Tom Brown (@nottombrown) co-founded Anthropic after helping build GPT-3 at OpenAI. A self-taught engineer, he went from getting a B-minus in linear algebra to becoming one of the key people behind AI's scaling breakthroughs. Today, Anthropic's Claude is the go-to choice for developers, and his team is overseeing what he calls "humanity's largest infrastructure buildout ever." On the @LightconePod, he discusses his unconventional path from YC founder to AI researcher, the discovery of scaling laws that changed everything, and his advice for young engineers entering AI today. 0:00 - From Failure to Success 2:30 - Early Startup Days at Linked Language 4:12 - The Grouper Dating Experiment 6:10 - Making the Leap to OpenAI 8:42 - First Product Launch Challenges 10:12 - Self-Teaching AI Research 12:44 - Building GPT-3 Infrastructure 15:44 - The Anthropic Spinoff 18:23 - Early Days of Building Claude 20:21 - The ChatGPT Wake-Up Call 22:08 - Claude 3.5 Sonnet Breakthrough 24:13 - Why Benchmarks Don't Tell the Whole Story 26:20 - Claude Code's Secret Sauce 28:51 - Building for the AI Agent 31:11 - The Largest Infrastructure Buildout Ever 32:46 - Multi-Chip Strategy 34:38 - Advice for the Next Generation
@ycombinator @nottombrown Impressive. A B-minus didn't define his potential. Passion and perseverance clearly did. Inspiring.
@ycombinator @nottombrown Inspiring path 👏 Stories like Tom’s remind us why building infrastructure matters. At @AIxBlock we’re also focused on scaling decentralized AI infra so the next generation of engineers can build even faster.
@ycombinator @nottombrown Looking forward to meeting up with @garrytan, the @ycombinator folks and @nottombrown in a few weeks! This was an awesome interview!
@ycombinator @nottombrown Oh this explains why Claude code is so good at development. Damn.
@ycombinator @nottombrown Impressive how much real-world impact comes from people outside traditional academic pipelines. The magic is the ability to translate theory into system engineering at scale—exactly the leverage creators need from AI models today.
@ycombinator @garrytan @nottombrown So many industry breakthroughs happen when outsiders flip the script. As the new wave of talent enters, the real leverage comes when creators and engineers own what they build—not just contribute. That's the ecosystem we're fighting for.
@ycombinator @nottombrown gives me hope with my non-tech background. but my linalg was better 😅
@ycombinator @nottombrown I’ll be listening to this today!
@ycombinator @nottombrown He embodies the story of a self-made man, a story that will not be repeated in the future due to the very things he is developing.
@ycombinator @nottombrown Who knew a B-minus could launch humanity's biggest infra buildout? Tom's story: Proof that in AI, it's not the grades, it's the grind. From YC to Claude; mindset over transcripts! 😂 @LightconePod episode is gold.
@ycombinator @nottombrown uploading second time interesting
@ycombinator @nottombrown @grok seems like to be successful at this level you need to be in California ?
@ycombinator @nottombrown that's quite a journey for tom brown
@ycombinator @nottombrown Tom Brown's journey highlights the value of self-directed learning and innovation in AI.
@ycombinator @nottombrown B-minus in linear algebra? That gives me motivation to read on ML again.
@ycombinator @nottombrown ok but come on, it's 18.06 at MIT. Not exactly a regular college course
@ycombinator @garrytan @nottombrown Formal education isn't the only factor which determines what you'll achieve. The age is of Artificial Intelligence. People who have a smart outlook would easily beat anyone.
@ycombinator @nottombrown from b-minus in linear algebra → building gpt-3. insane arc
@ycombinator @nottombrown it's interesting how the best minds often come from unconventional paths
@ycombinator @paulg @nottombrown Really impressive journey! Love seeing folks go from self-taught to spreading such impact.