Anthropic’s History​

• Founded: 2021 as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).
• Milestones:
  • 2022: Claude 1 completed.
  • 2023: Claude 1 released, Claude 2 launched.
  • 2024: Claude 3 launched.
  • 2025: Advances in interpretability and AI safety:
    • Mathematical framework for constitutional AI.
    • Sleeper agents and toy models of superposition.

Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP)​

• Definition: A framework to ensure safe scaling of AI capabilities.
• Goals:
  • Provide structure for safety decisions.
  • Ensure public accountability.
  • Iterate on safe decisions.
  • Serve as a template for policymakers.
• AI Safety Levels (ASL): Modeled after biosafety levels (BSL) for handling dangerous biological materials, aligning safety, security, and operational standards with a model’s catastrophic risk potential.
  • ASL-1: Smaller Models: No meaningful catastrophic risk (e.g., 2018 LLMs, chess-playing AIs).
  • ASL-2: Present Large Models: Early signs of dangerous capabilities (e.g., instructions for bioweapons with limited reliability).
  • ASL-3: Higher Risk Models: Models with significant catastrophic misuse potential or low-level autonomy.
  • ASL-4 and higher: Speculative Models: Future systems involving qualitative escalations in catastrophic risk or autonomy.
• Implementation:
  • Safety challenges and methods.
  • Case study: computer use.

Measuring Capabilities​

• Challenges: Benchmarks become obsolete.
• Examples:
  • Task completion time relative to humans: Claude 3.5 completes tasks in seconds compared to human developers’ 30 minutes.
  • Benchmarks:
    • SWE-bench: Assesses real-world software engineering tasks.
    • Aider’s benchmarks: Code editing and refactoring.
• Results:
  • Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms OpenAI o1 across key benchmarks.
  • Faster and cheaper: $3/Mtok input vs. OpenAI o1 at $15/Mtok input.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet Highlights​

• Agentic Coding and Game Development: Designed for efficiency and accuracy in real-world scenarios.
• Computer Use Demos:
  • Coding: Demonstrated advanced code generation and integration.
  • Operations: Showcased operational tasks with safety considerations.

AI Safety Measures​

• Focus Areas:
  • Scaling governance.
  • Capability measurement.
  • Collaboration with academia.
• Practical Safety:
  • ASL standard implementation.
  • Deployment safeguards.
  • Lessons learned in year one.

Future Directions​

• Scaling and governance improvements.
• Enhanced benchmarks and academic partnerships.
• Addressing interpretability and sleeper agent risks.

Key Trends​

• Skyrocketing Capabilities: Rapid advancements in LLMs since 2018.
• Declining Access: Shift from open paper, code, and weights to API-only models, limiting experimentation and research.

Why Access Matters​

• Access drives innovation:
  • 1990s: Digital text enabled statistical NLP.
  • 2010s: GPUs and crowdsourcing fueled deep learning and large datasets.
• Levels of access define research opportunities:
  • API: Like a cognitive scientist, measure behavior (prompt-response systems).
  • Open-Weight: Like a neuroscientist, probe internal activations for interpretability and fine-tuning.
  • Open-Source: Like a computer scientist, control and question every part of the system.

Levels of Access for Foundation Models​

1. API Access

   • Acts as a universal function (e.g., summarize, verify, generate).
   • Enables problem-solving agents (e.g., cybersecurity tools, social simulations).
   • Challenges: Deprecation and limited reproducibility.

2. Open-Weight Access

   • Enables interpretability, distillation, fine-tuning, and reproducibility.
   • Prominent models: Llama, Mistral.
   • Challenges:
     • Testing model independence and functional changes from weight modifications.
     • Blueprint constraints of pre-existing models.

3. Open-Source Access

   • Embodies creativity, transparency, and collaboration.
   • Examples: GPT-J, GPT-NeoX, StarCoder.
   • Performance gap persists compared to closed models due to compute and data limitations.

Key Challenges and Opportunities​

• Open-Source Barriers:
  • Legal restrictions on releasing web-derived training data.
  • Significant compute requirements for retraining.
• Scaling Compute:
  • Pooling idle GPUs.
  • Crowdsourced efforts like Big Science.
• Emergent Research Questions:
  • How do architecture and data shape behavior?
  • Can scaling laws predict performance at larger scales?

Reflections​

• Most research occurs within API and fixed-weight confines, limiting exploration.
• Open-weight models offer immense value for interpretability and experimentation.
• Open-source efforts require collective funding and infrastructure support.

