Today I'm excited to introduce two things:
1/ I'm starting a podcast series along the same theme as this blog. The Slow Hunch Podcast will dive into the twists and turns, ups and downs, near misses, minor miracles, and personal plights behind the stories of "overnight successes", big breakthroughs, and ideas that in hindsight seem obvious but weren't always that way.
2/ Could not be more thrilled to welcome my first guest on the pod, my old friend Fraser Kelton.
Fraser and I first worked together a decade ago when USV invested in his last company Koko: an AI company focused on mental health that was ultimately acquired by Airbnb. My time working on the Koko board was a major introduction for me to the ML / AI tools & techniques of that earlier era. During Fraser's time at Airbnb, OpenAI released their seminal research that paved the way for what we now think of as modern AI / LLMs. Inspired by this advance, Fraser joined OpenAI as Head of Product and was part of the team that launched ChatGPT and changed everything. He's now a partner at Spark Capital, on a mission to support founders on their journeys of discovery.
I hope you enjoy the conversation. You can find the podcast here, which includes links to Apple and Spotify for audio. And you can find the full video conversation on Youtube, and embedded below.
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I’m honored to welcome my old friend Fraser Kelton to the first episode of The Slow Hunch Podcast, where we explore the often slow, twisty and unexpected paths that lead to big breakthroughs. Fraser was head of product at OpenAI leading up to and through the launch of ChatGPT
Fraser and I go way back, to when he was CEO of Koko, a @USV portfolio company circa 2015 that used AI/ML to address online mental health and trust & safety During our time working on Koko, we got an early hint of what might become possible at the intersection of AI and language
After Koko was acquired by Airbnb, Fraser fell further down the AI rabbit hole, and then later managed to land the role at OpenAI after cold-emailing Ilya and seeing a demo of a precursor to GPT-3
We’ll get into the story of how ChatGPT came into being – but almost didn’t
And finally, we’ll look ahead at what might be possible from here. HUGE thanks to Fraser for the conversation here. He is so knowledgeable and thoughtful, and his enthusiasm for what the future may hold is infectious.
Excited to announce two updates! First, I'm launching The Slow Hunch Podcast, diving into the behind-the-scenes of "overnight successes" and breakthroughs. Second, my first guest is Fraser Kelton, an old friend and AI pioneer. Catch our chat on the pod! @nickgrossman.eth