Alex Wang became a billionaire at 24 after founding software company Scale AI, and he has some advice for young people who want to emulate his success
At 24, many Brits are just settling into their first jobs, still living with their parents and hanging out with pals they made during their university days. But when Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang reached that age, he had already made his first billion.
Wang, born in Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1997, had been captivated by computer programming from his youngest years.
He spent a brief stint at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology before taking a role as an algorithm developer at a commodity trading firm, then ventured out independently with Scale AI – the software startup that made him the globe’s youngest-ever billionaire at 24.
It’s a trajectory any young individual could pursue, he insists, arguing that today’s teens ought to dedicate every free moment to mastering AI programming.
Speaking on the TBPN podcast, he emphasised that grasping AI programming is essential to making it big. He explained: “You just have to figure out how to use the tools maximally. It’s impossible to understate the degree to which I’ve been radicalised by AI coding.”
AI programming, utilising platforms like Qodo, GitHub Copilot or Tabnine, delivers an enormous enhancement to developers’ abilities and productivity.
By eliminating the mundane aspects of daily tasks such as debugging and code formatting, AI can also, in skilled hands, be employed to explore programming more deeply. He forecasts that much of the work currently carried out by programmers will be handled by AI in the coming years.
Wang went on: “Literally all the code I’ve written in my life, will be able to have been produced by an AI model within the next five years.”
However, Google Brain research lab co-founder Andrew Ng believes this shouldn’t discourage youngsters from learning programming skills.
“As coding becomes easier, more people should code, not fewer,” he explained.
“One of the most important skills in the future will be the ability to tell a computer exactly what you want, so it can do that for you.”
Wang shares Ng’s view, suggesting the software industry has reached a crucial turning point.
“That moment is happening right now – and if you are, like, 13 years old, you should spend all of your time [AI coding],” he remarked. “That’s how you should live your life.”
Drawing on author Malcolm Gladwell’s principle that expertise requires 10,000 hours of practice, Wang emphasises that achievement comes down to dedication: “It’s actually, in some ways, this incredible moment of discontinuity where, if you just happen to spend 10,000 hours playing with the tools and figuring out how to use them better than other people, that’s a huge advantage.”