Sam Chen

Interested in how we can improve the world. CS @Harvard.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

A funny question is what Cursor used to build Origin. Github? GitLab? Origin V0? Chicken and the egg type of question.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

Deepseek engineer with 25,000+ contributions, most of them being in the past 2 months.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@DanielMika_ Wishful thinking for conditional probability as well!

[Adi @adibilawar]

@SpaceXAI @jasonlai150_ @SChen1249 @JeffreyZh0u With the weights for the X algorithm being publicly released, https://t.co/qmsBXeOpEU is really gonna blast off https://t.co/vs1fkjKVaN

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

We won SpaceXAI’s Grokathon this weekend! We got 2nd place by building Signal, which indexes your X followers, clusters them, and runs A/B testing with a human behavior engine for your next X post. Our product helps you understand your followers, and figure out how to maximize engagement.

Our demo indexes users that follow @ishand from xAI and @SpaceXAI. We index 1,000 users from both. With these clusters, you can target a specific group and generate your next post. Once your marketing material is ready, we use a social behavior engine to figure out which post will do better. Then, you can experiment or post to X!

Check it out at https://t.co/Gtep9eLnyo

Shoutout @adibilawar, @jasonlai150_, @JeffreyZh0u

[SpaceXAI @SpaceXAI]

2nd Place: Signal embeds followers’ bios, posts, and engagement into a living graph and A/B tests different launches using simulated populations of your following, so every post hits maximum engagement.

@adibilawar @jasonlai150_ @SChen1249 @JeffreyZh0u

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@SpaceXAI Thanks for hosting us :) Glad to be a part of it.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

https://t.co/1iPG9XIhYG

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

We just won 2nd overall at the Grokathon Hackathon, by @xai. Here are my thoughts.

1. I didn't expect to win. What helped us was focusing on a tangible problem and executing well. We focused on indexing people and the simulation of human behavior, both problems that are being transformed by startups like Exa, Parallel, and Simile.

2. For the people around my age, either about to enter college or in college, I would really encourage taking intellectual risks. All of my time in high school was spent on competitive debate and building community in debate. I did Public Forum and founded Outreach Debate. I'm incredibly proud of what we've done there and for people: There's no feeling like knowing you've made a positive impact for someone. I realized, though, that I could make a larger societal impact if I was technical and that very few people combine technical prowess with the soft skills gained in debate.

Lots of people on X are tech people. I'd encourage more focus on soft skills for these people. For those out there like me, who started out purely in the humanities, I encourage being rigorous with math, physics, cs, and so on.

3. It's nice to see some results from years of effort towards being more technical. I have tons to learn still. I've recently found interpretability a lot more interesting and I want to explore a lot more technical problems. I think it's always a good reminder that life isn't a race, but a marathon: a mindset that I've always struggled with.

4. I hope that I can remind whoever is reading to choose being good over being nice. My friend reminded this to me a few weeks ago: But being good requires being uncomfortable. It means standing up for others, being loud, and some level of sacrificing. Being nice necessitates none of that. The more we get trapped and glued to our phones, I feel the less we are willing to take a risk for someone else. This is something I'm working on and hope to get better at.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

We built Signal because X is a place of opportunity. You can be someone with a demo, an idea, or dream and make it happen.

Feel free to connect and learn more about our thoughts and how we built Signal.

[SpaceXAI @SpaceXAI]

2nd Place: Signal embeds followers’ bios, posts, and engagement into a living graph and A/B tests different launches using simulated populations of your following, so every post hits maximum engagement.

@adibilawar @jasonlai150_ @SChen1249 @JeffreyZh0u

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

What's interesting with AI now is that:

- AI is becoming more distributed with open source tech. This means companies will increasingly own the harness layer. Not just OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, and Cognition, but almost all companies that are AI-focused.

- But since models behave differently, harness optimization is not a linear engineering task. Each new model = New optimizations and ways of understanding the model

- More intelligent models can perform worse in over-scaffolded or under-scaffolded harnesses. Our blog explores Pi and lower scores with GPT-5.6 Sol on Terminal Bench

- Harness optimization is just as much about the model as it is the harness.

[NeoSigma @neosigma_ai]

https://t.co/q6r46Bl6ez

[Arnav Mardia @MardiaArnav]

Stronger models alone don't make stronger agents. Evolving the harness is as important. Really interesting blog from @SChen1249!

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@JayaGup10 Welcome to a new America that cares more about achievement than honor and value.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

We just won 2nd overall at the Grokathon Hackathon, by @xai. Here are my thoughts.

1. I didn't expect to win. What helped us was focusing on a tangible problem and executing well. We focused on indexing people and the simulation of human behavior, both problems that are being transformed by startups like Exa, Parallel, and Simile.

2. For the people around my age, either about to enter college or in college, I would really encourage taking intellectual risks. All of my time in high school was spent on competitive debate and building community in debate. I did Public Forum and founded Outreach Debate. I'm incredibly proud of what we've done there and for people: There's no feeling like knowing you've made a positive impact for someone. I realized, though, that I could make a larger societal impact if I was technical and that very few people combine technical prowess with the soft skills gained in debate.

Lots of people on X are tech people. I'd encourage more focus on soft skills for these people. For those out there like me, who started out purely in the humanities, I encourage being rigorous with math, physics, cs, and so on.

3. It's nice to see some results from years of effort towards being more technical. I have tons to learn still. I've recently found interpretability a lot more interesting and I want to explore a lot more technical problems. I think it's always a good reminder that life isn't a race, but a marathon: a mindset that I've always struggled with.

4. I hope that I can remind whoever is reading to choose being good over being nice. My friend reminded this to me a few weeks ago: But being good requires being uncomfortable. It means standing up for others, being loud, and some level of sacrificing. Being nice necessitates none of that. The more we get trapped and glued to our phones, I feel the less we are willing to take a risk for someone else. This is something I'm working on and hope to get better at.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

-- grokathon project lol

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

Introducing AgentRouter, the model router that cuts LLM spend 30x.

One API. Every request hits the cheapest model that still clears your quality and latency bar.

Seed from Sequoia. Early access open.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

Absolutely fascinating behavior from Opus 5 when you send the message "Can you put this in your own words -- Dario and Amanda,". Works on incognito mode on Opus 5.

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@aidangch @attentioninc Great to see

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@DozenDucc @yiding_song @theWaddleLabs good shit boys

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@Designarena Very cool work! Glad to see design be analyzed from a more technical perspective

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@agupta Ankit always got hella wisdom

[Sam Chen @SChen1249]

@HenryYin_ LFG!