Alex Wang is the Founder and CEO @ Scale.ai, the company that allows you to make the best models with the best data. To date, Alex has raised $1.6BN for the company with a last reported valuation of $14BN earlier this year. Scale tripled their ARR in 2023 and is expected to hit $1.4BN in ARR by the end of 2024. Their investors include Accel, Index, Thrive, Founders Fund, Meta and Nvidia to name a few.
In Today's Show with Alex Wang We Discuss:
1. Foundation Models: Diminishing Returns:
- What are the three core pillars that can meaningfully improve foundation models performance?
- Why is data the single largest bottleneck to the performance of models today?
- What data do we need to capture that we do not currently, that will have the biggest impact on model performance moving forward?
- Will we see the largest companies in the world revert back to on-prem with the increasing security challenges of migrating all customer data to foundation models?
2. AI: A Military Asset in Global Conflict: China + Russia
- Why does Alex believe that AI has the potential to be an even more powerful military asset than nuclear weapons?
- If this is the case, should we have open systems? Do we not have to have closed systems?
- Why does Alex believe that the CCP's approach to industrial policy is better than anyone else's?
- How does Alex evaluate the rise of Chinese EV car manufacturers in the last few years?
- Does Alex really believe that China is two years behind the US in the AI race?
3. "I Get Fairer Treatment in Congress than in the Press":
- Why does Alex believe that the best PR is no PR?
- Why does Alex believe that he got fairer treatment in congress than he does in the media?
- Why does Alex believe that all founders should look to own their own distribution channels today?
4. Alex Wang: AMA:
- What are some of Alex's biggest lessons from Patrick Collison on the impact that a hot company brand has on the ability for that company to hire the best?
- Does Alex think Trump is going to win? What would be the impact if he were to?
- Why does Alex believe that enterprise software will be changed forever in the next few years?
- What question is Alex never asked that he thinks he should be asked?