Final Takeaway​

Access shapes the trajectory of innovation in foundation models. To unlock their full potential, researchers must question data, architectures, and algorithms while exploring new models of collaboration and resource pooling.

Key Challenges with LLMs​

• Difficulty with tasks requiring complex planning (e.g., travel itineraries, meeting schedules).
• Performance declines with increasing task complexity (e.g., more cities, people, or constraints).

Three Proposed Solutions​

1. Scaling Law
   • Increase data, compute, and model size.
   • Limitation: High costs and diminishing returns for reasoning/planning tasks.
2. Hybrid Systems
   • Combine deep learning models with symbolic solvers. Symbolic reasoning refers to the process of solving problems and making decisions using explicit symbols, rules, and logic. It is a method where reasoning is based on clearly defined relationships and representations, often following formal logic or mathematical principles.
   • Approaches:
     • End-to-End Integration: Unified deep model and symbolic system.
     • Data Augmentation: Neural models provide structured data for solvers.
     • Tool Use: LLMs act as interfaces for external solvers.
   • Notable Examples:
     • MILP Solvers: For travel planning with constraints.
     • Searchformer: Transformers trained to emulate A* search.
     • DualFormer: Switches dynamically between fast (heuristic) and slow (deliberative) reasoning.
     • SurCo: Combines combinatorial optimization with latent space representations.
3. Emerging Symbolic Structures
   • Exploration of symbolic reasoning emerging in neural networks.
   • Findings:
     • Neural networks exhibit Fourier-like patterns in arithmetic tasks.
     • Gradient descent produces solutions aligned with algebraic constructs.
     • Emergent ring homomorphisms and symbolic efficiency in complex tasks.

Research Implications​

• Neural networks naturally learn symbolic abstractions, offering potential for improved reasoning.
• Hybrid systems might represent the optimal balance between adaptability (neural) and precision (symbolic).
• Advanced algebraic techniques could eventually replace gradient descent.

Overall Takeaway​

The future of decision-making AI lies in leveraging both neural adaptability and symbolic rigor. Hybrid approaches appear most promising for solving tasks requiring both perception and structured reasoning.

Key Themes and Context​

Enterprise Workflows

• Automation levels range from scripted workflows (minimal variation) to agentic workflows (adaptive and dynamic).
• Enterprise environments, such as those supported by ServiceNow, involve complex, repetitive tasks like IT management, CRM updates, and scheduling.
• The adoption of LLM-powered agents (e.g., API agents and Web agents) transforms these workflows by leveraging capabilities like multimodal observations and dynamic actions.

LLM Agents for Enterprise Workflows

• API Agents
  • Utilize structured API calls for efficiency.
  • Pros: Low latency, structured inputs.
  • Cons: Depend on predefined APIs, limited adaptability.
• Web Agents
  • Simulate human actions on web interfaces.
  • Pros: Greater flexibility; can interact with dynamic UIs.
  • Cons: High latency, error-prone.

WorkArena Framework

• Benchmarks designed for realistic enterprise workflows.
• Tasks range from IT inventory management to budget allocation and employee offboarding.
• Supported by BrowserGym and AgentLab for testing and evaluation in simulated environments.

Technical Frameworks​

Agent Architectures

• TapeAgents Framework

  • Represents agents as resumable modular state machines.
  • Features structured logs (the "tape") for actions, thoughts, and outcomes.
  • Facilitates optimization (e.g., fine-tuning from teacher-to-student agents).

• WorkArena++

  • Extends WorkArena with more compositional and challenging tasks.
  • Evaluates agents on capabilities like long-term planning and multimodal data integration.

Benchmarks

• WorkArena: ~20k unique enterprise task instances.
• WorkArena++: Focused on compositional workflows and data-driven reasoning.
• Other tools: MiniWoB, WebLINX, VisualWebArena.

Evaluation Metrics

• GREADTH (Grounded, Responsive, Accurate, Disciplined, Transparent, Helpful):
  • Prioritizes real-world agent performance metrics.
• Task-Specific Success Rates:
  • For example, form-filling assistants evaluated at 300x lower cost than GPT-4 through fine-tuned students.

Challenges for Agents in Workflows​

• Context Understanding
  • Enterprise tasks require understanding deep hierarchies of information (e.g., dashboards, KBs).
  • Sparse rewards in benchmarks complicate learning.
• Long-Term Planning
  • Subgoal decomposition and multi-step task execution remain difficult.
• Safety and Alignment
  • Risks from malicious inputs (e.g., adversarial prompts, hidden text).
• Cost and Efficiency
  • Shrinking context windows and modular architectures are key to reducing compute costs.

