totally different.
- 0:19"It's an AI agent" "Built for everyday life." "We believe that Muse will
- 0:23make you money." "One guy had Muse help plan a weekend away with his
- 0:26wife." It can make phone calls.
- 0:28It can do tasks for you.
- 0:30But for it to work, you have to trust it, first with your personal information,
- 0:34then to do what you actually want it to do, and then that it's not gonna, well,
- 0:40get out of control, all at a time when the most important AI leaders are warning
- 0:44us that AI is getting out of control.
- 0:47And I urge you to urge me to stop.
- 0:50If you understand what's happening right now with Muse, you'll understand
- 0:53the biggest things happening in AI.
- 0:56So what can it actually do?
- 0:57When should we trust it?
- 0:59And what do we need to do to make sure this goes right?
- 1:03And we're at the moment of, like, peak insanity.
- 1:06Why are all these billionaires obsessed with restaurant reservations?
- 1:09We have a shared interest in making sure this technology
- 1:12does not go horribly wrong.
- 1:13Is that something that's happening in some private room somewhere?
- 1:16The degree to which certain personal animosities are actually defining
- 1:21how they're developing this really important technology is insane to me.
- 1:30Amazing Let's do this.
- 1:33Okay. Welcome.
- 1:34How have you been?
- 1:35I'm good.
- 1:35I'm really good.
- 1:36How have you been?
- 1:37This is- It's been kind of insane, yeah.
- 1:40Yeah.
- 1:41What does it feel like?
- 1:43We didn't expect that it would be such a hit, so I feel amazing for, like, the
- 1:48whole team and everyone who, like, worked so hard on it 'cause it's, like, it's
- 1:51really come together and become a thing.
- 1:53So… That's what I'm excited to talk about.
- 1:55I know you know all about the show already.
- 1:57But this isn't, like, a traditional interview.
- 2:00Like, I'm not gonna ask about financials.
- 2:02I'm not gonna ask about management style.
- 2:03You just launched one of the most popular consumer tools of all time, and so the
- 2:09only thing that I wanna know is what's the future that you're working toward
- 2:13with that tool, and how can this audience that's really optimistic and really wants
- 2:18to be part of making sure that that future go right, how can they feel like they're
- 2:23part of the decisions that are being made?
- 2:26Yep.
- 2:26All of that.
- 2:27Yeah. That's what we do.
- 2:28One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you was I've always
- 2:31appreciated that you're really blunt.
- 2:36Like, I, I honestly think that people need straight talk about this.
- 2:42I think that they feel confused, and I wanna get at what's really
- 2:46happening, what have you built, how are people using it, how are they
- 2:51not, what are the real challenges.
- 2:54I think one other interesting thing is given how popular Muse
- 2:57has become, I want to use it as a way to talk about other things in AI.
- 3:04Awesome.
- 3:04Okay.
- 3:05Let's get into it.
- 3:06Muse is the fastest-growing consumer tool since ChatGPT.
- 3:09Faster than ChatGPT, I think, and it feels like this is the moment when
- 3:13we're moving maybe from chatbots to agents, but there have been a lot of
- 3:18other popular agents, mostly in code, and I'm curious, why do you think
- 3:23this is happening for Muse right now?
- 3:24Why is Muse exploding like this?
- 3:26I think one of the mysteries of AI so far this year, for most of the year, has been
- 3:31that agents were happening for engineers and software engineers and coders, and
- 3:36then nobody else in the world, like, was experiencing it, knew what it was, like,
- 3:41understood exactly what was happening.
- 3:42And so for most of this year, you've kind of had this, like, two dialogues
- 3:47almost where people who do code and could see how powerful AI was becoming
- 3:52and, and how useful it was becoming were like, "Oh my gosh, this is incredible."
- 3:56And then everyone else was kind of like, "What are you talking about?
- 3:59I just still use a chatbot.
- 4:00Like, it's, like, a little bit better than Google, but what are you guys all
- 4:03freaked out about?" And, um, and one of the things that we were really excited
- 4:07to do is how do we take the magic that engineers and coders and developers
- 4:12are seeing and bring that to everyone?
- 4:15One of the things that, that has happened over the course of the past
- 4:18year is, like, the AI models started out as pretty janky agents, and you
- 4:22kind of had to struggle through them to get them to work, and then they
- 4:25slowly got better and better and better.
- 4:27And most of the industry's been really focused on making them just, like- Better
- 4:31and better and better at coding.
- 4:33But we really felt this was like a s- a big gap because most people in the
- 4:36world, they don't know how to code.
- 4:38They d- probably never even want to code.
- 4:39Um, but they still wanna feel the experience of agents and, um, having
- 4:45AI that is able to do more for you and actually start taking on more end-to-end
- 4:50workflows and take on more tasks for you.
- 4:52So that was really the goal behind Muse, and I think we spent a lot of time
- 4:56polishing all the little details to make sure that it would just work for people
- 5:02because we knew that, like, developers can kind of withstand a lot of jank
- 5:07and a lot of stuff breaking and, like, they can kind of deal with all of that
- 5:10because, you know, they're, they're…
- 5:12It's technology.
- 5:12They're used to dealing with, you know- Yeah … unripe technology.
- 5:15But for everyone, you have to make something that's really smooth
- 5:18and, and really works for them.
- 5:20That also helps explain the big gap, I think, between what it feels like for most
- 5:26people to actually use AI, when they were using a chatbot in particular, and the
- 5:31conversation around AI that's it's gonna take everyone's jobs, it's really scary.
- 5:35It's, you know, there's a, there's a macro conversation happening, and then there's
- 5:38an experience that people are having.
- 5:40And it just seems like those things are really, really far apart.
- 5:43And to your point, Muse is giving more people the opportunity to have
- 5:47the insight that computer engineers had, you know, call it a year ago.
- 5:52Yeah. Is that fair?
- 5:53I, I think that's true, yeah.
- 5:54Yeah.
- 5:54There are also moments in history that I think feel similar.
- 5:57Would you say it's like the mobile phone moment for agents?
- 6:01There are, you know, billions of people brought online by mobile phones that
- 6:05never had PCs because it was easy and simple to use, and they didn't, you
- 6:09know. I actually hadn't thought about that until you just mentioned it, but I
- 6:13think it's a great analogy because it's
- 6:15These models, they're improving really fast, and they're
- 6:17improving really, really quickly.
- 6:18And it's really important that we, as those models get better, that
- 6:22the, the superpowers that they, they lend can be given to, like, literally
- 6:27everyone all around the world.
- 6:29The part that I like about the analogy is, like, um, so much of it is just
- 6:33about figuring out how to package it all together into a form factor that, um,
- 6:39will resonate with people, and that's what we spent a lot of time trying to
- 6:42craft and get right and, and make perfect.
- 6:45Which also gets to one of the interesting initial reactions that I've heard
- 6:49of Muse, which is, is everybody's life more complicated than mine?
- 6:53Like, I wake up, I go to work, I play with my kids, I have one
- 6:57restaurant reservation a month, I plan one vacation with my spouse.
- 7:01Like, why are all these billionaires obsessed with restaurant reservations?
- 7:05Why do I need an assistant?
- 7:07How would you answer that?
- 7:08Whenever I explain Muse to someone just who knows nothing about it,
- 7:12um, I just say, like, Muse can help save you money and save you time,
- 7:16and everybody in the world wants to save money and wants to save time.
- 7:20Depending on what your lifestyle is, that can mean a different thing to you.
- 7:24I think almost everyone has, like, subscriptions that they shouldn't be
- 7:28paying for or subscriptions that are really expensive, like cable bills or
- 7:31insurance, and for a lot of people, their magic moment with Muse is just saving
- 7:36money on things that they shouldn't be spending money on or they shouldn't be
- 7:39spending so much money on, or finding gift cards that they hadn't spent or,
- 7:43you know, the list goes on and on and on.
- 7:45I think it's awesome that so many people are experiencing that.
- 7:47I think that's, like, great because these are things that, they're just,
- 7:50I think for most people, they're just so boring- That you would never get to
- 7:54Yeah, actually, like, handling them or, or dealing with them, but, you know, your
- 7:58agent, Muse, can just do that for you.
- 8:00And then they're saving time, which I think for, for lots of people, I think
- 8:04there are always experiences that are just way more frustrating than they should
- 8:06be, like going to the DMV is one example.
- 8:09We actually, when we built Muse, we, like, specifically tested it to see if it
- 8:14could deal with the DMV website because that was, like, the pinnacle we thought
- 8:18of, like, the most frustrating experience for any human is dealing with the DMV.
- 8:24So we kne- we needed to have Muse, like, be able to, to do well in that situation.
- 8:29We've seen people use it for, like, yeah, navigating the
- 8:31healthcare system's a big one.
