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Ilya Sutskever Says AI’s Scale-First Phase Has Peaked, Urges a Return to Research

He argues that ever-larger computers will not deliver the next leap in capability.

Overview

  • In a newly released interview with Dwarkesh Patel, Sutskever says the industry is moving from pure scaling back to research-led progress.
  • He contends that even a 100x increase in compute would not by itself produce the transformative results many expect.
  • He maintains that compute still matters as a differentiator but says new methods are needed to use existing resources productively.
  • He identifies model generalization—learning from few examples like humans—as a fundamental research problem holding current systems back.
  • Business Insider reports he recently sat for a deposition tied to Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman, and Benzinga notes he founded SSI in 2024 with about $1 billion raised and reported acquisition interest from Meta.