
27 segments available
A conversation with Mike Kreiger (CPO of Anthropic) and Kevin Weil (CPO of OpenAI), moderated by Sarah Guo (Conviction). Recorded live at Lenny and Friends Summit on October 24th in San Francisco
Kevin Weil and Mike Krieger share their initial reactions to taking on new roles at OpenAI and Anthropic. Kevin describes the challenges and excitement of working in a rapidly evolving AI landscape, while Mike reflects on the varied responses he received from friends and colleagues about his decision to join Anthropic after Instagram.
"all right hello everyone okay okay Sarah you're the queen of AI investing this is a phrase never ever to be used again but it's great to be here with both of you um so I had two different ideas for ou..."
Mike Krieger discusses the surprising aspects of working in an enterprise environment compared to social media. He highlights the importance of customer feedback and the different timelines involved in enterprise product development, contrasting it with the fast-paced nature of consumer products.
"from you both anyway uh so this is actually a relatively new role for both of you Kevin let's start with you like you've done a bunch of really different interesting things like what was the reaction ..."
Kevin Weil elaborates on how his instincts from previous product roles apply to his current position at OpenAI. He emphasizes the unpredictability of developing AI products, where capabilities can emerge unexpectedly, making traditional product planning challenging.
"so interesting uh and fascinating to see on the inside as AI gets developed but uh I've been having a blast Mike what about you I I remember hearing the news I was like oh I didn't know you could conv..."
Kevin and Mike discuss the unpredictable nature of AI development, likening it to peering through mist to anticipate future capabilities. They explore how to plan product features when the underlying technology is still evolving and the importance of collaboration with research teams.
"next um so we had dinner together with a bunch of friends recently and you I was like impressed by the childish Delight that you had around like yeah I'm learning about all this Enterprise stuff like ..."
Mike Krieger shares insights on the feedback mechanisms in enterprise products, highlighting the value of direct communication with customers post-deployment. He contrasts this with the challenges of gathering user feedback in consumer products, where data is often aggregated.
"like the part that is fun is actually getting the feedback in the kind of Engagement where you're like once it gets the deployed you have somebody that can call you and you can call them and be like h..."
Kevin Weil discusses the importance of understanding emerging capabilities in AI and how they influence product design. He emphasizes the need for flexibility in product development, as new features can significantly alter the product roadmap.
"works you know when you have when you have a sense of the product you're trying to build you know we're getting towards uh you know the end of shipping uh Advanced speech mode or something or you're g..."
The conversation shifts to the balance between predictable product development and the innovative nature of AI. Kevin and Mike discuss how to manage expectations and design products that can adapt to varying levels of model performance.
"or 90% good or 99% good and the product that you would build that would make sense with something that works 60% of the time is Super different than 90 or 99% of the time right so you're kind of just ..."
Mike Krieger raises the question of how to effectively design products that can function with AI models that are only 60% effective. He discusses the importance of creating graceful failure experiences for users while waiting for models to improve.
"true with campus right like you're doing a like co-design co- research co- finetune and that's like I think a real privilege of getting to work at this company and getting to do design there and then ..."
The conversation shifts to how AI models are evaluated in real-world scenarios. Weil shares insights on the variability of AI performance across different tasks and the importance of user feedback in understanding model effectiveness. He emphasizes the need for continuous evaluation and adaptation to improve AI capabilities.
"like GitHub co-pilot right that was kind of the first AI product that really open people's eyes to like this thing can be useful not just as you know Q&A but for really economically valuable work and ..."
Weil discusses the critical role of human feedback in enhancing AI models. He explains how models can benefit from understanding their limitations and seeking user assistance when uncertain. This collaboration between humans and AI can lead to improved outcomes and a more effective integration of AI into workflows.
"also find that 60% this magic 60% number like it's kind of lump I made it up five minutes ago that was a takeway 6% that is our new that's the Mendoza Line of uh of AI like I think it's often very lum..."
The discussion focuses on the challenges of defining success for AI models. Weil highlights the importance of setting clear evaluation criteria and understanding user needs to ensure that AI solutions are genuinely effective. He notes that the evolving nature of AI requires ongoing reassessment of what constitutes success.
"in which models today are not intelligence limited they're eval limited yeah they can actually do much more and be much more correct on a wider range of things than they are today and it's really abou..."
Weil reflects on the changing role of product managers in the AI landscape. He notes that as AI capabilities advance, PMs will need to adapt their skills to focus more on evaluation and iteration processes. This shift emphasizes the importance of understanding model capabilities and how to leverage them effectively.
"task and like 85% of task if you come interview at anthropic which maybe you should uh at some point maybe you're happy in your R maybe not um uh you'll see one of the things we do in our interview pr..."
The conversation explores how to develop intuition for creating effective evaluations in AI. Weil suggests using AI models themselves as tools for generating evaluation samples and emphasizes the importance of analyzing data to refine evaluation processes. He encourages a hands-on approach to understanding model performance.
"prompts and so like that PM like definition is definitely just mer now yeah absolutely I we we set up a boot camp and like took every PM through uh writing evals and like what it was like difference b..."
Weil discusses the complexities of evaluating AI performance in longer, more ambiguous tasks. He notes that as AI models take on more nuanced roles, the criteria for success will need to evolve. The conversation highlights the need for personalized evaluations and the challenges of grading AI outputs against human expectations.