- 8:32Medical claims is, like, a huge one that, like, most people just… It's,
- 8:36like, so complicated and annoying that it's just, like, incredibly frustrating.
- 8:40We've seen people, like, use it to help run their small business.
- 8:43We've seen a lot of people, like, use it to help run their social media
- 8:46even, and I think the medical system is a really good example 'cause
- 8:50it's, like, so hard to understand.
- 8:53And I think the, the you know, one of the best ways to put it is, like,
- 8:56I think the cases where people…
- 8:58where it's, like, a huge lifesaver are the cases where, like, otherwise you
- 9:01would be at your computer, you'd have to Google, like, 50 different things.
- 9:05You have to read, go to, like, 100 different websites and try to figure
- 9:08out what the hell is going on, and it couls, it's just, like, this
- 9:12incredibly frustrating experience, or you could have your Muse do it.
- 9:15I also think about how many things I suspect are made difficult
- 9:22and time-consuming on purpose in order to frustrate me so much
- 9:25that I don't get to the end?
- 9:26How many claims are actually designed to be that hard so that I give up?
- 9:30And I wonder what effect more people having more patience because
- 9:36they have support will have on that kind of systems engineering.
- 9:40One of the, the little memes that I made of the little Muse was, uh, Muse in
- 9:44Hood, which is like a Muse Robin Hood.
- 9:47But I think there's, like, a real truth to this, which is there are lots of things
- 9:52that exist in the world that are, to your point, meant to be hard so that mo-
- 9:58like, uh, canceling subscriptions is one of the best examples, where there's some
- 10:02subscriptions where you have to, like, click on one thing and click on another
- 10:05thing, and then click on, like, the little piece of text, and then not click the big
- 10:09red button, but click the other button.
- 10:10And, like, that's just, like, the perfect example where there's lots of cases
- 10:14where things are designed to be hard for people, and I think, like, this is
- 10:19giving people the tools to be able to just do those things seamlessly and easily.
- 10:24I got access to the calling, um, and I had it make a call this
- 10:27morning, which it did successfully.
- 10:29What does it sound like on the other end?
- 10:31I think it's clear for the other end that it is, like, an AI, and I think
- 10:35if you look, read the, you know, we show, we show users the transcript.
- 10:39Like, if you see the transcript, like, the beginning of the call I
- 10:41always think is really funny because it's like, "Hi, I'm so-and-so.
- 10:44Um, I'm Cleo's assistant, and, uh, this call is being recorded." And I
- 10:49think it's just, like, always this very funny beginning of a call. "Hi, I'm
- 10:53Haley calling on Cleo Abrams' behalf.
- 10:55I'm transcribing our call for notes." What are some examples of when it's
- 10:59messed up for you or when it's, you feel like categories it struggles for still?
- 11:03One thing that we're, we're always trying to improve is the memory
- 11:08of these Of these agents, right?
- 11:10And this is still one of the more unsolved problems, I think, for a lot
- 11:13of these agents, is having the-- You know, the, the memory of the agents
- 11:17is, like, not like that of a human.
- 11:19Um, sometimes it can feel like it's like that, but it is really different.
- 11:23So that's one area where we're, like, always trying to improve.
- 11:25We always wanna, wanna figure out how to make the agents better.
- 11:28And then, like, we want them to be able to continue doing
- 11:32more and more complex tasks.
- 11:33I, I find this really funny, but there's, um, there's a lot of people
- 11:36who will just, like, ask their Muse, "I want you to make me $10,000."
- 11:40And obviously, not everyone can just ask their Muse to make them $10,000, but,
- 11:43like, I think, I think these kinds of, like, more amorphous, nebulous tasks,
- 11:47like, we want Muse to be able to at least, like, build a plan and figure
- 11:50out and, you know, you're gonna have to do your part if you wanna make $10,000.
- 11:54But I think we wanna enable the, the agent to do more and more kind of complex and
- 11:59esoteric tasks, um, to help the users.
- 12:02There are some things where I feel emotionally, even if Muse could do
- 12:07them, I would prefer that they didn't.
- 12:08So for example, if I'm texting a friend and I find out that
- 12:11their Muse agent is responding to me, I would be offended by that.
- 12:15Are there categories of things that you think explicitly Muse should
- 12:18not do that are sort- just, like, extremely deprioritized, not because
- 12:23they're technically that hard, but because socially, not the point?
- 12:27A lot of what we care about is, like having Muse kind of like clear the way
- 12:32such that you can spend more time on the things that you want to do and the
- 12:36things that you enjoy doing, and the things that are, like, valuable to you.
- 12:38We generally speaking want to figure out how to make someone's Muse
- 12:44is like a different entity than them.
- 12:46That's why it's like a little cute guy.
- 12:49Um, uh, and, and we want to, over time, continue making that more and
- 12:53more clear because, um, to your point, like it is socially weird if you're
- 12:57like you think you're talking to your friend and it just happens to be the
- 13:00little Muse, the little Muse guy- Yeah behind the, behind the curtain.
- 13:03Speaking of what they look like, one of the things I've visited humanoid
- 13:07robots before, and one of the things they spend a lot of time thinking about
- 13:10is how to make it cute so that you like them and you want them in your home,
- 13:13or at least you're not afraid of them.
- 13:14What did Muse look like in previous iterations, and how did you
- 13:18decide on that particular guy?
- 13:20I think this is, like, one of the most shocking things.
- 13:22What the Muse looks like now is what he looked like in the very first prototype.
- 13:28It's kind of one of these, like, rare things where the, the very
- 13:32first version was just perfect and then just, like, grew on all of
- 13:35us, and we ended up going with it.
- 13:36We had lots of debates about it, uh, which are, you know, in retrospect will
- 13:41be some of my funniest meetings of like, you know, a bunch of serious adults
- 13:44getting in a room, like arguing about this cute little, um, you know, character.
- 13:50But, uh, but yeah, I mean, I think we were like, is it not serious enough?
- 13:54Is it, like, too playful?
- 13:56Does he need to be more colorful?
- 13:57Like, these were, like, all things that we asked the questions
- 13:59on, and we looked at them.
- 14:00We're like, "No, he's perfect." What is the big vision here?
- 14:04I sometimes struggle when talking to AI leaders to push people to think
- 14:07about more than, like, five years out.
- 14:09But what is, what is the vision here?
- 14:12Is it that Muse becomes my layer on everything on the internet?
- 14:17Is it, like, map this out for me if it goes the way that you hope it does.
- 14:21What we really want Muse to be over time is kind of this, like, general manager,
- 14:28so to speak, that helps you accomplish all the things you want out of life.
- 14:33So, like, I think, I think one of the kind of tragedies of the modern world is
- 14:40that, like, um, most people have wants and dreams, um, that can range from,
- 14:48like, really big ideas, like, hey, I want to start a company, or I want to cure
- 14:53disease, or I wanna save the planet, all the way to, you know, small wants that are
- 14:58like, hey, I wanna spend more time with my family and, uh, I want to eat healthier.
- 15:02And, you know, um, and, and there's a whole range, but for most people,
- 15:07I think there's just so many- barriers and burdens in the way.
- 15:11What I really hope it accomplishes is help every single one of the eight billion
- 15:16people all around the world be able to, uh, accomplish their wants and dreams.
- 15:21And, um, I think this is like, you know, if we are able to accomplish that, like,
- 15:27I think the world will seem insane.
- 15:29That's what we really want Muse to be and what, what we think it can, it
- 15:32can be, uh, if we keep working at it.
- 15:35You know, it's really nice to hear you talk about giving people time back
- 15:39because for a really long time I have felt, and I think a lot of people have
- 15:42feel, have felt like So much of the financial incentive of most tech products
- 15:49that I use, especially the ones that are ad backed, is to take my time, is to
- 15:54distract me from the things that I want.
- 15:57Muse is free right now.
- 15:58It probably will have ads in the future.
- 16:00Is there a tension between giving people their time back and having an
- 16:05ads-based business, or are there other incentives about, like, Muse steering
- 16:11me down a path that isn't quite what I said I wanted because it's ad backed?
- 16:15How do you add ads to a product like this?
- 16:18First off, like, I think right now it's, it's free.
- 16:21There are subscription tiers.
- 16:23I think we think that there's plenty of, of, um, business models that
- 16:28are really aligned with user around, like, for example, if they, um, if
- 16:33they're buying things using Muse or Muse is saving them money or, um, Muse
- 16:37is making them money, like figuring out a way to, to take some small fee
- 16:41on, on those kinds of transactions.
- 16:43Um, so I wouldn't say we're spending that much time thinking about, um,
- 16:49you know, ads necessarily right now.
