As a venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen spends much of his time listening to young entrepreneurs explain their plans to shape the future. As a parent, he helps his 8-year-old prepare for what’s to come by teaching him how to use artificial intelligence.
Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience This week he posted that he set his son up with ChatGPT on his laptop. Then show him how to use it to learn about the world.
He noted, “One of the fun things you can do with ChatGPT is you can say to me, ‘Explain X to me. ‘” Then you can say, “Explain X to me like I’m 15” and then you can do it like I’m 10, and then you can do it like I’m 5. It kind of works up to about the age of three. So you can do, “Explain quantum mechanics to me as if I were a three-year-old.” will. And so I taught him how to do this. You can call it up or down.”
What surprised him, he said, was his son’s reaction, who simply shrugged and replied, “Okay.”
And I was like, ‘No, that’s a big deal. They didn’t use this. “Now he’s doing this, and it’s amazing,” Andreessen said. He said his son’s response was, “Well, it’s a computer. Of course you ask it questions and it gives you answers. What else is that for?”
“Kids will have a completely different view of it,” Andreessen said. “It will be completely normal.”
Artificial intelligence as an ally
He also thought about the fact that his child would grow up with an AI – and vice versa.
“The AI that my 8-year-old will have when he’s 20, he’ll have 12 years of experience with him,” he said. “And so she’ll grow with him. She’ll know everything he’s ever done. She’ll know everything he’s done well. She’ll know that everything he’s done took real effort. She’ll know what he’s good at. She’ll know what he’s not good at. She’ll know how to teach him. He’ll know how to right whatever limitations he has. She’ll know how to maximize her strengths. She’ll know what he wants.”
When kids who grow up with AI go to college or enter the job market, “they’ll have an ally right with them,” Andreessen continued. “They will essentially have a partner whose goal in life is to make them as happy, satisfied, and successful as possible.”
Andreessen has a more optimistic view of AI than the detractors, some of whom fear it could destroy or somehow control humanity. Last month, he wrote a much-discussed manifesto about why AI should not destroy humanity, but rather make the world a much better place. and on Lex Friedman Podcastnoted that with artificial intelligence, your “learning and production capacity” is exponentially higher than in the past, and advised young listeners to take advantage of this to stand out by becoming “hyperproductive people”.
