👨🎓 Guys, I found real gold — the Stanford lecture series: Economics of the AI Supercycle.
Perhaps the best thing I've watched in the last 6-12 months. The authors describe the course as follows:
"AI is the biggest technology supercycle since the PC, Internet, and Mobile. MS&E 435 is a seminar that unpacks the economics at each layer of the AI stack. Each week, we learn from a practitioner with a unique vantage point across the stack."
What I particularly like is that the course explains AI not from the perspective of algorithms, transformers, and tokens, but from an economic standpoint: how the market is structured, who profits, where the bottlenecks are. And in each lecture, there are invited industry leaders. For example, the third lecture features Chase Lochmiller, CEO and Co-Founder of Crusoe — a huge company building data centers. He breaks down with numbers how a data center is built, where the bottlenecks are (electricity, cooling, people, permits). Very specific.
I've already watched 3 lectures and realized that I want to listen to them more thoughtfully, read the recommended materials, discuss with someone — rather than just listen in the background while on the go.
At the same time, I've been recalling my Rvachev Knowledge Club for many months. A cool initiative that has somewhat stalled — but now is a great opportunity to revive it. Within it, we've gone through several courses on very different topics: from hardcore Harvard CS50 on programming to finding happiness in Yale: The Science of Well-Being. We found a really cool format: each person independently watches lectures and reads additional materials over the week, and then we call for an hour to discuss. The main insight from such meetings is how differently different people perceive the same material.
In general, the club is being revived. The first meeting is on May 4 online: we'll get to know each other and discuss the first lecture. For it, you will need to watch one episode — about an hour of time. I will send the details after registration.
Participation is open to everyone — register here: https://luma.com/9wbd6al2
The course is here: https://www.youtube.com/@MSE435EconomicsofAI