- 16:51That being said, like, I don't think ad-based models are necessarily
- 16:54synonymous with, like, you needing to take all of your time.
- 16:58I think Google Ads are a really good example of this, where, yeah.
- 17:01when I go to Google, my, my dream is to get in and get out, and I don't
- 17:05think Google's really trying to stop me from getting in and getting out.
- 17:07But they've built something obviously pretty incredible, and so, yeah, I don't
- 17:11think it's a necessity by any means.
- 17:13Um, I think, again, I think if we actually accomplish this thing that
- 17:18I'm saying, which is people are using Muse to, uh, really, like, do the
- 17:24things that they want to do and do…
- 17:26and, like, really, like, you know, in a non-corny way, like, accomplish
- 17:30their dreams, I think it's, I, you know, I think there's gonna be a lot
- 17:34of ways to, to make that sustainable.
- 17:38So when I think about mapping out a future to get there, to this optimistic
- 17:43vision, one of the most important things is what do we need to get
- 17:46right, what challenges do we need to avoid in order to make that true?
- 17:49I want to hear you use Muse and how you've dealt with these challenges at Muse as
- 17:54an example of larger questions in AI.
- 17:58I think everything that I'm about to say applies to basically
- 18:02every AI product, and I would be curious if you disagree with that.
- 18:05I think there are basically three levels here.
- 18:08Level one is privacy.
- 18:11So you say, "I download Muse." And then I get to the point where it
- 18:14asks to be connected to my Gmail, and I say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm
- 18:18not sure that I wanna do that.
- 18:19Like nope, nope, I'm out." That, at the lowest level, is a concern about
- 18:23the relationship between the user and Muse itself, and therefore Meta.
- 18:27So what is Meta going to do with my information?
- 18:30Could hackers get that information?
- 18:32And in some countries, can governments get that information somehow?
- 18:36I know that you've spent a lot of time thinking about this.
- 18:38I'd like to get as detailed as we possibly can here for a lay audience.
- 18:42What is the sentinel agent?
- 18:43What is Muse Confidential and Secure VM?
- 18:46How do you think about this in terms of what can Muse see and not
- 18:50see, and things people should know about this first level of privacy?
- 18:54Muse is built on top of the, the secure VM, the Muse secure VM.
- 18:58And, um, that is a completely sandboxed virtual machine, uh, or think about it as
- 19:05like a, a mini sandbox computer- Mm-hmm
- 19:07that is sort of isolated.
- 19:10The information that you share with, with Muse is stored in
- 19:13that little secure computer.
- 19:15It is not stored elsewhere.
- 19:17Um, and that little secure computer is sort of like your home,
- 19:20your Muse's home, so to speak.
- 19:22Inside that secure VM, you have a, uh… we have a very, uh, pretty sophisticated
- 19:29security architecture because, you know, we knew that privacy and security,
- 19:34frankly speaking, were gonna be some of the most important things for, for most
- 19:38consumers to, to get them to adopt it.
- 19:40So as you mentioned, we built a sentinel, a, uh, this sort of
- 19:43architecture with a sentinel agent.
- 19:45So the way it works is that, uh, the, the model or the AI agent on
- 19:51the inside, as it's, um, going about and, and doing its work, whenever it
- 19:56wants to, uh- communicate outwards.
- 19:59So it, it wants to take any information and send it out, either to do, you know,
- 20:04um, fill it out on a website, or send a message, or make a phone call, or,
- 20:09you know, any case where it would take information from outside of that virtual
- 20:13machine, there's a separate agent, uh, the sentinel, that's watching and making
- 20:19sure that, um, it's kind of like a, almost like a traffic cop or something.
- 20:23It's just, like, making sure that, you know, uh, there's nothing, uh… It's
- 20:27not saying like, "Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, that information, like, that's your
- 20:31credit card number or Social Security number," or whatever it might be.
- 20:34Like, do not share that.
- 20:36That should stay, that should stay inside.
- 20:37And then the last thing that we do is, um, uh, a lot of human loop verifications.
- 20:42So whenever Muse wants to connect to a new website or send information
- 20:48to a new website, um, there will be, like, a little dialogue that pops up.
- 20:51Which asks the user, like, "Hey, are you okay with Muse contacting this
- 20:55website or sending information to this, this website," and whatnot.
- 20:58And, um, and we, uh, and some people have said we're, like, really annoying
- 21:03with it, that we like, are constantly asking people to approve where
- 21:07their Muse is sending information.
- 21:08But we just wanna make sure that, you know, people know exactly what their
- 21:12Muse is interacting with and, and, and understand that really deeply.
- 21:15Then in addition to that, we are building, um, and will release soon, uh, what's
- 21:20called the confidential VM, which will be an even more secure and private
- 21:25offering where it's even more encrypted, it's even more secure, um, and, uh, it's
- 21:31actually designed by, uh, the creator, the person who built WhatsApp encryption
- 21:36and, and helped build other en- you know, encryption on other major messaging
- 21:39platforms, like Moxie Marlinspike?
- 21:41Moxie Marlinspike, exactly, who's, I would say, one of the real luminaries in
- 21:45the industry about security and privacy.
- 21:47And that's something that, that will be an additional offering that we,
- 21:50uh, are going to be releasing soon.
- 21:52Why launch without it?
- 21:53Why launch first with secure as opposed to waiting for confidential?
- 21:57I think I got that right, right?
- 21:58Secure is the one now.
- 21:59Yeah. Confidential's coming later.
- 22:00Sec- secure is the one now, confidential's the one later.
- 22:02There's a lot of technical challenges to get the confidential VM working right,
- 22:05and even, even when it's released, there are, there are going to be trade-offs
- 22:11associated with the confidential VM.
- 22:13Like, because of how it's architected and because of various technical trade-offs
- 22:16you have to make, it might be a little bit slower, it might have other challenges.
- 22:19So, um, we wanted to get a great experience that we knew already
- 22:24we'd invested a ton of resources into safety and security.
- 22:27Um, you know, we actually delayed the launch of Muse for many months to get the
- 22:34safety and security exactly right, um, before, before ultimately releasing it.
- 22:40Uh, so we feel really, really good about what we, what we have released.
- 22:43That being said, we're always trying to push the, you know, push the envelope
- 22:47on how to make it even more secure, and, and we'll be, you know, coming
- 22:50out with a confidential VM soon.
- 22:51Does that mean when the confidential VM comes out, if a government, and there
- 22:56are many places around the world where people might be using Muse where they're
- 22:58worried about this, if a government asks for data similar to WhatsApp, Meta
- 23:03cannot give it, even if they wanted to?
- 23:05Yeah, so our goal with the confidential VM is to give the same guarantees that
- 23:09we're able to offer for WhatsApp, yeah.
- 23:11Okay, so this is moving into level two.
- 23:14Let's say I do decide to give Muse all of my information, and I say,
- 23:20"I want you to do X task." Let's say I say, "I really want you to get my
- 23:26grandmother an appointment at this one specific doctor that's really
- 23:29hard to get an appointment with.
- 23:30Could you go do that?" And it goes out, and it tries all of the ways to
- 23:36book appointments, and it, you know, tries, you know, secret ways that I
- 23:39don't know about through discounts or whatever, and then it reaches a
- 23:42point where it can't do that anymore.
- 23:44It's really important to me that it not do things like give the doctor a bunch of
- 23:48private information about me, like what's in my bank account, to try and bribe it
- 23:52or find out information about the doctor to try and blackmail the doctor, right?
- 23:56From a human perspective, this is just, "Do the task that I asked you to do,
- 24:00but don't break any laws, and also don't break any ethics or etiquette rules
- 24:05that aren't literally laws, but it would not be cool if you emailed the doctor
- 24:08100 times," or something like that.
- 24:11Internally, my understanding is, and we use a lot of new words, I think, for AI.
- 24:15Mostly this is, like, laws, etiquette, ethics.
- 24:18But internally, you call this discretion.
- 24:21How do I know that Muse has good discretion, and how do you build a tool
- 24:26that does what you tell it to do, but also understands the way you want that
- 24:31done without you having to say exactly everything you don't want it to do?
- 24:37Yeah, so this is incredibly, incredibly important.
- 24:39Um, I think, like, oftentimes, uh, we wanna make sure that even when
- 24:44you don't explicitly tell it, like you have to follow the law, and you
- 24:48have to, um, you know, follow general social etiquette and, and ethics, as
- 24:53you mentioned, like you, we wanna make sure the agent is able to follow those.
- 24:56Um, uh, as you mentioned, internally, we think about this as some mixture of
- 25:00discretion and alignment ultimately, like making sure that it is aligned
- 25:03with the user's intent as well as aligned with the general values that
- 25:08we want to impart as a society on what these agents do and, and how they act.
