ATRIUMsearch → argument graph
ClaimVideo · 45:40 — 47:10

Because no frontier model has been run continuously for a meaningful length of time, we genuinely do not know how intelligent these models actually are, and letting a model like Einstein-caliber intelligence run tirelessly for a year could already have solved intractable problems.

Gavin Baker argues that since no model has been run continuously for a long stretch, its true intelligence ceiling is unknown, illustrating with a thought experiment of an ever-focused, tireless Einstein-level intelligence running for a year. ✦ AI generated

Gavin Baker · BG2 Pod · 2026-06-11 · original ↗

starts at this moment · 45:40

Elicited by

Say more about that. Why don't we know how smart they are?

imagine Albert Einstein had just thought about fundamental physics 24 hours a day. He doesn't have to eat, he doesn't have to sleep, he doesn't have to relax, he doesn't drink, never gets old, never has diminished intelligence, and he thought for 1 year. I mean, we might already, you know, have solved a lot of these intractable problems.

verbatim transcript · starts at 45:40

Transcript · around this moment

45:40He doesn't have to eat, he doesn't have to sleep, he doesn't have to relax, he doesn't drink, >> never gets old, >> never gets old, >> never has diminished intelligence, >> and he thought for 1 year. I mean, we might already, you know, >> have solved a lot of these intractable problems. >> So, I just think that's an extraordinary thought. And just my takeaway was however bullish I was on compute before then,

46:05I'm just a lot more bullish. >> Right. Right. Right. So, so, so that is a, you know, we saw when that was probably what really unlocked Opus 4.6. It was the first really long-running model that could maintain that context, maintain that memory, um solve some of these longer-running problems, right? For us, the signal was in January. We knew we felt like that was a big moment, but then when you

46:30started to see the revenue go up, we knew that lots of people were voting independently, that that was a profound moment that they became much, much more useful. So, but one of the things that the consensus going into this year, right? So, the big question going into this year was was the AI revenue going to show up? Were we going to get to these thresholds of intelligence that caused enterprises and

46:55consumers to use them more? And I think the consensus at the time, at least on this podcast, um the the the debate with with my with with with Bill was the open-source models, cheap tokens, were catching up on the frontier, that perhaps these models were beginning to asymptote, um that people wouldn't really pay for premium tokens, and it seems to me that the evidence on the field, 6 months into the year, is

47:21just the opposite, right? That frontier tokens are capturing the vast majority of all the revenues, and that in fact, if you believe in the long-running capabilities and more compute allows you to do that, they may actually be extending their lead, right? On some of these models that were built on distillation. So, I just open it up to anyone around the table, what are your thoughts on whether or not, you

Around this claim