Replit CEO Amjad Masad on What Young People Should Learn in the AI Era
Replit CEO Amjad Masad joins a16z and Gagan Biyani to discuss why traditional college fails young people and what a better two-year exploratory program could look like in the AI era.
The gist
-
Masad says schools reward compliance over curiosity, suppressing the independent thinking young people need most right now.
-
Project-based learning with real tools like Replit and Claude can replace rigid curricula, since AI removes the need for teacher-designed exercises.
-
Masad argues most 18-year-olds should avoid raising venture capital and instead take time to explore ideas before committing to a startup.
-
When hiring, look for people who have followed one thread deeply and finished something, rather than those with broad but shallow credentials.
"I built the pitch deck in Replit, thank you. And I've been using Claude and ChatGPT. I'm using all of these services as a way to speed up my work."
▶ Play at 25:4311 creators recommend it, including Jason Lemkin, Chris Koerner, and 20VC with Harry Stebbings.
See all on the Replit page"I've been using Claude and ChatGPT. I'm using all of these services as a way to speed up my work."
▶ Play at 25:45250 creators recommend it, including Riley Brown, Chris Koerner, and This Week in Startups.
See all on the Claude pageWhat they recommend · 4 picks
"The buzzword for it is project-based learning. There shouldn't be a buzzword for it because that should be the standard. The idea that you're learning something and you don't kn..."
"One site I was really into growing up called hackthissite. It was hackthissite.org. It's like a website that has vulnerabilities built in. It's like capture the flag."
"I built the pitch deck in Replit, thank you. And I've been using Claude and ChatGPT. I'm using all of these services as a way to speed up my work."
Amjad Masad
2 picks · guest
"The buzzword for it is project-based learning. There shouldn't be a buzzword for it because that should be the standard. The idea that you're learning something and you don't kn..."
"One site I was really into growing up called hackthissite. It was hackthissite.org. It's like a website that has vulnerabilities built in. It's like capture the flag."
Gagan Biyani
2 picks · guest
"I built the pitch deck in Replit, thank you. And I've been using Claude and ChatGPT. I'm using all of these services as a way to speed up my work."
"I've been using Claude and ChatGPT. I'm using all of these services as a way to speed up my work."
Also mentioned
Related episodes
Episodes covering similar topics
More from a16z