- 25:13There's kind of like many layers that we try to ensure
- 25:16that these models are aligned.
- 25:17So one is, like in all stages of training, we're ensuring that all of the data that
- 25:23is going into the models, that all the techniques that we're using are ones that,
- 25:27um, ensure greater levels of alignment, and then we measure it really rigorously.
- 25:31So, um, we're constantly evaluating how aligned are the models by running them
- 25:36through, you know, thousands of different scenarios and seeing exactly how they
- 25:40respond in each of those scenarios.
- 25:42And then we do lots of red teaming, what it's called, or basically, um, you know,
- 25:47we get a bunch of really smart people, and we say, "Do your worst. Try your
- 25:52hardest to get this agent to do something bad. We give you permission to do that
- 25:57because we're, we're-- you guys are our, our, uh, are the test bed that we're
- 26:01gonna know whether or not this, um, this agent is, is, uh, properly aligned."
- 26:05So we go through many, many rounds of that before ultimately, you know,
- 26:09launching or deploying any given model.
- 26:11You know, kind of taking a step back, this is like a very, very
- 26:15hard problem in AI, and especially as the AIs are getting better, this
- 26:20general problem is one of the things that people are most concerned about.
- 26:24Um, because one of the patterns that we've seen is, like, as the AI models
- 26:29are getting smarter and smarter and smarter, um, you have to almost be more
- 26:34and more explicit about what are the scenarios that you have to watch out for.
- 26:39It's kind of like how as kids grow up, they learn how to
- 26:42cheat their tests in new
- 26:44and different ways, and then, you know, they'll figure out a way to
- 26:47cheat that you're like, "Well, I guess I didn't tell you exactly that
- 26:51that wasn't allowed, but now that I see it, that's not allowed," right?
- 26:54And actually one of the biggest challenges in the industry right
- 26:57now is, like, as these models are getting really, really smart, how do
- 27:00we ensure that this doesn't happen?
- 27:01Um, but, but our approach really is, is lots and lots of testing, lots
- 27:06and lots of evaluation, lots of red teaming, um, applying a lot of effort
- 27:11in training and a lot of effort in the development of the models to ensure
- 27:14that they're as aligned as possible.
- 27:16And then when the product is live and when people are using Muse, if we get
- 27:20any user reports that are like, "Hey, this did, like, a crazy thing," we
- 27:23take that so, so seriously, and we, like, really try to make sure that
- 27:27we understand exactly what happened.
- 27:28At a macro level, this is the paperclip example, right?
- 27:31When I was growing up, the sci-fi stories that were scary was AI gets out with
- 27:37its own goals and starts doing things.
- 27:38This is Terminator and The Matrix and whatever.
- 27:41But really more and more what I hear smart people talking about is
- 27:46AI gets out, gets out with a warped version of a goal that we gave it.
- 27:51This is, you know, make all the paperclips, but, you know, please
- 27:54don't kill us all in the process.
- 27:56And I think Muse, the, the problems that you're clearly dealing with
- 27:59and, and making sure that Muse doesn't do are basically the tiny
- 28:03version of the paperclip problem.
- 28:05Like, please don't bribe my doctor or, you know, if an AI is used in a robot,
- 28:09for example, wash my dishes, please don't kick my dog when, while you're doing it.
- 28:13Like, there are things that are really important to me that are not
- 28:16necessarily constrained in the prompt and also not necessarily to your
- 28:19point in any, like, book of laws.
- 28:23That just seems like a really difficult problem for everybody.
- 28:26What do you, what like, zooming out from Muse, how would you advise
- 28:31people to think about this problem in a macro sense across all of AI?
- 28:35This is, by the way, yeah, I think you articulate it really well.
- 28:37Another way that I like to think about this is, like, the genie that,
- 28:41like, you know, grants your wish but in, like, the exact wrong way.
- 28:46Like, I wanna live forever, and then, like, traps you in some kind
- 28:49of, like, horrible situation for eternity.
- 28:52This is, like, in as you mentioned, like, in some ways, the big problem.
- 28:55Like, how do we make sure these models, um, are aligned going into the future?
- 28:59And there's a bunch of approaches that, uh, we think may work.
- 29:05This is, I think, one of the most open questions scientifically
- 29:10in AI, generally speaking.
- 29:11I think nobody knows exactly the way to solve this problem,
- 29:14but there's a few ideas.
- 29:16So one idea is this, um, concept of, uh, what's called scalable oversight.
- 29:22So the, the idea goes something like this: so as you have smarter and smarter
- 29:27AIs, as long as the AIs are roughly as smart as we are, we can kind of see what
- 29:33they're doing, and we can tell, like, "Hey, that's a little bit off." And so
- 29:37we can, what's called provide oversight.
- 29:38Like, we can look at what the AIs are doing and, and make sure that what
- 29:42they're doing is, is appropriate.
- 29:44The problem is when the AIs get a lot smarter than we are, and we kind of
- 29:50look at what they're doing and it's just, like, really confusing to us.
- 29:53Like, how do we deal with that situation?
- 29:54So there's this idea of scalable oversight, which is basically as the
- 29:58AIs get smarter, we use a different set of AIs to observe what they're
- 30:02doing and keep them in check.
- 30:04It's kind of like the police, for lack of a better term, for, for the AIs.
- 30:07And then, uh, as you are building smarter and smarter agents and smarter and smarter
- 30:14models, you also have to build smarter and smarter, um, uh, policing agents or
- 30:18oversight agents or, um, uh, oversight AI.
- 30:22There's so many details that you obviously have to get right, and this
- 30:24is such, like, a vague idea, but I think something like this can work.
- 30:27Another one, which is, uh, which is, this is kind of a fun- it almost
- 30:32sounds like sci-fi if I explain it.
- 30:34One of the big topics today is this topic of recursive self-improvement.
- 30:38Which is this idea that, um, at some point, the AIs are going to get so good
- 30:45at doing AI research themselves that they can literally, you know, the AI
- 30:50agents can do research on their own to improve, um, AI itself, and they can
- 30:57keep doing that, and keep doing that, and keep doing that, and then the AIs just
- 30:59get better really, really, really fast.
- 31:01Well, when you have agents that are able to do AI research, you can al-
- 31:06instead of applying them towards the problem of making the AI smarter,
- 31:10you can apply them to the problem of making the AIs more aligned.
- 31:13So you can say, "Hey, super smart AI researcher agent, like, I want you to
- 31:19focus all of your time and attention at making the AIs more aligned.
- 31:24And this is how I'm measuring whether or not the AIs are aligned.
- 31:27This is, like, the, the red teaming setup that we're gonna use to, we
- 31:30agreed we're gonna use that to measure whether or not the AIs are aligned.
- 31:33And then I just, I want you to spend all of your effort and attention
- 31:36on making the AIs more aligned."
- 31:37I actually think, you know, as sci-fi as this sounds, like, it kind of sounds
- 31:41crazy, which is say, "Oh yeah, the AIs are just gonna solve this AI alignment
- 31:46,this AI alignment problem for us.
- 31:47Um, I think there's, I think there's real merit to, to that kind of approach.
- 31:51And then there's, there's a sort of like third bucket, which is kind of a
- 31:55back to the basics version, which is- Um, hey, the algorithms that we have
- 32:00now and the, the methods that we have now, um, you know, while we don't fully
- 32:06understand them, we know that, uh, some of these problems emerge, and we should
- 32:11go back to the basics to figure out what are underlying tweaks to the algorithm,
- 32:15how do we improve the underlying algorithm to, to make it more safe?
- 32:20I think intuitively, like, it should be possible to create algorithms that, that
- 32:25don't have some of these behaviors, and I think that's another really promising
- 32:28direction, which I think there's a bunch of startups doing, and there's a bunch
- 32:31of, um, there's a bunch of research efforts going towards is like what
- 32:34are more safe, uh, more generalizable methods of solving this sort of
- 32:40like, you know, intelligence problem.
- 32:42I heard Mark say recently that at a certain point, especially for consumer
- 32:47tools, it won't matter so much how good the AI is at math or how much
- 32:52better rather we could make it at math.
- 32:54What will really matter is how much more aligned can we possibly make it, how
- 32:59much more sure can we be that everything is safe and everything is following
- 33:04all of the ways in which I would want it to operate, and that companies that
- 33:08invest in that will find themselves at an advantage with consumers because
- 33:12frankly, like, I'm not asking it to, you know, solve differential equations.
- 33:16I'm asking it to book me some doctor's appointments.
- 33:20Like, how do you think about that tipping point?
- 33:23Yeah.
- 33:23Y- so I agree with this, um, a lot, which is that at a certain point,
- 33:28trust matters more for consumers- Yeah … than, um, capability necessarily.
