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cover of episode Ep 115: Scott Wu, Devin, and a Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

Ep 115: Scott Wu, Devin, and a Trillion-Dollar Opportunity

2025/6/12
logo of podcast Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist
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通过积极的储蓄和房地产投资，实现早期退休并成为财务独立运动的领袖。
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Scott Wu: 我是人工智能公司Cognition AI的创始人兼首席执行官。我们开发了Devin，一个AI软件工程师，它能够像人类工程师一样工作，处理代码库，调试，测试，并生成代码差异。Devin的出现标志着软件工程从生存模式到创造模式的转变。我们已经看到企业客户在使用Devin后效率提高了6到20倍，这意味着原本需要数月才能完成的任务现在只需一个周末就能完成。这代表着一个数万亿美元的市场机遇，因为它将极大地提高生产力，并对经济产生深远的影响。我相信，人类的创造力和激情不会因为AI的出现而消失，反而会因为AI的辅助而得到增强，从而创造出更多伟大的产品和想法。 我从小就对数学和编程充满热情，这为我今天的成就奠定了基础。在哈佛大学学习期间，我意识到自己更想在实践中学习，所以加入了Adapar，之后又创立了Lunch Club。在与一群顶尖的数学和编程人才合作后，我们共同创立了Cognition AI。我们团队的文化是合作和创新的，我们经常一起玩数学游戏，这有助于我们解决复杂的问题。 我认为生成式AI的发展可以分为两个阶段：模仿学习和强化学习。强化学习的最终目标是能够解决任何基准问题，这需要我们定义正确的用例、工具和评估标准。代码是一个很好的例子，因为它有清晰的成功或失败反馈循环。 未来，软件工程将变得更加简单，即使是非技术人员也能构建高质量的软件。然而，那些精通技术的人仍然能够通过深入理解底层机制来做出更好的设计权衡。 我对AI的乐观态度源于我相信人类的创造力不会被取代，反而会得到增强。AI将帮助我们提高生产力，减少不必要的痛苦，让人们能够专注于自己的激情和创造力。 Joel: 与Scott的对话中，我深入了解了Devin以及Cognition AI的潜力。Scott对AI的乐观态度，以及他将AI比作Minecraft创造模式的观点，让我印象深刻。他强调了AI在提高生产力方面的巨大潜力，以及它对经济的潜在影响，这确实是一个值得深思的问题。 同时，我也对Scott的个人经历和团队文化很感兴趣。他从路易斯安那州一个普通的家庭走出来，通过自身的努力和对数学和编程的热爱，最终创立了一家成功的AI公司，这本身就是一个鼓舞人心的故事。 此外，Scott对AI未来发展的预测，以及他对软件工程未来趋势的分析，也让我受益匪浅。他认为AI将使软件工程变得更加简单易用，但同时，精通技术的人才仍然有其不可替代的价值。 总的来说，这次对话让我对AI的未来发展充满了期待，同时也让我对AI技术在各个领域的应用充满了信心。我相信，AI技术将极大地改变我们的生活，并为人类创造一个更加美好的未来。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Scott Wu's journey from a mathcounts champion in Baton Rouge to the CEO of Cognition AI, a company valued at over $4 billion, is highlighted. His early passion for math and programming competitions, his experience at Adapar, and his founding of Lunch Club are discussed, leading up to his work in AI coding agents.
  • Scott Wu's early success in math competitions and programming
  • His experience at Adapar
  • Founding Lunch Club
  • The release of Devin and its viral success

Shownotes Transcript

Scott Wu took the technology world by storm when he released a demo of Devin, the first AI software engineer. A year later, Devin has gone global, and his company — Cognition AI) — is valued at over $4 billion. What are the next leaps for AI coding agents? Could the total economic impact be in the trillions of dollars? And is Scott worried that Devin may someday replace him?

Scott's journey to the epicenter of the AI race started in an unlikely place: growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Chinese immigrants. At an early age, he excelled in math and was fast tracked into high school courses [not held back in the name of equity!], culminating in a national Mathcounts championship and three gold medals in competitive programming at the International Olympiad in Informatics. After highschool, he joined Addepar as a top young software engineer before attending Harvard.

Scott gathered his smartest friends and many other math, physics and programming champions under one roof to build Cognition, and when they're not architecting new AI breakthroughs, they're quizzing each other with math games. Learn why the top math minds are dominant in AI and what this tells us about the nature of AI progress and where we're headed next. Plus, the first person to solve one of Scott's tough math challenges in this episode gets free swag [leave your answer in the comments or email [email protected])]. Finally, we discuss the future of software engineering and what AI coding agents mean for economic productivity as tasks that once took months to complete now take a weekend with Devin. Is it a trillion dollar opportunity?

It's inspiring to see the impact an optimistic, brilliant mind like Scott can have on the world — and he's still a few years shy of his 30th birthday.

0:00 Episode intro

1:38 Math prodigy to AI savant

9:43 Origins of Cognition and Devin

11:25 Why are top math minds dominant in AI?

14:40 The next wave of generative AI

18:45 Jagged intelligence & man-machine symbiosis

25:35 Solve Scott's math challenge

31:05 Scott's argument for AI optimism

35:10 Trillion-dollar opportunity?

39:10 The future of software engineering

42:10 Optimism for the future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com)