Future Directions​

Augmentation Models

• Centaur Framework:
  • Separates AI from human tasks (e.g., content gathering by AI, final editing by humans).
• Cyborg Framework:
  • Promotes tight collaboration between AI and humans.

Unified Evaluation

• Calls for a meta-benchmark to consolidate evaluation protocols across platforms (e.g., WebLINX, WorkArena).

Advancements in Agent Optimization

• Leveraging RL-inspired techniques for fine-tuning.
• Modular learning frameworks to improve generalizability.

Opportunities in Knowledge Work​

• Automation of repetitive, low-value tasks (e.g., scheduling, report generation).
• Integration of multimodal agents into enterprise environments to support decision-making and strategic tasks.
• Enhanced productivity through human-AI collaboration models.

This synthesis connects the theoretical and practical elements of enterprise workflow agents, showcasing their transformative potential while addressing current limitations.

Software’s Impact​

• Software is transforming industries, as predicted by Marc Andreessen (2011).
• Potential impact of enabling everyone to write software to achieve their goals.

Software Development Workflow​

• Time allocation:
  • 17% Coding
  • 36% Bugfixing
  • 10% Testing
  • 8% Documentation/Reviews
  • 14% Communication
  • 15% Other tasks

Development Tools​

• Copilots:
  • Synchronous support for writing code (e.g., GitHub Copilot).
• Development Agents:
  • Autonomous tools for coding (e.g., SWE-Agent, Aider) and broader tasks (e.g., Devin, OpenHands).

Challenges in Coding Agents​

• Defining the environment.
• Designing observation/action spaces.
• File localization and code generation.
• Planning, error recovery, and ensuring safety.

Software Development Environments​

• Actual Environments:
  • Source repositories, task management software, office tools, communication tools.
• Testing Environments:
  • Focused on coding, sometimes includes browsing tasks.

Metrics and Datasets​

• Pass@K (Chen et al., 2021): Measures success rates of generated code passing unit tests.
• Semantic Overlap Metrics:
  • BLEU, CodeBLEU, CodeBERTScore.
• Key Datasets:
  • HumanEval, ARCADE, SWEBench, Design2Code.

Solutions for File Localization​

1. User Input: Relies on experienced users to specify files.
2. Search Tools: Integrated search capabilities (e.g., SWE-Agent).
3. Repository Mapping: Prebuilt maps (e.g., Aider repomap).
4. Retrieval-Augmented Generation: Combine retrieved code and LMs.

Planning and Recovery​

• Hard-coded Processes: Predefined steps for file localization, patch generation, etc.
• LLM-Generated Plans: Use LMs for planning and execution (e.g., CodeR).
• Revisiting Errors: Automated fixes based on error messages (e.g., InterCode).

Safety Measures​

1. Sandboxing: Limit execution environments (e.g., Docker).
2. Credentialing: Principle of least privilege.
3. Post-hoc Auditing: Security analysis using LMs and other tools.

Future Directions​

• Enhance agentic training methods.
• Expand human-in-the-loop approaches.
• Address broader software tasks beyond coding.

Resources​

• OpenHands Repository: GitHub

Introduction​

• Two kinds of AI applications:

  • Generative AI: Creates content like text and images.
  • Agentic AI: Performs complex tasks autonomously. This is the future.

• Key Question: How can developers make these systems easier to build?

Agentic AI Frameworks​

• Examples:

  • Applications include personal assistants, autonomous robots, gaming agents, web/software agents, science, healthcare, and supply chains.

• Core Benefits:

  • User-Friendly: Natural and intuitive interactions with minimal input.
  • High Capability: Handles complex tasks efficiently.
  • Programmability: Modular and maintainable, encouraging experimentation.

• Design Principles:

  • Unified abstractions integrating models, tools, and human interaction.
  • Support for dynamic workflows, collaboration, and automation.

AutoGen Framework​

https://github.com/microsoft/autogen

• Purpose: A framework for building agentic AI applications.

• Key Features:

  • Conversable and Customizable Agents: Simplifies building applications with natural language interactions.
  • Nested Chat: Handles complex workflows like content creation and reasoning-intensive tasks.
  • Group Chat: Supports collaborative task-solving with multiple agents.

• History:

  • Started in FLAML (2022), became standalone (2023), with over 200K monthly downloads and widespread adoption.

