Kevin Weil
Chief Product Officer at OpenAI
Kevin Weil is Chief Product Officer at OpenAI. He was previously head of product at Instagram and Twitter, and co-creator of the Libra cryptocurrency at Facebook. He serves on the boards of Planet, Strava, and the Black Product Managers Network.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Kevin Weil, CPO of OpenAI, shares how building products on AI is fundamentally different from any other technology because the foundation keeps improving — the model you use today is the worst you'll ever use. He explains why internal usage explosion (like with ImageGen and Instagram Stories) is the strongest signal a product will work, advises developers to keep building on the edge of model capabilities, and argues that writing evals is becoming a core PM skill.
Leadership Principles
- → The AI model you're using today is the worst AI model you will ever use for the rest of your life — plan accordingly
- → If your product is right on the edge of model capabilities, keep going — in two months the models will be great and your product will sing
- → Internal usage explosion is the strongest signal that a product will work — if your team can't stop using it, users won't be able to either
Notable Quotes
"The AI model that you're using today is the worst AI model you will ever use for the rest of your life. Every two months, computers can do something they've never been able to do before and you need to completely think differently about what you're doing."
— On the fundamental difference between building on AI versus any other technology foundation
"If you're building and the product is right on the edge of the capabilities of the models, keep going because you're doing something right. Give it another couple months and the models are going to be great, and suddenly your product will really sing."
— On advice to developers building products at the frontier of model capabilities
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