"again a little inside baseball you know like every model release has the model card and some of these model uh these eiles we've seen like even the golden answer I'm like I'm not sure a human would sa..."
Kevin Weil shares insights on how product managers (PMs) can leverage AI for rapid prototyping. He illustrates how using AI tools can enhance the design process, allowing teams to explore various UI options quickly and efficiently, thus fostering innovation in product development.
"again I think a lot like when you think about and I think both Labs have some concept of like this is what capabilities look like as things evolve like it looks a little bit like a career ladder like ..."
The conversation shifts to the challenges of designing products in a non-deterministic AI environment. Kevin Weil explains the need for product teams to adapt to unpredictable outputs from AI models and emphasizes the importance of understanding user interactions and feedback mechanisms.
"would also I you you sort of said this but I think it's also going to push PMS to go deeper into the tech stack yeah um because it's and maybe that changes over the years like that if you were doing l..."
In this segment, the speakers reflect on how quickly users adapt to new AI technologies. Kevin Weil shares anecdotes about user experiences with AI, highlighting the rapid transition from skepticism to acceptance and the importance of making AI products intuitive and user-friendly.
"non-deterministic user interface ourselves uh and certainly people who are not you know tech people here in this room working on Tech products who are using AI are are definitely not used to it like i..."
Kevin Weil discusses the importance of educating users about AI functionalities. He emphasizes the need for AI products to provide clear guidance and support, ensuring users understand how to effectively utilize the technology, thereby enhancing their overall experience.
"happening actually faster than that right and you know if if PMs and Technical people don't have that much intuition naturally for how to use them how do you think about educating end users at the sca..."
The conversation explores the unique challenges of introducing AI tools in enterprise settings. Kevin Weil highlights the need for tailored educational approaches to help non-technical users understand and adopt AI technologies, ensuring productivity improvements across organizations.
"changing is just tell Claude more about itself which was like you know it's in its training set that it's you know uh artificial intelligence created by anthropic whatever but now we're literally like..."
This segment focuses on the exciting potential of introducing AI tools to non-technical users within organizations. The speakers discuss how power users can act as evangelists, teaching their colleagues about AI applications and creating custom solutions that enhance usability and value for everyone.
"usually power users internally and they're they're excited to teach the rest of people and you know like with open AI we have these custom gpts that you can make and organizations make thousands of th..."
The speakers share a humorous anecdote about using AI to order pizza during beta testing, illustrating the unexpected and innovative applications of AI in everyday tasks. They discuss the broader implications of AI in UI testing and automating repetitive tasks, emphasizing the potential for AI to alleviate mundane work.
"how do we do this as well the funniest use case like while we were beta testing it was like somebody was like I wonder if I can get it to order us a pizza and like it did and they're like great there'..."
In this segment, the discussion centers on the concept of scaling intelligence through AI models. The speakers explain how different models can be orchestrated to work together, enhancing reasoning capabilities and addressing specific tasks. They highlight the importance of understanding the strengths and limitations of various AI models.
"I talk about computer like can we automate the drudgery so you can focus on the creative stuff and not like the you know 30 clicks to do one single thing Uh Kevin I I think we have a lot of teams that..."
The conversation delves into the future of AI reasoning, discussing how models can evolve to become more proactive and asynchronous. The speakers envision a future where AI can anticipate user needs and provide timely insights, fundamentally changing how users interact with technology.
"like scaling pre-training concept you go gpt2 3 four five whatever and you're doing bigger and bigger runs on pre-training these models are getting you know smarter and smarter um like they or rather ..."
The final segment explores the dual concepts of proactivity and asynchronicity in AI. The speakers discuss how future AI models could monitor user activities and provide relevant information without prompting, enhancing productivity. They emphasize the potential for AI to transform user experiences by expanding the time horizon of interactions.
"you know we're at the like gpt1 phase of um of this new form of reasoning um but in the same way it's not you don't use it for everything right there are sometimes when you ask me a question you don't..."
Kevin Weil explores the concept of asynchronous interactions with AI, where users can engage with models without the pressure of immediate responses. He describes how this shift will allow for deeper reasoning and project planning, enabling users to manage their time more effectively while collaborating with AI. This segment highlights the evolving nature of human-AI collaboration.
"excited about on the product side yeah I completely agree with all of that that um and it's the models are going to get smarter at an accelerating rate I think which is also part of how all of that uh..."
In this engaging discussion, Kevin Weil shares his experience using AI as a universal translator during his travels in Korea and Japan. He illustrates how AI can facilitate communication across language barriers, making global interactions more accessible and enjoyable. This segment emphasizes the transformative potential of AI in enhancing human connections and experiences.
"pocket you know and so experiences like that I think it's going to become commonplace fast but it's magical and I'm excited about that in combination with all the stuff Mike was just saying oh one of ..."
The conversation shifts to the emotional aspect of AI interactions, with Kevin Weil discussing how users develop empathy towards AI models. He reflects on the nuances of user relationships with AI, emphasizing the importance of personality and customization in enhancing user experience. This segment delves into the human-like qualities of AI and the implications for future product development.
"revenge of the model and it's like they get the Nuance like it's like I guess the behavor behavior is like almost befriending or like really like developing a lot of like 2-way empathy around what's h..."