Jul 21, 2025 04:52 PM
https://gizmodo.com/billionaires-convinc...2000629060
INTRO: Generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok have exploded in popularity as AI becomes mainstream. These tools don’t have the ability to make new scientific discoveries on their own, but billionaires are convinced that AI is on the cusp of doing just that. And the latest episode of the All-In podcast helps explain why these guys think AI is extremely close to revolutionizing scientific knowledge.
Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber who no longer works at the company, appeared on All-In to talk with hosts Jason Calacanis and Chamath Palihapitiya about the future of technology. When the topic turned to AI, Kalanick discussed how he uses xAI’s Grok, which went haywire last week, praising Adolf Hitler and advocating for a second Holocaust against Jews.
“I’ll go down this thread with [Chat]GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” Kalanick explained. “And we’re approaching what’s known. And I’m trying to poke and see if there’s breakthroughs to be had. And I’ve gotten pretty damn close to some interesting breakthroughs just doing that.”
The guys on the podcast only briefly addressed Grok’s failures without getting into specifics about the MechaHitler debacle, and none of that stopped Kalanick from talking like Grok was this revolutionary tool that was so close to making scientific discoveries in revolutionary ways.
“I pinged Elon on at some point. I’m just like, dude, if I’m doing this and I’m super amateur hour physics enthusiast, like what about all those PhD students and postdocs that are super legit using this tool?” Kalanick said.
Kalanick suggested that what made this even more incredible was that he was using an earlier version of Grok before Grok 4 was released on Wednesday.
“And this is pre-Grok 4. Now with Grok 4, like, there’s a lot of mistakes I was seeing Grok make that then I would correct, and we would talk about it. Grok 4 could be this place where breakthroughs are actually happening, new breakthroughs,” Kalanick said.
Calacanis asked Kalanick the obvious question of whether Grok was actually on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. Because anyone who actually understands large language models knows that it can’t achieve new ways of thinking. It’s just putting together words in the most statistically likely way, forming connections that may sound like a well-thought-out argument but are actually not a form of true “intelligence” as humans would define it.
“Is your perception that the LLMs are actually starting to get to the reasoning level, that they’ll come up with a novel concept theory and have that breakthrough? Or that we’re kind of reading into it and it’s just trying random stuff at the margins?” Calacanis asked.
Kalanick said that he hasn’t used Grok 4 because he was having technical difficulties accessing it, suggesting that perhaps a later version of Grok might be capable of such a thing. But he admitted the AI couldn’t yet come up with new discoveries... (MORE - details)
INTRO: Generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok have exploded in popularity as AI becomes mainstream. These tools don’t have the ability to make new scientific discoveries on their own, but billionaires are convinced that AI is on the cusp of doing just that. And the latest episode of the All-In podcast helps explain why these guys think AI is extremely close to revolutionizing scientific knowledge.
Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber who no longer works at the company, appeared on All-In to talk with hosts Jason Calacanis and Chamath Palihapitiya about the future of technology. When the topic turned to AI, Kalanick discussed how he uses xAI’s Grok, which went haywire last week, praising Adolf Hitler and advocating for a second Holocaust against Jews.
“I’ll go down this thread with [Chat]GPT or Grok and I’ll start to get to the edge of what’s known in quantum physics and then I’m doing the equivalent of vibe coding, except it’s vibe physics,” Kalanick explained. “And we’re approaching what’s known. And I’m trying to poke and see if there’s breakthroughs to be had. And I’ve gotten pretty damn close to some interesting breakthroughs just doing that.”
The guys on the podcast only briefly addressed Grok’s failures without getting into specifics about the MechaHitler debacle, and none of that stopped Kalanick from talking like Grok was this revolutionary tool that was so close to making scientific discoveries in revolutionary ways.
“I pinged Elon on at some point. I’m just like, dude, if I’m doing this and I’m super amateur hour physics enthusiast, like what about all those PhD students and postdocs that are super legit using this tool?” Kalanick said.
Kalanick suggested that what made this even more incredible was that he was using an earlier version of Grok before Grok 4 was released on Wednesday.
“And this is pre-Grok 4. Now with Grok 4, like, there’s a lot of mistakes I was seeing Grok make that then I would correct, and we would talk about it. Grok 4 could be this place where breakthroughs are actually happening, new breakthroughs,” Kalanick said.
Calacanis asked Kalanick the obvious question of whether Grok was actually on the verge of a scientific breakthrough. Because anyone who actually understands large language models knows that it can’t achieve new ways of thinking. It’s just putting together words in the most statistically likely way, forming connections that may sound like a well-thought-out argument but are actually not a form of true “intelligence” as humans would define it.
“Is your perception that the LLMs are actually starting to get to the reasoning level, that they’ll come up with a novel concept theory and have that breakthrough? Or that we’re kind of reading into it and it’s just trying random stuff at the margins?” Calacanis asked.
Kalanick said that he hasn’t used Grok 4 because he was having technical difficulties accessing it, suggesting that perhaps a later version of Grok might be capable of such a thing. But he admitted the AI couldn’t yet come up with new discoveries... (MORE - details)