Andrew Ng on June 17, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.

Andrew Ng has helped shape some of the most influential movements in modern AI—from online education to deep learning to AI entrepreneurship.

In this talk, he shares what he’s learning now: why execution speed matters more than ever, how agentic workflows are changing what startups can build, and why concreteness beats vagueness when turning ideas into products. He reflects on the rise of AI coding assistants, the shifting bottlenecks in product development, and why, despite faster software, it’s still human judgment and responsibility that will shape what comes next.

Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply.
Work at a startup: https:/workatastartup.com.

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction.
00:31 — The Importance of Speed in Startups.
01:13 — Opportunities in the AI Stack.
02:06 — The Rise of Agent AI
04:52 — Concrete Ideas for Faster Execution.
08:56 — Rapid Prototyping and Engineering.
17:06 — The Role of Product Management.
21:23 — The Value of Understanding AI
22:33 — Technical Decisions in AI Development.
23:26 — Leveraging Gen AI Tools for Startups.
24:05 — Building with AI Building Blocks.
25:26 — The Importance of Speed in Startups.
26:41 — Addressing AI Hype and Misconceptions.
37:35 — AI in Education: Current Trends and Future Directions.
39:33 — Balancing AI Innovation with Ethical Considerations.
41:27 — Protecting Open Source and the Future of AI.

“This collaboration will not only position Texas Tech to address the evolving demands of the energy and technology sectors, but will also create meaningful educational opportunities for our students and research possibilities across many disciplines,” said Texas Tech University President Lawrence Schovanec.

In addition to internships and training programs, the project includes a dedicated academic and research facility with classrooms, offices and conference space for students and faculty across the university system.

Fermi America has also pledged to support a long-term excellence fund to advance research, promote academic priorities and expand student success initiatives throughout all five institutions in the Texas Tech University System.

Since ChatGPT appeared almost three years ago, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on learning has been widely debated. Are they handy tools for personalised education, or gateways to academic dishonesty?

Most importantly, there has been concern that using AI will lead to a widespread “dumbing down”, or decline in the ability to think critically. If students use AI tools too early, the argument goes, they may not develop basic skills for critical thinking and problem-solving.

Is that really the case? According to a recent study by scientists from MIT, it appears so. Using ChatGPT to help write essays, the researchers say, can lead to “cognitive debt” and a “likely decrease in learning skills”

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly permeating many aspects of our everyday lives and nearly every sector of society. In education, AI innovations are increasingly recognized for their transformative potential for enhancing teaching and student learning. In this article, I focus specifically on the evolution of AI in early childhood education (ECE), serving children from birth to age 8. To shed light on this phenomenon, I synthesize pertinent literature to yield conceptual, empirical, and practical insights. I begin with a historical perspective, tracing the origins of Turing’s conception of machine intelligence and the term “AI” to the current practical applications of AI in ECE and AI use by, for, and with children. I then examine developmental appropriateness and ethical considerations surrounding AI use. Next, I identify new opportunities and challenges for early childhood teachers, offering practical recommendations for education leaders and proposing future research directions. Finally, I conclude by reimagining an AI-powered future of ECE, emphasizing the need for supportive practices, active engagement, and the cultivation of positive dispositions among all key stakeholders, who must keep pace with the evolving AI landscape by navigating new opportunities, emerging challenges, and innovative developments. Additionally, I reimagine a transformative educational landscape enriched by student-centered, innovative teaching practices that catalyze learning in an AI-child interactive environment. In this reimagined and progressive educational landscape, the children are empowered with equal opportunities and equitable resources to naturally learn about and from developmentally appropriate AI tools as well as leverage them in ethical and responsible ways to enhance their learning.

Artificial intelligence chatbots are now in every public school in the state. It’s saving teachers time and giving students a 24/7 on-call educator.

A team of neurologists and AI specialists at MIT’s Media Lab has led a study looking into the brain impacts of large language model (LLM) use among people who engage with them for study or work. They report evidence that the use of LLMs may lead to an erosion of critical thinking skills. In their study, posted on the arXiv preprint server, the researchers asked groups of volunteers to write essays while connected to EEG monitors.

Over the past few years, the use of LLMs such as ChatGPT has become commonplace. Some use them for fun, while others use them to help with school or work responsibilities, and the team at MIT wondered what sort of impact LLM use might have on the brain.

To find out, they recruited 54 volunteers. The initial group was then split into three small groups, all of whom were asked to write a 20-minute essay on the topic of philanthropy—one group was asked to use ChatGPT for help, the second was asked to use Google Search, and the third “Brain-only” group was given no tools or resources at all. The participants remained in these same groups for three writing sessions.