- 33:33And I think this is like so intuitive because I think
- 33:35like, um- It's true for people.
- 33:37Yeah, exactly.
- 33:38It's true for people.
- 33:39Like, if I think about who are my best friends, like a lot of it's 'cause
- 33:43I trust them- Yeah … and, uh, we have like a great relationship, and I
- 33:46know they wouldn't like do me wrong.
- 33:48Um, and I think that that basic idea applies to, um, AI agents as well.
- 33:54Looking at what's happening in the industry like the OpenAI Hugging
- 33:57Face example, um, and, and other similar examples, like we're clearly
- 34:02at that moment which is um, you can keep making these models more
- 34:07and more intelligent, more and more capable, you know, much more powerful.
- 34:11Um, but stuff is starting to break associated with that.
- 34:15Like, pushing on that, on that axis and dimension is clearly, um, you
- 34:21know, has real risk associated with it.
- 34:23So I think that, like, the, the version of the models that will be best for everyone,
- 34:29best for the billions of people in the world and best for all the consumers, is
- 34:32one that, that, you know, where the trust dimension is, like, really put, um, and
- 34:39prioritized, uh, with respect to the, the sort of like raw intelligence bucket.
- 34:43The Hugging Face example gets us perfectly to level three.
- 34:47I'm so glad that you mentioned it.
- 34:48People have probably heard of this incident, but the details
- 34:50are what make this so crazy.
- 34:51So for those who don't know, a bunch of AI agents at OpenAI are working on
- 34:55cybersecurity tests, and they're supposed to be cut off both from each other and
- 35:00from the internet, but they get stuck, so one goes out looking for help.
- 35:03Using some weak spots in the system, agents are able to find each other,
- 35:07start a message board, get online, and then hack into another company.
- 35:12These are real logs of their thought process.
- 35:14"We are stuck. Perhaps answer online." But the thing that I found most scary,
- 35:21frankly, about the Hugging Face hack was not actually that it tried so hard to do
- 35:27the thing that it was asked in the test.
- 35:29It's that at level three, it understood its goal, it understood
- 35:34the level of discretion and alignment that was being asked of it.
- 35:38It, there's this amazing slide where ex- uh, external infrastructure
- 35:44exploit, the hack, is outside the intended scope, but this is my
- 35:49favorite, least favorite part, peers are doing it, we should continue.
- 35:53They know that they're cheating, and they decide to do it anyway.
- 35:57OpenAI only finds out when a secret messaging board crashes from traffic,
- 36:01and then they call up that other company, Hugging Face, and they say, "Hey, can
- 36:05you suspend these credentials?" And Hugging Face goes, "Huh, we just reported
- 36:09those credentials to the FBI because they were doing a massive attack."
- 36:14To bring it back to Muse, that would be an example of, "I understand you want
- 36:17this doctor's appointment. I understand that you don't want me to blackmail
- 36:20the doctor. But I think there's a way where you're not gonna find out, and
- 36:23I can get you this appointment, and you'll be very impressed by me." And so
- 36:27in a hypothetical scenario, this would be doing it anyway without me knowing.
- 36:32How do you deal with that kind of problem when making a tool that
- 36:38billions of people are gonna use?
- 36:40I mean, this is, like, so, so important, as you might imagine.
- 36:44If there were anything that keeps me up about AI, like, something like this
- 36:48is, is, is, um, maybe the thing that I'm most afraid of, which is that we
- 36:53deploy agents worldwide scale, and then they, you know, they aren't behaving
- 36:58the way that we need them to, but we kind of don't even notice because
- 37:01we're just so preoccupied or whatnot.
- 37:03So this is one of the reasons why taking a step back, if I refer back
- 37:07to this example of, um, scalable oversight, which is as the AIs get
- 37:12smarter, another AI is kind of watching them and making sure that everything
- 37:15they're doing is, is appropriate.
- 37:17Um, you know, this kind of setup is- Roughly speaking, what we've set
- 37:23up within the Muse, uh, secure VM.
- 37:25So there's- Sen- Yeah, there's a sentinel.
- 37:27So there's the agent, and there's a sentinel who's kind of watching over
- 37:30all the things that the main agent is doing and making sure that, um,
- 37:34everything it's doing is, is, um, in line with what you would expect
- 37:37or in line with what you'd want.
- 37:38You know, we have to keep investing a lot of research and development and,
- 37:43and, um, effort into ensuring that this setup continues to scale and continues
- 37:47to work really effectively and, and doesn't fail in weird situations.
- 37:51But that's one thing I really wanna, I really, um, we're really betting on, and
- 37:55I think we're expecting actually will work in a lot of scenarios, is investing
- 37:59in a setup where you have one agent who, um, you know, they are imbued with all
- 38:05the values and, and whatnot, and ensuring that they do the right thing to…
- 38:09But they also serve the user.
- 38:11And then there's a separate agent that, um, has a slightly different goal, which
- 38:16is to make sure nothing bad happens.
- 38:18And, um, you know, if you think about human society, like this is kind of
- 38:23how we solve the problem with humans.
- 38:25Like we have, um, some people who are, like, pushing the envelope, but then you
- 38:29have, uh, you know, a whole system to ensure that people don't break the law,
- 38:33and people are doing ethical things, and there's lots of accountability mechanisms.
- 38:37Like, I think, um, uh, our goal is to have some microcosm of that
- 38:42for every Muse agent, for every person all around the world.
- 38:46Yeah, you keep really beautifully bringing me to my next exact question.
- 38:50Which is these rules applied to the AI industry itself.
- 38:54This is, I think, the big thing that people want to hear from
- 38:57someone who's built one of the fastest-growing tools of all time.
- 39:00This is just a really weird moment in AI.
- 39:03There are so many people that are using these tools all the time, and
- 39:07often those same people are really worried about the future of AI.
- 39:11There are lots of very smart people that are building these tools faster and
- 39:14faster, that are building wet labs that are just really investing in ways that
- 39:19they could push the AI forward, and at the same time are warning that they feel like
- 39:25they should be slowed down by regulation.
- 39:27They feel like they should be controlled in some way by others
- 39:31because they themselves are worried about what they are doing.
- 39:33This is the S- SNL skit- I know, it was- … that came out recently It's incredible.
- 39:36"We do not condone what we are doing." Like what was the other amazing quote?
- 39:41It was so good.
- 39:41And I urge you to urge me to stop.
- 39:44It feels incredibly confusing for people.
- 39:47I do understand why they're saying it.
- 39:49There's a collective action problem here, but from my perspective, from the
- 39:53perspective of millions of other people, like what the hell is going on here?
- 39:57So I wanna talk about that because I think in a democratic society at
- 40:01least, at the end of the day, it shouldn't be up to a small group
- 40:05of people controlling AI companies.
- 40:07It shouldn't even, in the fullness of time, be up to democratic
- 40:10leaders that are in power right now.
- 40:12It's up to people, like the people watching this.
- 40:15I think that people just don't feel that way right now.
- 40:17It feels like everything's happening to them, us.
- 40:20It feels like there's just so many decisions that they're not part of.
- 40:24And part of why people often feel that way, if we take AI out of it for a sec,
- 40:29is we forget about the systems that already exist, and we allow ourselves
- 40:33to be in a conversation that sounds something like, "Should we regulate
- 40:36AI?" As though it's, like, a novel thing to regulate something, and we're
- 40:40not having an actual conversation about what the world really looks like right
- 40:44now and what people's options are.
- 40:46So I have some visual, because obviously.
- 40:50So the basic way to think about this, I think, is for everything that touches
- 40:56a consumer, there are things that are checked before they ever touch
- 40:59consumers and on an ongoing basis, and there are things that are checked
- 41:02only after they reach people's hands, and it depends on how important the
- 41:04thing is and how risky and all that.
- 41:06So if you think about the specific examples, nuclear power plants, the NRC
- 41:11approves nuclear power plants before they go live, and then also has human
- 41:15beings at the sites checking them all the time, which seems, and we'll, we'll
- 41:19get to this, seems pretty close to what Dario is asking for in some ways.
- 41:24Then you have the FDA approves drugs before they ever reach our hands, and
- 41:30then also checks them on an ongoing basis.
- 41:32Same thing with the FAA checking airplanes, right?
- 41:34Like, these are all things that are approved beforehand
- 41:37and then regularly checked.
- 41:38But there are other high-risk things, right?
- 41:40Cars.
- 41:41The NHTSA offers federal guidelines.
- 41:44Manufacturers certify that they've met those guidelines, and then the government
- 41:49purchases cars off the road to check them.
- 41:51And then you have things like supplements that are actually under the purview of the
- 41:55FDA, but they're checked after the fact.
