A Frictionless Future Dialog with Andrej Karpathy: High Agency and the Soul of the Product

Exploring why AI acts as a lever for the high agency mind and a crutch for the stagnant soul

Contemplating the frictionless current of the AI future. Acceleration is guaranteed; High Agency is the internal anchor required to steer. Created with Gemini.

I have been following Andrej Karpathy (TIME100 Most Influential People in AI) with great interest for some time. His philosophical and futuristic approaches to AI, combined with hearing his name frequently from various circles lately, placed him right at the center of my focus. (I generally believe that there is no one we cannot reach) Recently, while returning from a New Year’s holiday trip from Rome to Barcelona, I had the chance to listen to plenty of podcasts during that 1000 kilometer journey. That was when I came across the High Agency episode of Eray Erdoğan ’s 5 Kişi Podcast.

What is High Agency? In its simplest form, it is the ability to find the inner drive to go around, under, or through a wall when you encounter one, instead of just saying the road is closed. According to Andrej, this is the most critical and defining skill an individual can possess in the AI era. Since technology now provides everyone with the same baseline of power, the real differentiator becomes your agency, the force that decides where to direct that power.

They say a person is always searching for themselves. For me, life is a quest and a journey; I am always searching for myself and I continue to do so. Every now and then, when I find something about myself, I stop and say “Eureka!” to rest for a while. I reflect on what I found, shoulder what I have learned and clarified, and set out on the road again. The concept of High Agency became one of the things I fitted to myself during this journey of searching. I can say it feels much better than fitting myself to ADHD, at least :)

Without straying too far from the subject, I want to share a thought I expressed recently that my girlfriend liked very much: “I try to fix certain things in my life to ensure the things that need to move, actually move.” Everyone can derive their own meaning from this sentence; I am curious to hear what you understand from it, so feel free to write to me.

Anyway, while on the road with these thoughts, I tried many different combinations and finally reached Andrej Karpathy! Being careful not to overwhelm him, I asked him the critical questions that were on my mind.

A Lever or a Crutch?

I asked him whether the concept of High Agency is a lever for humanity and the individual, or a crutch. His answer was very clear:

“AI is a superpower for high agency individuals. It allows what used to take a person weeks to do to be finished in an hour now. However, for low agency individuals, AI carries the risk of turning into a comfort zone that removes the necessity of thinking. The difference is determined by the individual’s ‘hunger for problem solving, curiosity, and the strength to take initiative’ rather than the technology. In other words, AI does not atrophy our muscles; on the contrary, it frees them to focus on larger and more complex problems.”

This response shows that the concept of High Agency is not limited to entrepreneurship; it also opens a new door of opportunity for us. I believe the way to be a high agency individual is to ensure that one does not surrender to inertia and is able to maintain that challenging focus.

The Vertical Future and the Soul of the Product

My other question was about the LLM OS vision, where general models become a standard commodity, and where the true soul of a product would reside in such a world. Andrej said:

“Models will become like electricity over time; they will be everywhere and will work with the same quality for everyone. In this world, the soul of a product will reside in the user experience built around that model and in deep vertical integration. The ‘craft’ side of a product will no longer be what the model is, but how frictionless it solves a specific problem.”

I want to shout the result I have gathered: the future will be much more frictionless. User experience designers, do not be afraid! AI will not kill us; instead, it will allow us to deepen our craft.

Agency and Clarity

The long stretch between Rome and Barcelona was more than just a physical distance; it was a space where I silenced the noise to find the “signal” Karpathy talks about. The clarity I reached at the end of those 1000 kilometers is this:

The future will be frictionless, that much is certain. However, in order not to drift away in that smoothness, one needs to fix certain points in their life, anchoring their own agency. This is precisely why I strive to fix certain things to ensure the things that need to move, actually move.

In a frictionless world, accelerating is easy; the hard part is having the internal strength to decide which direction to take.

Thanks Andrej!