
17 segments available
Amjad Masad is the co-founder & CEO of Replit, now valued at $3B after a recent $250M Series C. He's spent nearly a decade making programming accessible to all—and with the rise of AI, that vision is closer than ever. In this talk from AI Startup School on June 17, 2025, Amjad traces the arc of computing from mainframes to personal computers to a future where AI agents can create software on demand. He explains why the value of traditional software will approach zero, fundamentally reshaping how companies are built and how work gets done. Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs Chapters: 00:22 - Evolution of Computing 01:27 - The Rise of Software Engineering 02:16 - Replit's Vision: Making Programming Accessible 02:42 - The Role of AI in Software Development 04:32 - Challenges and Infrastructure for AI Agents 05:03 - Building a Scalable and Secure Environment 06:08 - Future of Software Engineering Agents 09:25 - Autonomy Levels in AI Agents 15:56 - Predictions for the Software Market 18:31 - Impact on Business and Employment 19:58 - The Role of Generalist Employees 26:00 - Audience Q&A
Exploring the historical progression of computing from mainframes to personal computers and software engineering.
"I was asked to talk about the future of software. So, a lot of this talk is going to be about what we're doing at Replet, where we think the future of software is headed and some kind of trying to mak..."
This segment discusses how Replet aims to democratize software development using AI agents and automation.
"through the same transition from something that only experts do to something that anyone can do. And this is what we're really rep uh building replet for. I've been working at Replet for like almost n..."
This segment explores the critical infrastructure needed for effective software engineering agents, emphasizing the importance of a scalable and flexible environment.
"software engineering agents and by the way this is true of any agent if any any of you are building sort of agents startups uh just like really believe that it's coming really really like I I keep tel..."
This segment discusses the tools and features Replit offers to enhance software engineering agents, including user authentication, storage, and universal model access.
"need to be accessible uh to software engineering agents. So actually I saw earlier today if you were at uh Karpathy's talk he he talked about how you know the the coding part is the easy part. So sort..."
This segment explores the concept of agents having wallets to pay for services and hire human assistance when needed.
"to have some kind of wallet to be able to go uh pay for services. So let's say you know your your agent decides that it needs a Tulio integration and replet or whatever system you're using doesn't hav..."
Exploring the capabilities and future potential of Version 3 in autonomous agent technology.
"15 minutes on its own but it still needs your input every now and then to test the app and make sure the app is working. And right now we're working on V3. I'll talk a little bit more about V3 in a se..."
This segment discusses how Replit's transactional file system enables agents to test different hypotheses simultaneously, enhancing their problem-solving capabilities.
"this this kind of annoying thing that replication does where keeps ask asking you to do QA for it'll start doing QA on its own and that will allow it to work you know 30 40 up to hour maybe two hours ..."
This segment discusses the importance of testing and simulating different solutions in parallel for improving the reliability of AI agents.
"hypothesis you want to test and so we want to also uh give agents the ability to do that. So at any given problem generating a ton of different ways of doing it and then testing all of them in paralle..."
This segment discusses how an HR professional created custom software to meet specific needs, illustrating the transformative power of accessible coding tools.
"not saying this will happen tomorrow or even next year. I gave up on the the um trying to predict timelines. I know it's going to happen on the order of years. If anyone with one prompt can generate a..."
Exploring how AI is transforming job roles towards a more generalized workforce.
"software to run their work. That's happening today. Try to project that out a couple years later. Like the software business fundamentally changes, gets disrupted. Not only software but I think how we..."
This segment explores a transformative business model where all employees function as entrepreneurs, driven by creativity and value generation rather than traditional roles.
"look more like a network than a hierarchy. So it'll look more like an open source project than a than uh it will look like a traditional company hierarchy with a marketing department, sales department..."
Exploring the potential for individuals to create immense wealth and opportunity using technology and AI agents.
"like that. And this idea of like a sovereign individual, someone so uh empowered by technology, so empowered by these uh uh agents uh that is able to create enormous amount of wealth uh individually i..."
Exploring how reduced transaction costs will transform hiring and enable instant problem-solving with agents.
"agent built by someone else who's out there doing work for them. So the way we work uh and the way people build startups will fundamentally change as the the cost of transaction goes down goes down to..."
This segment explores the role of specialized agents in leveraging domain expertise and the challenges they face in inter-agent communication.
"how would we deal with the fragmentation of like data memory and context across all these different agents I think multiple agents uh and and the reason I think that's true is because let's let's say ..."
Exploring the importance of a well-rounded education for future generalist employees.
"talk. I've been following Replet for many years and that's actually where I learned how to code as well was on Replet. So you mentioned the value of clear thinking and ideas being the future. Do you s..."
This segment emphasizes the importance of adopting a mission-driven mindset and leveraging domain knowledge when pursuing opportunities in startup environments.
"first employee and then by the time you get to the hund I don't know like to the maybe 100th employee you're sort of like you're not getting as much of that journalist experience but like just join as..."
This segment discusses the vision of autonomous agents creating personalized software solutions and addresses concerns about error accumulation in generative models.
"Yeah. Yeah. So, notice that I I said not uh old software. I said like application software specifically. So, I think software will continue to run our lives but a lot of it will be autonomous. So for ..."