The Quest for Success: A Career Story in the Age of A.I. With Markie Wagner

On this episode, The Skip Podcast host Nikhyl Singhal interviews Markie Wagner, an AI expert and founder of Delphi Labs. Markie and Nikhyl discuss the transformative impact of artificial intelligence and its potential to reshape workflows. Markie shares her early experiences with computers and how her passion for building things and writing code led to her impact on the world through STEM education. The conversation explores the implications of AI for individuals at different stages of their careers and the boundless opportunities it presents.

Markie Wagner is the founder of Delphi Labs, a research and advisory firm focused on applied AI and frontier technology. Her goal is to partner with companies to build ambitious applications of new technology and play a mission-critical role in the creation of institutions that matter in the human story.

Prior to founding Delphi Labs, Markie worked as a researcher at Stanford and Waymo. Her interests include automating everything, new nations, psychographics, zk-proof applications, and artificial intelligence, particularly reinforcement learning and graph neural nets.

Connecting with The Skip

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Show Notes:

00:18 - Introducing AI expert Markie Wagner and her unique story.

03:12 - Markie's early days with computers and engagement with Yahoo Answers and online games.

07:17 - The anonymity of the internet allowed Markie to interact with others without revealing her young age.

11:34 - Markie's early experiences with website creation and learning through experimentation.

16:10 - Markie's school project focused on her love for the iPhone.

18:39 - Markie's middle school experience creating a charades game for the App Store.

21:28 - Learning from tech greats and building an institution to change the world.

25:56 - The difference between good and bad quests and why people tend to fall into bad quests by default.

34:21 - Markie's transition to making a meaningful impact on the world through STEM education.

36:56 - Markie's efforts to set up STEM programs in her high school and neighboring schools.

41:53 - Markie's fascination with machine learning and artificial intelligence begins in high school.

45:34 - Markie's love for startups and working with founders during her time at Stanford.

47:30 - Setting up AI teams and orgs for public companies and those about to go public.

48:00 - Markie's decision to leave Stanford and focus on Delphi Labs.

49:12 - Markie's perspective on the hype around AI and its genuinely transformative nature.

53:19 - Career guidance for those worried about the impact of AI on their careers.

55:21 - The importance of individual contributor work and transitioning to management.

56:53 - Markie discusses the secret to her success: judgment, interesting work, and grit.

58:52 - Markie shares her experience with perseverance and grit in achieving her goals.

01:02:01 - Reflecting on the impact of one's work and considering a change if it doesn't make a meaningful difference.

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