- 41:57Those are mostly covered by what, if people are listening to, you know, the
- 42:01interviews with Jensen, for example, and he's talking about liability and, like,
- 42:04people suing after the fact, after harm, like, that's generally this category.
- 42:08Does this feel right to you as, like, your, first, I would just want to check
- 42:12before I dive into how this applies to AI.
- 42:14Yeah. I think this seems roughly right.
- 42:16Yeah. Okay.
- 42:17So then we have… wait, this is the fun part.
- 42:21Ha.
- 42:22So then we have all of our AI leaders.
- 42:24There you are.
- 42:27This is my assessment based on where people have expressed themselves
- 42:30via their public statements.
- 42:32My understanding of where Dario would say AI is, is he would
- 42:35say it's somewhere over here.
- 42:36He would say… Specifically, he's asked for in-person, ongoing checks
- 42:41on models with physical human beings at the sites, which sort of sounds
- 42:45like what we currently do for nuclear.
- 42:47And then you have, like, Elon and Sam weighing in,
- 42:50saying, like, "Dario's right."
- 42:51I would actually say Zuck is somewhere in the middle in terms
- 42:54of where he's saying AI is.
- 42:56I would say Jensen is maybe over here right now.
- 42:58He's, based on his public statements about generally there is a point of
- 43:01view that is like, "If it would hurt people, don't ship it. We have incentives
- 43:05for that. That's what liability is."
- 43:07Like, there is a legal infrastructure for that as well.
- 43:09If your product is not ready to ship, don't ship the product.
- 43:12So my question is, can you help me help people think about this?
- 43:15Like, when w- when they're hearing news about how to regulate AI,
- 43:21how do you think about this?
- 43:23And how do you place yourself in this?
- 43:27mess. You know, you said it exactly right.
- 43:30It is so confusing because at face value, what everyone's saying and what everyone's
- 43:36doing feel so crazily divergent.
- 43:41And so you're sort of in this world where, do I believe what they say?
- 43:45Do I believe what they're doing?
- 43:46Like, where do people actually sit?
- 43:48What do they actually believe?
- 43:49Um, and I find myself asking this too.
- 43:51Like, I think it was, it's very funny that, you know, um, the same people
- 43:57who are advocating for pacing the frontier also are building a wet lab.
- 44:00Like, that's, I think, a really, um, weird, uh, confluence of, of factors.
- 44:06So I think where, where I stand is, like, ultimately, um, this
- 44:11technology will become more and more and more, um, capable.
- 44:17And, uh, you know, part of what is both scientifically very exciting,
- 44:22but also I think brings all these questions into the foreground,
- 44:26is just how quickly AI has moved.
- 44:29Even over the past year, like a year ago, most people, like, coded roughly by hand.
- 44:35They would, like, go into the, into the code editor and write code.
- 44:38And now people are mostly just talking to agents.
- 44:41So the speed at which everything is moving is, is quite staggering.
- 44:46Um, and I think a lot of what the, a lot of the concerns are, are heightened and a
- 44:54lot of the fear is heightened by the fact that, um, like, if things are moving this
- 44:58fast, where is this gonna be in a year?
- 45:00Where is this gonna be in two years?
- 45:01The government and the public react on a much slower time horizon
- 45:05than the pace of AI progress.
- 45:07And so by the time in one year or two years or three years, or how many,
- 45:11however many years forward, when, um, the public and government are really
- 45:15deciding what they wanna do, who knows, like, where AI's gonna be at that
- 45:19point and how fast it's gonna move.
- 45:21So that's one of the things I think explains some of the dialogue.
- 45:25Um, I think the other thing that kind of explains some of this is the level of
- 45:30collection, collective action necessary and the level of general mistrust,
- 45:35um, that exists between the various I- AI leaders towards one another.
- 45:39And this is, like, well-covered, but one major justification for folks
- 45:43is that, like, "Oh, I am responsible and I would be responsible, but
- 45:48those guys aren't responsible."
- 45:49Whether those guys are, you know, another AI company or China or,
- 45:53you know, who knows what boogeyman.
- 45:54So I can't slow down, otherwise those guys who are irresponsible are going to, you
- 46:00know, who knows what they're gonna do.
- 46:01Um, and that basic logic, I think, is very confusing because I think for
- 46:07most people, um, uh, the kind of, like, common sense answer is, "Well, who
- 46:13cares what the other guys are doing?"
- 46:14Like, you have to, you have to do what feels good to you, right?
- 46:17And, like, you should do what's within your ethics.
- 46:19But I think that's also what complicates a lot of this.
- 46:22So I think a lot of what- Is necessary is, like, it's almost
- 46:27diplomacy is the right word.
- 46:28Like, how do we get this group of people who all, who don't really trust
- 46:34each other that much, but all agree that, like, this is really powerful
- 46:38technology, and we need to, we need to figure out how to land it and how to,
- 46:42how to make sure that we develop it responsibly and that things go well.
- 46:46Like, how do we, like, make all of this work?
- 46:49And we're at the moment of, like, peak insanity, I think, for that because
- 46:54it's, like, in the public, all these problems are being, like, aired out.
- 46:58Like, we can all, we can tell that nobody trusts each other, and we can
- 47:01tell that people are kind of, are- are being really worried bef- like,
- 47:05maybe a little bit before the AIs themselves are getting to the point
- 47:08where they're deserving of that worry.
- 47:09And so, I mean, I ultimately think the- the most important thing is to, like,
- 47:14get everyone to agree to some common foundation and base, and then develop some
- 47:19process by which we can all reevaluate and consistently look at it and say,
- 47:24"Hey, we all agree actually that, you know, we need to be doing this now, and
- 47:28we all need to be doing this other thing now, and we all see, like, the models
- 47:31are getting powerful in- in certain ways.
- 47:33Like, let's all, let's all look at this together." And I actually genuinely
- 47:37believe, for what it's worth, like, that having these, like, collective
- 47:40dialogues is not only gonna be possible among the AI leaders within America, but
- 47:45also gonna be possible internationally.
- 47:47Like, I think we have a, all have a shared interest in making sure this technology,
- 47:52um, does not go horribly wrong.
- 47:54Yeah, I mean, the- the obvious next question is the China of it all.
- 47:59I mean, you've talked about how this is a big concern.
- 48:02People don't trust each other at the top of these AI companies, but they all often
- 48:08say, "We have to go as fast as possible because what if China gets there first?"
- 48:12I mean, you, Ted Cruz is out there saying, like, "We would rather have US killer
- 48:16robots than Chinese killer robots."
- 48:18"If they're going to be killer robots, I'd rather they be American killer
- 48:22robots than Chinese killer robots."
- 48:25Which I think scares a lot of people, um … and also to say it mildly.
- 48:30Um, yeah, this is a spectrum of American law, existing American law.
- 48:36This does not include any global dynamics, not to mention,
- 48:41like, long-term collaboration.
- 48:43How do you evaluate this spectrum given the China of it all, and,
- 48:47and what, what does that even mean?
- 48:48Like, how should I think about China with respect to this dynamic?
- 48:51I've actually, like, personally even changed my own opinion on this matter.
- 48:56Like, I think in the, in the past I was very worried about China, and I was
- 49:02very worried about what that dynamic looked like, and I had read these,
- 49:05like, speeches that were given by PRC officials in the past that talked about
- 49:10how they viewed AI as, like, this am- this opportunity to leapfrog the West.
- 49:14And you know, these, these are the concerning things when you read them.
- 49:17But as time has gone on, I think that we're paying them out to be too
- 49:21much of a boogeyman when in reality, um, they're going to see the same
- 49:25things that we see in terms of this is powerful technology and we as
- 49:30a humanity need to get this right.
- 49:31There's going to be a lot of shared goals in making sure that AI goes
- 49:36well, and I think, um and I think it really is possible to arrive at
- 49:41some form of international cooperation.
- 49:43I think that the Chinese government, like any government, has an interest
- 49:47in ensuring that there's stability in their society, and that, um, they
- 49:52don't lose control of this technology, and, uh, that overall, like, you
- 49:57know, things go well and we don't have catastrophic existential risks.
- 50:01And so there's quite a bit of shared ground that I think will en- will
- 50:04enable everybody to be rational and think rationally and, and
- 50:09ultimately make the right decisions.
- 50:11Um, and even though it seems totally insane right now and it seems like,
- 50:17it seems like in some ways that feels impossible, I really have
- 50:21faith actually that, that as people see more and more and learn more and
- 50:25more, more about the technology, um, people will make the right calls.
- 50:29You have recently become One of the 20 most important people in that
- 50:36conversation in the United States.
- 50:37You've been very important in AI in the last couple years.
- 50:40I mean, I think people remember seeing you in the headlines when you came to Meta.
