Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈

Machine Learning Engineer and Columbia University Computer Science grad.

[a16z @a16z]

Today, a16z is announcing the Machine Age Fund, a new $1.1 billion fund for founders rebuilding what intelligence runs on: chips, memory, networking, systems software, power, and the machines that bring AI into the physical world.

Ben Horowitz, Martin Casado, and Raghu Raghuram see a new economic law. A thousand engineers cannot erase a two-year software lead, but a massive GPU cluster can turn capital directly into capability. Models are improving faster than the memory, interconnect, power, and cooling beneath them.

The founder map is changing with it. Some of the strongest teams are moving from pure software into complex hardware because every constraint in the stack is now a company-building opportunity.

In this conversation with Erik Torenberg, they explain what founders can build, why the opportunity reaches all the way down to the physical stack, and why a16z created a fund for it.

00:00 Intro
01:08 Why AI needs an entirely new infrastructure
02:02 The bottleneck is no longer the model
02:40 Founders saw it before investors did
06:07 Sold out through 2028
07:14 Why this time is different from 1999
08:57 The company whose idle hardware gained value
10:51 "Why didn't this fund exist five years ago?"
13:51 "Nobody likes to use AI more than AI"
17:06 The startup law that capital just broke
21:05 What Grok Bot got right
26:43 The case for a custom chip per model
28:23 Why AC power isn't good enough
32:07 Lots of new electricians
34:14 What one gigawatt can power
35:03 Why utilities can't just build faster
37:22 The data centers that give power back
38:01 Why we should never have called it AI
39:43 Why Nvidia will willingly leave money on the table
48:08 Hardware founders are older
52:36 Why America has to lead

YouTube: https://t.co/5QdtZyFJ9T

@bhorowitz @RaghuRaghuram @martin_casado @eriktorenberg

[elvis @omarsar0]

A great paper from Google on maintaining agent skills through persistent knowledge.

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

I completed Supervised Machine Learning: Regression and Classification! Check out my certificate 🚀🎉https://t.co/zm0bVGj70A #Coursera #MachineLearningEngineer #OpenToWork #NeverStopLearning #ViewsMyOwn #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #StanfordUniversity #DeepLearningAI

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

Unlock the secrets to acing your next software engineering behavioral interview and get the inside scoop on the top 50 behavioral questions and answers. 💻💼 Impress your interviewers and land your dream job! #SoftwareEngineering #BehavioralInterviews 📚https://t.co/plkMgLEXyg

[Akshay 🚀 @akshay_pachaar]

I have been coding in Python for 8 years now. ⏳

Here's a roadmap to Master Python! 🚀

A Thread 🧵👇

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

If you think you cannot code, you’ve never had a MySpace profile.

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

@driscollis Selenium

[mattpugs @MatthewPugliese]

The @EmpireStateBldg was taken over last night by @Stranger_Things! Was pretty cool to see! Who else got to check it out?? Gm ☕

[ColumbiaGS @ColumbiaGS]

“Speak your mind with force, especially if you feel that your opinion is uncommon or underrepresented.”

@JPBouvet ‘22GS > Professional Musician > Columbia GS > Future Therapist

#GreatGradsOfGS #RoarLions2022
https://t.co/XzT0VN9ljm

[ColumbiaGS @ColumbiaGS]

Tonight's the night—get those cameras ready! The @EmpireStateBldg will be lit up blue for @Columbia grads! 💙🎓 #RoarLions2022

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

Two years after our #graduation from #ColumbiaUniversity @ColumbiaGS @Columbia, we finally got to celebrate! #OwlTogether2022 #classof2020 #Commencement #columbiaGS #Columbia 🎓🦉😍🎉🍾🥂🦁

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

@loquaciousloka 100% agree!

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

@5t3ph Red
Pink
White
Black
Yellow

[Sebastián Ramírez @tiangolo]

I saw a job post the other day. 👔

It required 4+ years of experience in FastAPI. 🤦

I couldn't apply as I only have 1.5+ years of experience since I created that thing. 😅

Maybe it's time to re-evaluate that "years of experience = skill level". ♻

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

Took a self driving car ride from #Waymo today! It was amazing! @Waymo is the future! How exciting!

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

Took a self driving car ride from #Waymo today! It was amazing! @Waymo is the future! How exciting!

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

Do you remember when you joined Twitter? I do! #MyTwitterAnniversary

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Portugal is among the world’s leaders in vaccinations, with roughly 86% of its population fully inoculated.

Vice Adm. Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who turned the country’s vaccine campaign around, said there was a key to his success: Keep politics out of it.
https://t.co/ZGFNBv7SRX

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

@GTNYC It’s a slang combination of “boo” and “sugar,” indicating someone you care about romantically – lover, boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, partner, etc. It reminds me of the song, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa:
“You want me, I want you, baby.
My SUGARBOO, I'm levitating.”

[Nick Gupta 🏳️‍🌈 @nickgupta212]

#NewProfilePic