Max Woolf
@minimaxir.bsky.social
(former) Senior Data Scientist at BuzzFeed in San Francisco // AI content generation ethics and R&D // plotter of pretty charts
https://minimaxir.com
https://minimaxir.com
Pinned
Max Woolf
@minimaxir.bsky.social
· Jul 27
So, uh, personal announcement.
I am now suddenly unemployed. I am currently looking for a data science/machine learning/AI job in the SF Bay Area. If you're interested, let me know!
In the meantime, I now have *plenty* of time for blogging lol.
I am now suddenly unemployed. I am currently looking for a data science/machine learning/AI job in the SF Bay Area. If you're interested, let me know!
In the meantime, I now have *plenty* of time for blogging lol.
Reposted by Max Woolf
Once you realize there’s no good argument for implementing the 23x performance improvement entirely by hand (which, if feasible without AI, would have been done already) or forgoing it entirely, it’s over.
This is currently the top post on r/opensource
October 27, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Once you realize there’s no good argument for implementing the 23x performance improvement entirely by hand (which, if feasible without AI, would have been done already) or forgoing it entirely, it’s over.
I'm too afraid to use Claude because I suspect Anthropic will release Fable 5.5 this week and I want to save as much quota as possible for that.
October 27, 2026 at 4:15 PM
I'm too afraid to use Claude because I suspect Anthropic will release Fable 5.5 this week and I want to save as much quota as possible for that.
Currently in an internet argument with an AI bubble advocate after showing them the Anthropic S-1 and they responded "they just lied on their S-1 and people commit financial crimes all the time and no one goes to jail"
October 27, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Currently in an internet argument with an AI bubble advocate after showing them the Anthropic S-1 and they responded "they just lied on their S-1 and people commit financial crimes all the time and no one goes to jail"
This guy is a bot with a very funny tell: he replies every 20 minutes, on the dot. (X:00, X:20, X:40) bsky.app/profile/eara...
bsky.app
October 27, 2026 at 4:22 AM
This guy is a bot with a very funny tell: he replies every 20 minutes, on the dot. (X:00, X:20, X:40) bsky.app/profile/eara...
At long last, we have rewritten everything in Rust as suggested from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Rewrite Everything in Rust.
I recall the reaction to www.windowslatest.com/2025/12/24/m... - claims that it would be both irresponsible and impossible
anyway, I think that not only has this been proven possible, it may in fact be the most responsible thing to do
we must reduce the system-critical C/++ in the world
anyway, I think that not only has this been proven possible, it may in fact be the most responsible thing to do
we must reduce the system-critical C/++ in the world
Microsoft building team to eliminate C and C++, translate code to Rust using AI, as Windows 11 adopts Rust
Microsoft has a whole team dedicated to eliminating "every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030," which includes Windows 11.
www.windowslatest.com
October 27, 2026 at 3:45 AM
At long last, we have rewritten everything in Rust as suggested from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Rewrite Everything in Rust.
does it have `unsafe`
October 26, 2026 at 9:10 PM
does it have `unsafe`
the **real** AI news of the day
October 26, 2026 at 6:43 PM
the **real** AI news of the day
OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra (???) and it's comparable to GPT-6.1 Sol (??????????????????????) openai.com/index/introd...
October 26, 2026 at 6:15 PM
OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra (???) and it's comparable to GPT-6.1 Sol (??????????????????????) openai.com/index/introd...
testing an image processing thing with Opus 5.5 and it generated this intermediate image which tbh goes hard
October 26, 2026 at 5:45 PM
testing an image processing thing with Opus 5.5 and it generated this intermediate image which tbh goes hard
Reposted by Max Woolf
85% inference margin, training costs are well below that. Really remarkable.
October 26, 2026 at 1:48 PM
85% inference margin, training costs are well below that. Really remarkable.
i said in my blog post I was waiting for the Anthropic S-1 to see how the numbers were but it turns out I am bad at parsing S-1s so read this thread instead
October 26, 2026 at 3:55 PM
i said in my blog post I was waiting for the Anthropic S-1 to see how the numbers were but it turns out I am bad at parsing S-1s so read this thread instead
New blog post up: if you've been paying close attention to LLM prices, you may have noticed that they have dropped *significantly* over the past few months, which is not what I expected. minimaxir.com/2026/10/chea...
OpenAI and Anthropic cut their LLM prices by up to 80% within a few months. Why?
What is “the true cost of a token”?
minimaxir.com
October 25, 2026 at 9:12 PM
New blog post up: if you've been paying close attention to LLM prices, you may have noticed that they have dropped *significantly* over the past few months, which is not what I expected. minimaxir.com/2026/10/chea...