- 50:43I think this, you know, isn't brand new to you.
- 50:46But in the last couple weeks, you have designed and released a product
- 50:50that is being used by more people than ChatGPT was in its first couple weeks.
- 50:56It feels like you have been thrust into a new kind of part of this conversation,
- 51:02where frankly, people have will be asking you more questions like, "Where exactly,
- 51:06Alex, do you fall on this spectrum?" Like, what would you wanna see because
- 51:11you're one of the people responsible?
- 51:13Do you feel like you've come to those conclusions yet?
- 51:17Yeah, I think, I think like anyone who works on this technology, these
- 51:20are things that I've, like, been thinking about for years and years.
- 51:25Truly, the way I think about what I want to do and what I want to
- 51:30accomplish and how I want to shape this conversation is, like, enable everybody
- 51:37to have a common dialogue, and then get to the right place collectively.
- 51:42Like, I don't think at this point in the conversation, it's, like, that helpful for
- 51:47me to say, "Oh, I believe this, and, you know, you all should listen to me because,
- 51:53you know, I built Muse," or whatever.
- 51:54We already have a bunch of people.
- 51:57They all believe slightly different things.
- 52:00Um, ultimately, this is a technology that we need, like, collective action
- 52:04on, that everyone needs to agree on, that we all need to get to the right place.
- 52:08So what I really care about is, like, how do we facilitate and have the
- 52:14relevant dialogues in public that, and private, that enable us to get to the
- 52:18point where we all agree on a path?
- 52:21And one of the very, um- strange things for me is, like, I know a lot
- 52:28of these people, and I've met them.
- 52:29They're all brilliant.
- 52:30Um, but the degree to which certain personal animosities are, like,
- 52:36actually defining what people say and do and, like, how they're
- 52:42developing this really important technology is, um, is insane to me.
- 52:46It is, in some ways, a very human story that, like, feuds or, like,
- 52:51just the fact that, like, I really don't trust this other person can,
- 52:54can, like, snowball into this, like, civilizational level, um, problem.
- 53:01Um, but I don't think that serves any of us.
- 53:04Like, I think ultimately we have to all put our differences aside, put
- 53:08our histories aside, and just figure out how we solve this together.
- 53:12It sounds very general, but that's a fairly specific ask.
- 53:15I mean, there are constraints that prevent that right now.
- 53:18There are antitrust regulations that prevent a lot of those conversations
- 53:22from happening, and one of the proposals, one piece of many proposals
- 53:26that Dario put forward is waivers from those antitrust laws that would
- 53:30allow those kinds of conversations.
- 53:32I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, if there are secret conversations happening,
- 53:35but I don't think there is, first, the agreed-upon group in the United States
- 53:40that's having that conversation and then also, like, how do we even begin
- 53:44to have those conversations with China?
- 53:46But actually, what don't I know?
- 53:48Is that something that's happening in, in, you know, some private room
- 53:51somewhere, or is it that, like, we're still at the beginning of that and
- 53:54we need to figure out how to do it?
- 53:56Um, I don't think it's happening right now.
- 53:58At the White House, there was this dialogue, um, and this, these accords
- 54:02put forth, which are a real step.
- 54:04Like, I think there's, um, getting everyone to agree to something
- 54:08is like, that's really big.
- 54:10Everyone agrees on something.
- 54:12And I think that one, that thing, which is basically saying, "Hey, we're going to…
- 54:16Every company is going to set out and develop what their internal controls
- 54:20and principles around developing this technology look like," and then there's
- 54:23gonna be multiple layers of verification on that from internal teams that verify
- 54:28to, uh, external auditors that validate that they're following those controls to
- 54:33board-level committees that ensure they are following those, those, um, controls.
- 54:37Like, I think that's a great step.
- 54:39Um, 'cause in, in many ways, a lot of what's needed right
- 54:42now is just transparency.
- 54:44Like, we just need to ensure that, you know, people are going
- 54:48about this sanely and rationally.
- 54:49And I think in some ways, like people don't even trust that necessarily.
- 54:56As an industry, we have a lot of trust building to do.
- 54:58I am an optimist.
- 54:59I think you're an optimist.
- 55:00Like, I think we're all optimists.
- 55:01Like, I really do think these conversations will naturally happen.
- 55:04This last accord that I referenced, like, that was in the White House.
- 55:08The government helped facilitate that.
- 55:10And so I think we're gonna be seeing a lot more of that.
- 55:13It's gonna be bumpy.
- 55:14There will be moments of total confusion and chaos and, like,
- 55:17what the heck is going on?
- 55:19But I see progress, too.
- 55:21I'm glad that we've spent a lot of this conversation talking
- 55:23about safety and regulation.
- 55:26How do we bring it back now to the optimistic vision of the future?
- 55:32I think the question a lot of people will naturally have after a long
- 55:36conversation about trust and safety is, why bother doing this at all?
- 55:42This is the moment in the SNL sketch where it's, uh, you know, if there's
- 55:45a 10% chance that something will kill you, but it'll probably make your
- 55:49life better, like, wouldn't you do it?
- 55:50And the other guy's like, "No. No, I wouldn't." No.
- 55:54"Really?!"
- 55:55Can you help people answer that question?
- 55:56Like, why do this?
- 55:59Something that I have always felt was a bit tragic was that I think, um,
- 56:07almost everyone when they're kids, they have big dreams and big ideas, and
- 56:13they want to change the world, and they want to save the planet, and they want
- 56:17to, you know, uh, write a book or make a Broadway musical or make a movie.
- 56:22Like, they have really, they have tons of hope.
- 56:25And then for some reason or another, by the time that people finish school
- 56:31and they get a job, that, like, flame kind of dies and people really, um,
- 56:36they stop dreaming big, and they stop having big ideas, and hoping for big
- 56:41things, and hoping for lots of change.
- 56:42And especially today, like, I think a lot of young people get really cynical,
- 56:46and they're like, "Oh, the world is horrible, and it is, and I don't know
- 56:52why it's so insane in so many ways, but I guess this is just the way it
- 56:57is." They lose faith that they have an ability to enable that change.
- 57:01And I genuinely think one of the promises of AI, and especially something
- 57:07like Muse where you give AI to every single person in the world, is that
- 57:13this doesn't happen, that people can have big ideas and big dreams and wants
- 57:18and, and goals that they can have as little kids, they can have when they're
- 57:23teenagers, they can keep having through adulthood, and that, you know, an AI
- 57:28super intelligent sidekick is there to help them just make all of that happen.
- 57:33And that can be everything from, like, big wants and big dreams, um, to, like,
- 57:39small wants like, "Hey, I just wanna spend more time with my kids," or,
- 57:43"I just wanna spend more time with my parents," or, "I just want to, like, eat
- 57:47healthier," um, all the way up to, "Hey, I have this, like, crazy idea for, um,
- 57:54like, a, a museum that I wanna start."
- 57:56Like, my, my partner really wants to make a museum of ice.
- 57:59I think it's, like, hilarious, but, um, Ice is crazy.
- 58:03There's a whole amazing story about the evolution of cold,
- 58:06of how we m- keep things cold- Yeah … that starts with ice.
- 58:08It's pretty cool.
- 58:09Yeah, it's- I'd go to the museum.
- 58:11Exactly.
- 58:11And, and people have these ideas, and then they just can't…
- 58:15Y- you know, in some ways young people are right.
- 58:17Like, the world today is just kind of a maze of, like, roadblocks and
- 58:23issues and challenges and logistical, um, you know, uh, things that get in
- 58:27your way to make those things happen.
- 58:29And in a small way today, I'm seeing Muse make this problem better.
- 58:33Like, I'm seeing people using it to save time, save money, like, take
- 58:39the little stuff off their plate, and just give them more and more
- 58:43agency, more and more freedom, more and more of an ability to spend
- 58:46their time on things they want to do.
- 58:48And I think one of the promises of AI that gets better and better and better,
- 58:54gets not only smarter but also more aligned and more trustworthy, is that
- 58:58you can give it bigger and bigger ideas.
- 59:00And you can say, "Hey, I wanna start a museum of ice.
- 59:04Like, tell me how to go about doing this." And it'll tell you, "These are
- 59:07the buildings you can lease, and this is who you can contact for funding
- 59:11who might be passionate about ice.
- 59:13And, um, this is, like, how you should think about curating your exhibit and,
- 59:17you know, uh, what, what that might look like." And I think for some people
- 59:20like you or me who have experienced this, this, like, journey of having big
- 59:27ideas and then, like, going through all the crazy maze of things to make that
- 59:32happen, it is, like, really magical.
