The data black hole at the center of AI

The data black hole at the center of AI

June 19, 2026 · 12 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the driving factors behind AI progress and the implications of sample efficiency.

Read the transcript here. Thanks to Mercury for sponsoring this essay! Mercury just released a new feature called Command, which gives me AI right in my banking platform. And since I use Mercury to run basically my entire business, Command has access to all the info it needs to get real work done. I can ask it to send invoices, or categorize expenses, or even transfer money… and Command just handles it. Learn more at mercury.com/command Timestamps: (00:00:00) – What is really driving AI progress? (00:03:11) – Comparing human vs AI sample efficiency (00:08:46) – Does sample efficiency matter? Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe

Sponsors

Mercury

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