Alexandr Wang is the founder of Scale AI, an AI training startup.
Key Takeaways
- Alexandr Wang, 28, is Meta’s chief AI officer.
- In a new interview, Wang recommended that young people learn how to vibe-code, or allow AI to write code based on instructions in plain English.
- Wang predicted that AI would be able to write substantial amounts of code in the next five years, including all of the code he has ever written.
MIT dropout and AI billionaire Alexandr Wang, 28, says that the key to getting ahead is learning to use AI code creation tools — and he recommends that all teens get up to speed with using them.
On an episode of the TBPN podcast that aired earlier this month, Wang shared his advice for young people, especially as AI takes over coding at big tech companies. At Microsoft and Google, for example, AI is writing up to 30% of code for company projects.
Meanwhile, AI coding tools like Replit and Cursor, which can generate blocks of code from a prompt, have enabled the rise of “vibe-coding,” or allowing AI to write code based on instructions in plain English. Non-technical people have vibe-coded apps and websites. Even Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted in June to using AI to vibe-code a webpage.
Related: Should High School Students Still Learn to Code? ‘Absolutely,’ Says OpenAI Engineer
Wang said that young people should spend “all” of their time vibe-coding and make it a way of life.
“If you are, like, 13 years old, you should spend all of your time vibe-coding,” Wang said on the podcast. “That’s how you should live your life.”
He mentioned that if teenagers spend “10,000 hours” getting familiar with AI coding tools, “that’s a huge advantage.”
Wang co-founded Scale AI, a data labeling startup for AI training, in 2016, after dropping out of MIT following his freshman year. He led the company for nearly a decade as CEO. The startup’s growth made him the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, with a net worth of $2 billion, per Forbes.
Related: The CEO of a Billion-Dollar Vibe Coding Startup Says You Can Break Into Tech Without a Computer Science Degree
Wang announced in June that he would be leaving the company to join Meta, which made a $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI in exchange for a 49% stake in the startup and access to new talent, including Wang. The investment more than doubled Scale AI’s valuation from $14 billion to $29 billion.
Wang, who is now Meta’s chief AI officer, said on the podcast that AI being able to write code was a game-changer that “radicalized” him.
“It’s impossible to understate the degree to which I’ve been radicalized by AI coding,” Wang said. “I think that fundamentally, the role of an engineer is very different now than it was before.”
Wang predicted that AI models will be able to produce substantial amounts of code within the next five years, including “literally all the code” he has ever written.
Related: The CEO of the World’s Most Valuable Company Says This Would Be His College Major in 2025
Wang’s remarks echo those made by Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company. Huang said in June that it no longer matters if someone never learned how to code — “there’s a new programming language” called natural language that they can use to prompt AI.
Key Takeaways
- Alexandr Wang, 28, is Meta’s chief AI officer.
- In a new interview, Wang recommended that young people learn how to vibe-code, or allow AI to write code based on instructions in plain English.
- Wang predicted that AI would be able to write substantial amounts of code in the next five years, including all of the code he has ever written.
MIT dropout and AI billionaire Alexandr Wang, 28, says that the key to getting ahead is learning to use AI code creation tools — and he recommends that all teens get up to speed with using them.
On an episode of the TBPN podcast that aired earlier this month, Wang shared his advice for young people, especially as AI takes over coding at big tech companies. At Microsoft and Google, for example, AI is writing up to 30% of code for company projects.
Meanwhile, AI coding tools like Replit and Cursor, which can generate blocks of code from a prompt, have enabled the rise of “vibe-coding,” or allowing AI to write code based on instructions in plain English. Non-technical people have vibe-coded apps and websites. Even Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted in June to using AI to vibe-code a webpage.
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