Reposted by Max Woolf
unless you are going to actually solve moderation, which HN actually has done a better job of than literally every other open-signup tech platform I know of (not complimentary), I think this is "now you have two problems"
Is it time to start the community-built HN/lobsters replacement?
October 25, 2026 at 6:05 PM
unless you are going to actually solve moderation, which HN actually has done a better job of than literally every other open-signup tech platform I know of (not complimentary), I think this is "now you have two problems"
I have a minirant about this in my blog post (hopefully tomorrow) because I'm annoyed that this is still an AI skeptic counterargument. It is very basic microeconomics unless you assume that there's a duopoly like Lyft/Uber controlling prices, whereas OpenAI/Anthropic are definitely not a duopoly.
where is the idea that AI is like Uber (where they are heavily subsidising the consumer-end product in order to Disrupt Markets and Get Everyone Hooked, only to plan to raise prices later) coming from? is this an Ed Zitron article of faith? it SOUNDS like an Ed Zitron article of faith
October 24, 2026 at 8:46 PM
I have a minirant about this in my blog post (hopefully tomorrow) because I'm annoyed that this is still an AI skeptic counterargument. It is very basic microeconomics unless you assume that there's a duopoly like Lyft/Uber controlling prices, whereas OpenAI/Anthropic are definitely not a duopoly.
writing a new algorithm with Opus 5.5 and I forgot to provide example inputs, so Opus said "fine I'll just drag in random files from all over the computer 😆"
October 24, 2026 at 6:06 PM
writing a new algorithm with Opus 5.5 and I forgot to provide example inputs, so Opus said "fine I'll just drag in random files from all over the computer 😆"
Reposted by Max Woolf
October 23, 2026 at 11:40 PM
open weights models are getting spicy www.kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3...
October 23, 2026 at 5:33 PM
open weights models are getting spicy www.kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3...
Reposted by Max Woolf
"it's all snake oil" ok well I hate to break it to you but idiots armed with large volumes of snake oil are currently taking down major cyber infrastructure
October 23, 2026 at 2:59 PM
"it's all snake oil" ok well I hate to break it to you but idiots armed with large volumes of snake oil are currently taking down major cyber infrastructure
Reposted by Max Woolf
big thermo claims entropy is always increasing but it isn't
October 23, 2026 at 1:10 AM
big thermo claims entropy is always increasing but it isn't
AI hate on Threads is somehow worse than Bluesky and it's a mystery.
So is the AI hate as strong over here as it is on threads?
October 23, 2026 at 2:15 AM
AI hate on Threads is somehow worse than Bluesky and it's a mystery.
Reposted by Max Woolf
the reason the popular examples are this surreal is that people commenting to say "what the fuck is this" is, also, engagement
the ideal clickbait makes a good proportion of retirees sincerely happy and a roughly equal number of people go "what the fuck is happening"
the ideal clickbait makes a good proportion of retirees sincerely happy and a roughly equal number of people go "what the fuck is happening"
“Looney Tunes AI boomerslop on Facebook” is my new favorite genre of thing, each one gets a hundred times funnier the longer you look at it
October 22, 2026 at 5:07 PM
the reason the popular examples are this surreal is that people commenting to say "what the fuck is this" is, also, engagement
the ideal clickbait makes a good proportion of retirees sincerely happy and a roughly equal number of people go "what the fuck is happening"
the ideal clickbait makes a good proportion of retirees sincerely happy and a roughly equal number of people go "what the fuck is happening"
A jailbreak for the Switch 2 discovered by Codex has been announced. Bluesky responds:
October 22, 2026 at 3:48 PM
A jailbreak for the Switch 2 discovered by Codex has been announced. Bluesky responds:
Reposted by Max Woolf
I was going to joke about how obviously people are going to threaten to boycott the Internet Archive for using Claude to patch vulnerabilities
but
they're actually doing it in the replies
but
they're actually doing it in the replies
October 21, 2026 at 11:28 PM
I was going to joke about how obviously people are going to threaten to boycott the Internet Archive for using Claude to patch vulnerabilities
but
they're actually doing it in the replies
but
they're actually doing it in the replies
Reposted by Max Woolf
BREAKING: Electronic Arts is cutting 400 jobs and shutting down BioWare, the legendary development studio behind Dragon Age and Mass Effect. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Electronic Arts to Cut 400 Jobs, Shut Down BioWare
The next ‘Mass Effect’ will be canceled as part of the layoffs
www.bloomberg.com
October 21, 2026 at 5:04 PM
BREAKING: Electronic Arts is cutting 400 jobs and shutting down BioWare, the legendary development studio behind Dragon Age and Mass Effect. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...