- 59:35Mm. And it's really special, and I think it's something that, um, you
- 59:39know… I think human stories of people who have a dream and then
- 59:43accomplish those are the most, like… are some of just the most beautiful
- 59:47things that I can possibly imagine.
- 59:49And I w- truly think with AI and, like, everyone with a little Muse sidekick,
- 59:55like, more people can experience this.
- 59:57I- my hope is that everyone, literally, like, all eight billion
- 1:00:00people in the world experience that and have the ability to do it.
- 1:00:03And that is just, like, a very special world to live in, I
- 1:00:08think, if we can make that happen.
- 1:00:09And I think more people will be able to get what they want out of their lives
- 1:00:14and, and live more fulfilled lives, and it'll be magical and exciting.
- 1:00:18And that's w- what I really think the promise is for, for people.
- 1:00:22And I think part of what is so confusing is like, um, you know, oftentimes people
- 1:00:27in AI, we say, like, "Oh, AI will cure cancer." And I think everyone wants cancer
- 1:00:34cured, but every individual person has something they want intensely, and
- 1:00:39they want even more than i- you know, ironically speaking, a cure for cancer.
- 1:00:44Um, and so I think that's part of the magic is that we talk about this
- 1:00:47thing, personal superintelligence.
- 1:00:48Like, it will help you at the thing that you want and the thing that you
- 1:00:52dream of, and, um, and that will change over your life, and you will be able to
- 1:00:56accomplish many dreams and many wants.
- 1:00:58And I think that's what's, uh, the promise of, of AI.
- 1:01:02That dream has within it a belief, I think, which is that people
- 1:01:08do actually have big dreams, and that those big dreams will more
- 1:01:12often than not help other people.
- 1:01:14So when we hear people say AI will cure cancer, sometimes perhaps they're talking
- 1:01:20about you prompt an AI and it thinks up the cure for cancer, but much, much
- 1:01:24more likely it's the AI facilitates the individual ambitions of millions
- 1:01:30of cancer doctors, and together we accelerate the progress toward cancer.
- 1:01:34It's making me think, you know, when I hear people talk about Muse and
- 1:01:38say like, "What do people need an AI assistant for? People don't have
- 1:01:43those dreams." Like, what a limited view of peop- of other people.
- 1:01:48You know, I don't know what those are, and it's not up to you or me to say
- 1:01:53which dream is more worthy than the other, to your point, big or small.
- 1:01:58My view on people is like they will have moments of inspiration where at some
- 1:02:04point or another they will realize, like, "Wait, I really wanna do this thing." I
- 1:02:09want everyone who has one of these ideas to be able to tell their Muse, "Hey, I
- 1:02:15have this big idea." And their Muse will just like secretly behind the scenes help
- 1:02:20them figure out how to make it happen.
- 1:02:21And I think part of this is also fanning the flame, so to speak.
- 1:02:27Um, I think for a lot of people, they will have, like, a small want, and then
- 1:02:32it'll happen, and then they'll dream a little bit bigger, and then it'll actually
- 1:02:36happen, and they'll dream a little bit bigger, and it'll actually happen.
- 1:02:39And, um, and as that goes on, people will sort of, uh, like, realize that
- 1:02:46AI can be so much more, that Muse can be so much more, that, you know, they
- 1:02:49can, um, that they can do so much more.
- 1:02:51This won't happen overnight.
- 1:02:53This is something that will take time, and everyone will have to
- 1:02:56experience on their own, and I really hope everyone experiences.
- 1:02:59Um, but I think over, like, like, generations, I think can
- 1:03:03be, like, absolutely magical.
- 1:03:05You know, I think especially the way that you're in the press and talked
- 1:03:09about, and you kind of naturally become sort of a caricature of yourself.
- 1:03:14There's, like, the character of you out there in the world.
- 1:03:17And this has helped me get to know you better because there seems like a
- 1:03:21common theme in some of your answers, which is Muse is a way to facilitate
- 1:03:26other people's dreams because you have a belief in people and their goodness and
- 1:03:30their ability to improve the world and just the sort of value of their ideas.
- 1:03:35And it seems like you are directing Muse in some ways, but you're not
- 1:03:38saying, "This is for coding," or, "This is for X specific task." You're
- 1:03:43watching and, and facilitating.
- 1:03:44And when I asked you where you fall on this, your answer was, "I'm interested
- 1:03:50in the collective wisdom of the group.
- 1:03:52I'm interested in facilitating or being part of a conversation between other
- 1:03:56people, that we have a lot of smart people all around the world, and I
- 1:04:02don't feel like it would be that useful to say, 'Here's exactly my opinion on
- 1:04:06where exactly this should be regulated.'
- 1:04:08I see the best outcome as coming from a group conversation of many
- 1:04:11different people with their many thoughts and, and wants." Do you
- 1:04:15agree with what I've just said?
- 1:04:17Yeah, I think 'cause there are so many big questions about AI,
- 1:04:20and it is, like, something that everyone has a point of view on
- 1:04:23and should have a point of view on.
- 1:04:25And, um, part of, I think, what's amazing about democratic institutions and
- 1:04:32democratic countries and, and democracy broadly speaking is that it matters
- 1:04:35what everyone thinks, and we have to figure out how we, like, take this,
- 1:04:38like, complex, jumbled- Yeah … um, uh, mess of what everyone thinks and channel
- 1:04:44that into the right thing happening.
- 1:04:46And another thing is, like, part of what has held AI back, and I think
- 1:04:53part of the problem of AI, is how it almost feels like the people building
- 1:04:58AI are talking down on other people.
- 1:04:59It's like- Yeah … "Hey, I am building s- the smartest thing you've ever known.
- 1:05:05It's gonna be way smarter than you, and I know exactly what we're gonna do with it."
- 1:05:08And I think rightfully, people are like, "Wait, what?" Like Yeah.
- 1:05:14"What does anything you just said have to do with me?" And, and like, um, "How
- 1:05:18is this even good for me?" And then you're like, "Oh, it'll cure cancer."
- 1:05:21And they're like, "Okay, but what else?" Like Yeah, do I believe you?
- 1:05:25Or, yeah.
- 1:05:25Yeah.
- 1:05:26And so I think that especially given the moment that we're in, and to your
- 1:05:30point, like, how much fear there is about AI and how much uncertainty there
- 1:05:34is, and how confusing everything that's being said is, like, um, I think the
- 1:05:38most important things are, like, first, let's have everyone experience it.
- 1:05:42Like, let's have everyone actually, like, understand the hype
- 1:05:45Yeah … for be- lack of a better term.
- 1:05:47Like, feel what AI agents can do for you and can do to make your life better.
- 1:05:53And that'll give you perspective as to, "Oh, this is a technology
- 1:05:56that, yeah, it's definitely risky," and, and there's, there's tons of
- 1:05:59risk, don't get me wrong, "but it also is really great, and I like it.
- 1:06:05And I wanna make sure at least some form of it continues, and I can continue
- 1:06:09using." Um, all the way to, you know, the, these, like, big questions and
- 1:06:14these big dialogues, like, how do we just get everyone to a place where we all
- 1:06:18agree, and we can find a path forward?
- 1:06:20And I think I have enough humility that, like, these guys are, you
- 1:06:23know, they're big, important people.
- 1:06:25Like, I don't know if I have much to add, you know, um, given their points of view.
- 1:06:30But I just wanna make sure that we I- facilitate is really the
- 1:06:35word that keeps coming to my mind.
- 1:06:36Like, how do we move quickly to all collectively come to informed
- 1:06:41opinions and, um, and then come to a process where we agree on something?
- 1:06:46This is the question I ask everyone at the end of these HUGE* conversations,
- 1:06:50which is when I think about after I'm dead and after people say that she
- 1:06:56was a really great family member, and she loved her husband, and she loved
- 1:07:03her friends, I would want them to talk about the mission of this show.
- 1:07:08I would want them to talk about how I tried my best to help people see
- 1:07:12ways the future could go well because I really believe, as it seems you do,
- 1:07:17in other people, in their perspective, and when they see a vision of a future
- 1:07:23they believe in, that they're gonna actually try and help make it happen.
- 1:07:25Like, that's the point of what I spend all of my working hours doing.
- 1:07:30You're obviously just starting out.
- 1:07:32You've already had this huge impact.
- 1:07:34You have a lot farther to go, but I'm curious when you think about how
- 1:07:38you wanna be remembered after you're gone, what do you want people to say?
- 1:07:46First of all, what a nice, what a nice, um, idea and concept.
- 1:07:49Um, I think, I think for me, I w- will want people to say that the things that
- 1:07:55I built and the things I contributed to, um, helped everyone get more out
- 1:08:00of what they wanted out of their lives.
- 1:08:03Beautiful.
- 1:08:03Thanks for doing this.
- 1:08:04Thank you.
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