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Interesting to see how he's progressed with this. When he first announced he was getting into AI it sounded almost like a semi retirement thing: something that

Interesting to see how he's progressed with this. When he first announced he was getting into AI it sounded almost like a semi retirement thing: something that interested him that he could do for fun and solo, without the expectation that it would go anywhere. But now he seems truly serious about it. Wonder if he's started hiring yet.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
madrox 4y ago
I got the same impression, and maybe it still is. You can still raise money for a retirement project if the goal of the money is to hire a staff. VC money isn't solely for young 20-something founders who want to live their job.
- solveit 4y ago
  I suppose if anyone could raise VC money for a retirement project it would be Carmack...
- rebelos 4y ago
  Carmack sounds like someone who lives his job, so I don't think age/life stage is a factor here.
  - russtrotter 4y ago
    agreed, Carmack's work ethic, opinions on work and opinions of how those around him work are legendary!
  - bhdlr 4y ago
    > Carmack sounds like someone who lives his job, so I don't think age/life stage is a factor here. He said on lex Fridman that he's going all in on it. He said he was tired of his 1 day a week consultancy at oculus and wanted to work full time on this.
    - MikusR 4y ago
      https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1560729196166529025 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1560729196166529025 > "I am continuing as a consultant with Meta on VR matters, devoting about 20% of my time there."
tux1968 4y ago
He mentioned, in his Lex Friedman interview, that accepting investor money was a way to keep himself serious and motivated. He feels an obligation to those putting their money in.
- mywittyname 4y ago
  Ah, I was thinking that $20MM doesn't seem like a lot of money for someone like Carmack. Surely he could have self-funded a business himself. This explains why he didn't.
  - nighthawk454 4y ago
    yeah, his follow up tweet is pretty clear: > This is explicitly a focusing effort for me. I could write a $20M check myself, but knowing that other people's money is on the line engenders a greater sense of discipline and determination. I had talked about that as a possibility for a while, and I am glad Nat pushed me on it.
    - sytelus 4y ago
      It seems like bad logic. If he gets bored/throw in towel, he can just pay back with his money and move on. Also, if you need to create such artificial constraints in order to go to work, a main ingredient called “drive” is missing. I respect Carmack a lot but I don’t trust old centi-millionaires to work with same passion as their younger poorer selves. Finally, $20M is too low. AGI is not a solo endeavor and doesn’t fit in Carmack’s legendary work style. Just to train a large model once will eat up 20% of this money.
      - leetrout 4y ago
        > Just to train a large model once will eat up 20% of this money. Fascinating point. It has seemed like AI could produce a sort of arms race by players with the most resources because it is so compute intensive upfront.
      - randartie 4y ago
mhh__ 4y ago
Does he have the expertise to pull it off as an individual?
- celdon25 4y ago
  I would say so. Most AGI work so far has been pursued by academics with a lack of software engineering best practices. Codebases get bloated and hard to understand. Ramp-up time measured in years. This hinders experimentation, which you have to optimize for with projects like this. I would suspect Carmack understands this, and also understands what resources to consult, and how to spot the bullshit artists in the field. I'd work for him in a heartbeat.
  - mhh__ 4y ago
    I'm just skeptical of his technical skills in this area. I need to watch the lex thing but I don't really rate lex in this area either. It's a fairly big shift from games. Management might be OK but setting the direction of the company needs more inspiration than just writing good C++ code
celdon25 4y ago
> something that interested him that he could do for fun and solo Really? I don't think anybody who works on AGI (not AI) without being dead serious about it will be qualified to work on it. A bad AGI implementation is one of humanity's gravest risks, and this is well-known in the AGI field, has been for years. Elon was far from the first to say this. Carmack isn't the type to get those kinds of details wrong.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

madrox 4y ago

I got the same impression, and maybe it still is. You can still raise money for a retirement project if the goal of the money is to hire a staff. VC money isn't solely for young 20-something founders who want to live their job.

solveit 4y ago
I suppose if anyone could raise VC money for a retirement project it would be Carmack...
rebelos 4y ago
Carmack sounds like someone who lives his job, so I don't think age/life stage is a factor here.
- russtrotter 4y ago
  agreed, Carmack's work ethic, opinions on work and opinions of how those around him work are legendary!
- bhdlr 4y ago
  > Carmack sounds like someone who lives his job, so I don't think age/life stage is a factor here. He said on lex Fridman that he's going all in on it. He said he was tired of his 1 day a week consultancy at oculus and wanted to work full time on this.
  - MikusR 4y ago
    https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1560729196166529025 https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1560729196166529025 > "I am continuing as a consultant with Meta on VR matters, devoting about 20% of my time there."

tux1968 4y ago

He mentioned, in his Lex Friedman interview, that accepting investor money was a way to keep himself serious and motivated. He feels an obligation to those putting their money in.

mywittyname 4y ago
Ah, I was thinking that $20MM doesn't seem like a lot of money for someone like Carmack. Surely he could have self-funded a business himself. This explains why he didn't.
- nighthawk454 4y ago
  yeah, his follow up tweet is pretty clear: > This is explicitly a focusing effort for me. I could write a $20M check myself, but knowing that other people's money is on the line engenders a greater sense of discipline and determination. I had talked about that as a possibility for a while, and I am glad Nat pushed me on it.
  - sytelus 4y ago
    It seems like bad logic. If he gets bored/throw in towel, he can just pay back with his money and move on. Also, if you need to create such artificial constraints in order to go to work, a main ingredient called “drive” is missing. I respect Carmack a lot but I don’t trust old centi-millionaires to work with same passion as their younger poorer selves. Finally, $20M is too low. AGI is not a solo endeavor and doesn’t fit in Carmack’s legendary work style. Just to train a large model once will eat up 20% of this money.
    - leetrout 4y ago
      > Just to train a large model once will eat up 20% of this money. Fascinating point. It has seemed like AI could produce a sort of arms race by players with the most resources because it is so compute intensive upfront.
    - randartie 4y ago

mhh__ 4y ago

Does he have the expertise to pull it off as an individual?

celdon25 4y ago
I would say so. Most AGI work so far has been pursued by academics with a lack of software engineering best practices. Codebases get bloated and hard to understand. Ramp-up time measured in years. This hinders experimentation, which you have to optimize for with projects like this. I would suspect Carmack understands this, and also understands what resources to consult, and how to spot the bullshit artists in the field. I'd work for him in a heartbeat.
- mhh__ 4y ago
  I'm just skeptical of his technical skills in this area. I need to watch the lex thing but I don't really rate lex in this area either. It's a fairly big shift from games. Management might be OK but setting the direction of the company needs more inspiration than just writing good C++ code

celdon25 4y ago

> something that interested him that he could do for fun and solo Really? I don't think anybody who works on AGI (not AI) without being dead serious about it will be qualified to work on it. A bad AGI implementation is one of humanity's gravest risks, and this is well-known in the AGI field, has been for years. Elon was far from the first to say this. Carmack isn't the type to get those kinds of details wrong.