Podbit · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Modern AI is not lines of code — it's a neural net with up to 10 trillion parameters, trained by positive and negative reinforcement the same way the human brain learns. Pre-training teaches it to predict text; then specific tasks like coding get layered on top. The whole thing is basically an artificial brain, but one that no human can look inside and understand.
Where this was said
At 31:45 · chapter starts 30:03
This is one of the most technically informative sections of the interview, delivered accessibly. Kokotajlo explains that modern AI is not software in the conventional sense — no engineer wrote rules telling it how to behave. Instead, it is a neural network: a vast tangle of connections (parameters) that starts as random noise and is trained into usefulness by reinforcement, the same basic mechanism by which brains learn. Pre-training teaches the AI to predict text, giving it a broad model of the world. Later training layers on specific capabilities like coding. The current largest models have approximately 10 trillion parameters, compared to 175 billion in 2020 — roughly 100x growth in six years. A key point for the safety discussion: unlike conventional software, you cannot look inside a neural network and see what it's thinking. Mechanistic interpretability research is trying to solve this, but it's an inherently difficult problem — understanding one small group of connections among 10 trillion tells you almost nothing about the whole. This opacity is a central reason the loss-of-control risk is so hard to rule out.
From 175 billion parameters in 2020 to approximately 10 trillion today, AI models have grown by roughly two orders of magnitude in six years.
Game apps keep users engaged long enough for ads to pay off. Tool apps don't — so if you're building a utility, ads are almost always the wrong call and subscriptions are your only real lever.
Inside SEO Bot, a single button labelled 'Boost My Domain Rating' routes users directly to Listing Bot. That one interaction converts a user of one tool into a user of two — without any marketing cost.
Directory listings are a powerful but underrated growth channel — but only if your product is genuinely interesting enough to earn the click. AI products have a natural advantage here because they're easy to package in a compelling, clickable way.
The fastest path to Twitter growth isn't volume — it's forming sharp opinions about how the platform works and sharing them immediately. People cluster around those who understand the rules and say so out loud.
Sam had no coding knowledge, so he used ChatGPT voice mode to generate his entire codebase and copy-pasted it into Notepad. A friend later introduced him to Cursor, and he never looked back.
Copy days of Discord chat history, paste it into ChatGPT, and ask it to list recurring pain points. The ones that come up most often are your best product bets.
Sam's top advice: when prompting Cursor, tell it to architect code for 100,000 users from day one. The AI changes its approach, building scalable frameworks instead of brittle one-user code.
With AI coding tools like Cursor, Bhanu replicates an existing free tool for a new keyword in under 5 minutes. What used to be a multi-day build is now a lunch-break task.
Ahrefs, SiteGPT, Cal.com, PostHog, Datafast, Sibyl AI, Bento, Feather, Featurepace, Mintlify, Cloud Code, ChartMogul — Bhanu runs his entire business solo with these 12 tools.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.