Chrislorang

CEO of Wearesongbird. Building companies at light speed in the new dawn.

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

Now that build and intelligence are abundant, imagination and judgement are becoming the scarce resource.

[Dario Amodei @DarioAmodei]

2/2 Second, on the messaging around AI.  I do not agree that my messaging has been disproportionately negative.  In fact it has been about equally balanced between risks and benefits: I’ve written one major essay about each, and even in interviews where I discuss the risks, I make sure to frequently mention the incredible benefits as well as proposing possible solutions to the risks (short clips from my interviews that end up on social media tend to be disproportionately negative, as that gets clicks).  In fact, I wrote Machines of Loving Grace because I didn’t feel the AI industry was painting an inspiring enough picture of how the technology could radically transform the world for the better.  The bulk of the essay is devoted to refuting skepticism of AI’s potential in health and biology, and showing why I think it will actually be possible to cure most human disease in ~5-10 years, as crazy as it may sound to ordinary people and frankly to biologists as well (I used to be one!).  And, if you read my most recent essay (Policy on the AI Exponential), I discuss concrete proposals for how to streamline the FDA process to make sure the deluge of AI-accelerated drugs isn’t slowed down by the regulatory process.  I feel the urgency here: I lost my father to Hepatitis C only a few years before the development of direct-acting antivirals (sofosbuvir), which cure 95% of patients and probably would have cured him.

I do agree that the public has a negative view of AI (and that this is a big problem), but I don’t think it is primarily caused by me or any other AI leader warning about AI’s risks.  I think it is fundamentally a crisis of trust.  I think that ordinary people don’t trust companies, governments, or the tech industry and always suspect that we are cooking up some new way to screw them over.  The causes of this go back decades and AI is just the latest iteration of it.  I don’t think that a glitzy marketing campaign with a positive spin (which some have advocated that Anthropic do) is the way to win back that trust — at this point, saying that AI will cure cancer is more a cliche than it is inspiring, and most people think it is deceptive.  The thing that will work is *actually curing cancer*.  I think by far the most accurate criticism of AI companies including Anthropic is that we haven’t yet delivered on our big promises to benefit the world.  That is totally on us, and I think it’s the criticism you should be making, instead of all this stuff about messaging and marketing.

We are however doing our best to fix this: Anthropic is ramping up its efforts very quickly in biology and medicine, and we hope to have incredible results in the coming years and some early glimmers in the coming months.  When we’ve actually accomplished something real, the whole world will hear about it, as loudly as possible, you have my word on that.  But until then I don’t want to make empty promises, and in the meantime I feel compelled to speak honestly about the very real risks of AI and how to address them.  Honesty is the right thing on the merits, and in terms of public credibility and trust it is no worse than, and may in fact be better than, an approach that ignores or distracts from risks which people instinctively understand are real.

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

The physics of building is now much easier. It’s the chemistry we must worry about. ❤️❤️

I’ve founded five businesses over 26 and helped grow several more.

But the biggest lesson?

Who you build with matters almost more than what you build 🤗Especially in the early days. 🧬

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

RT @nswpolice: Two people are in police custody at Bondi Beach; however, the police operation is ongoing and we continue to urge people to…

[Ken Berenger @KenBerenger]

Ryan Reynolds Is the new Steve Jobs.

In 2020, Ryan Reynolds bought a struggling 5th-tier Welsh football club for $2.5M.

Everyone called him a Hollywood dreamer.

But what he did next changed sports & business forever... Here's the story: 🧵

[Tom Bilyeu @TomBilyeu]

9 AI tools for solopreneurs that will help you launch faster than hiring a $100,000 team.

Thread 🧵👇

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

This is the insight. Works in sales and for founders.

[Daniel Pink @DanielPink]

The best way to get great feedback?

Don’t ask for feedback.

Ask for advice.

Here’s why this small shift changes everything.

[Steph Smith @stephsmithio]

In 1994, Jeff Bezos famously spotted a stat that made him leave his high-paying PE job to start Amazon:

💡 The Internet was growing 2300% per year.

What are the generation-defining stats of today?

I'll post a few to kick things off...

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

@nickcrocker Ha great call. You the mayor.

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

@katherinefeeney love your work

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

I’ve been thinking about startup growth in this climate. 1. Be realistic about your MVP. 2. Structure to survive. 3. Raise sensibly 4. Think how climate affects your customer 5. Remember Airbnb started in Financial crisis. #airbnb #startupsurvival #startup #GrowthMindset

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

@viveka Love it 👍🏽

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

Ouch #WPP still lip-sticking the pig huh. It’s fine to say change, it is hard to enact it. While the old guard still guard the castle the walls will continue to crumble. #mylunchkeepsgettingeaten #oldschooladagencies

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

Settle in to isolation

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

When they write articles about this pandemic I wonder how much panic will be attributed to the media virus that propagates panic #COVID2019 #crazy #tppeople

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Coachella should postpone itself until it stops sucking

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

We should have two climate wars - one on the actual climate change and aggressively reducing emissions, one on changing the current political climate and the liberal government who clearly don’t get it #ClimateActNow #ClimateChange #ScottyfromMarketing

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

@Suhail There’s been so much improvement though even in the last 4 years. Zoom, wellness apps, strategized, miro, so much better but agree still a lonely rd for founders and freelancers

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

Crazy how fast we a moving.

[Chrislorang @chrislorang]

Makes me smile.