Chris Barber (@chrisbarber) / X

Chris Barber

2,509 posts

Chris Barber

@chrisbarber

Startups, AGI prep, emotions, walkability. Interviewed: @tylercowen, @jeremyphoward, +more. I read DMs. Highlights: chrisbarber.co/start-here/

Joined June 2013

Pinned
Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jan 12
I co-wrote this RL environment FAQ with @datagenproc from @EpochAIResearch:
Epoch AI
@EpochAIResearch
Jan 12
Frontier labs are investing massively in RL environments, yet most of what happens in this space stays behind closed doors. @chrisbarber and @js_denain interviewed 18 people from RL environment startups, neolabs, and frontier labs. Here's what they found:
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jan 26, 2025
Will scaling reasoning models like o1, o3 and R1 unlock superhuman reasoning? I asked Gwern + former OpenAI/DeepMind researchers. Warning: long post. As we scale up training and inference compute for reasoning models, will they show: A) Strong general reasoning skills that
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jul 21, 2025
I asked a bunch of founders: "Who were your 1-3 most helpful angel investors?" The list: 1. Adam Smith - @asmith 2. Alex Adelman - @alexadelman 3. Alex Wu (CFO Advisors) 4. Alexandr Wang - @alexandr_wang 5. Ali Rowghani - @ROWGHANI 6. Anantha Kancherla (GM) 7. Andrés Pérez
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jul 25, 2025
I asked people: “Which AI researchers do you recommend following?” The list: @gabriel1 - OpenAI @polynoamial - OpenAI @_jasonwei - MSL @_arohan_ - Anthropic @willccbb - Prime Intellect @finbarrtimbers - Ai2 @jeremyphoward - AnswerAI @_xjdr & @doomslide @FlintCasey -
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Aug 12, 2025
My Updated Guide To The "Live Near Friends" Movement Some people wanna live near their friends and family. They had it in college, and then in dense cities post college. Then maybe they move to the suburbs. And their friends move to other cities for jobs or relationships. But
Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jul 19, 2025
With help from @Chris_Smeder, @JonathanHillis, @levin_phil, @devonzuegel, @damonhemmerding, @Cobylefko, @jansramek, @AustinTunnell and @davegordon14, I made this wishlist of changes that could make it easier to build more beautiful & walkable places. Somewhat ranked in order of
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Oct 1, 2025
"What advice do you have for mid-career AI researchers?" I asked @jeremyphoward, @finbarrtimbers, @jacobmbuckman, @rronak_, @alexeyguzey, @BlackHC, @rolandgvc, @angli_ai, @sandersted, @_arohan_, @danielhanchen and @TianbaoX what career advice they have for AI researchers, or
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jan 30, 2025
Interesting on superhuman reasoning models, shared with permission: Shannon Sands (@max_paperclips) from @NousResearch told me that Nous has a theory that LLMs learn task vectors for reasoning operations. On Wednesday Jan 22nd he found a backtracking vector "that when applied,
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Feb 8, 2025
Yesterday I asked Jeremy Howard: "How might people prepare for AI?" (@jeremyphoward from @answerdotai and @fastdotai) "I've lived through these cycles and can see them repeating like clockwork." This is an edited and re-organized version of our chat. What do you expect for AI
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jan 29, 2025
Just did a phone call with Tyler Cowen and asked him: "What advice would you give to people about how to prepare for advanced AI?" Key takeaways: 1. Work with best AI models now - you're never far from frontier 2. Build networks/mentors - helpful for information flow, as an
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Jul 19, 2025
With help from @Chris_Smeder, @JonathanHillis, @levin_phil, @devonzuegel, @damonhemmerding, @Cobylefko, @jansramek, @AustinTunnell and @davegordon14, I made this wishlist of changes that could make it easier to build more beautiful & walkable places. Somewhat ranked in order of
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Sep 16, 2025
I co-wrote another essay with Charlie Songhurst: "Mispriced Talent" Founders think they can find mispriced talent. It’s important to be aware of how you’re finding mispriced talent so that you don’t deceive yourself. There are two main ways to beat the market. 1) Pay in
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Nov 13, 2025
Charlie Songhurst and I drafted a list of founders who explored markets in unique ways before starting their co: 1. DoorDash: Tony/Stanley/Andy/Evan. Interviewed 100+ bay area businesses (and then of course also did deliveries themselves) 2. Weights & Biases: Lukas, Chris and
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Aug 19, 2025
I asked a few founders & investors: "What are 1-2 interesting startups for software engineers & researchers to join, beyond the big labs?" 1. MatX - chips for LLM training and inference - Founders: Reiner Pope, Mike Gunter (both ex-Google) 2. Prosper - domestic-work robots for
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Chris Barber
@chrisbarber
Nov 15, 2025
Charlie Songhurst and I are drafting (pls spot errors) a list of investors who started funds without working in VC: 1. @ItzSuds: SF1 (2025) 2. @gefkovicz, @benmtaft: Genius Ventures (2024) 3. Fiona Leng: Xtal (2024) 4. @kokoxs, @carloagostinel2: Nova (2024) 5. Sunny Sandhu,
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