Applications and Examples​

• Advanced Reflection:
  • Two-agent systems for collaborative refinement of tasks like blog writing.
• Gaming and Strategy:
  • Conversational Chess, where agents simulate strategic reasoning.
• Enterprise and Research:
  • Applications in supply chains, healthcare, and scientific discovery, such as ChemCrow for discovering novel compounds.

Core Components of AutoGen​

• Agentic Programming:
  • Divides tasks into manageable steps for easier scaling and validation.
• Multi-Agent Orchestration:
  • Supports dynamic workflows with centralized or decentralized setups.
• Agentic Design Patterns:
  • Covers reasoning, planning, tool integration, and memory management.

Challenges in Agent Design​

• System Design:
  • Optimizing multi-agent systems for reasoning, planning, and diverse applications.
• Performance:
  • Balancing quality, cost, and scalability while maintaining resilience.
• Human-AI Collaboration:
  • Designing systems for safe, effective human interaction.

Open Questions and Future Directions​

• Multi-Agent Topologies:
  • Efficiently balancing centralized and decentralized systems.
• Teaching and Optimization:
  • Enabling agents to learn autonomously using tools like AgentOptimizer.
• Expanding Applications:
  • Exploring new domains such as software engineering and cross-modal systems.

Trajectory and potential of LLM agents

Introduction​

• Definition of Agents: Intelligent systems interacting with environments (physical, digital, or human).
• Evolution: From symbolic AI agents like ELIZA(1966) to modern LLM-based reasoning agents.

Core Concepts​

1. Agent Types:
   • Text Agents: Rule-based systems like ELIZA(1966), limited in scope.
   • LLM Agents: Utilize large language models for versatile text-based interaction.
   • Reasoning Agents: Combine reasoning and acting, enabling decision-making across domains.
2. Agent Goals:
   • Perform tasks like question answering (QA), game-solving, or real-world automation.
   • Balance reasoning (internal actions) and acting (external feedback).

Key Developments in LLM Agents​

1. Reasoning Approaches:
   • Chain-of-Thought (CoT): Step-by-step reasoning to improve accuracy.
   • ReAct Paradigm: Integrates reasoning with actions for systematic exploration and feedback.
2. Technological Milestones:
   • Zero-shot and Few-shot Learning: Achieving generality with minimal examples.
   • Memory Integration: Combining short-term (context-based) and long-term memory for persistent learning.
3. Tools and Applications:
   • Code Augmentation: Enhancing computational reasoning through programmatic methods.
   • Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): Leveraging external knowledge sources like APIs or search engines.
   • Complex Task Automation: Embodied reasoning in robotics and chemistry, exemplified by ChemCrow.

Limitations​

• Practical Challenges:
  • Difficulty in handling real-world environments (e.g., decision-making with incomplete data).
  • Vulnerability to irrelevant or adversarial context.
• Scalability Issues:
  • Real-world robotics vs. digital simulation trade-offs.
  • High costs of fine-tuning and data collection in specific domains.

Research Directions​

• Unified Solutions: Simplifying diverse tasks into generalizable frameworks (e.g., ReAct for exploration and decision-making).
• Advanced Memory Architectures: Moving from append-only logs to adaptive, writeable long-term memory systems.
• Collaboration with Humans: Focusing on augmenting human creativity and problem-solving capabilities.

Future Outlook​

• Emerging Benchmarks:
  • SWE-Bench for software engineering tasks.
  • FireAct for fine-tuning LLM agents in dynamic environments.
• Broader Impacts:
  • Enhanced digital automation.
  • Scalable solutions for complex problem-solving in domains like software engineering, scientific discovery, and web automation.

The story of TianPan.co mirrors the evolution of web publishing itself - from simple HTML pages to today's AI-augmented content platforms. As we launch version 3, I want to share how we're reimagining what a modern publishing platform can be in the age of AI.

The Journey: From WordPress to AI-Native​

Like many technical blogs, TianPan.co started humbly in 2009 as a WordPress site on a free VPS. The early days were simple: write, publish, repeat. But as technology evolved, so did our needs. Version 1 moved to Octopress and GitHub, embracing the developer-friendly approach of treating content as code. Version 2 brought modern web technologies with GraphQL, server-side rendering, and a React Native mobile app.

But the landscape has changed dramatically. AI isn't just a buzzword - it's transforming how we create, organize, and share knowledge. This realization led to Version 3, built around a radical idea: what if we designed a publishing system with AI at its core, not just as an add-on?

The Architecture of an AI-Native Platform​

Version 3 breaks from traditional blogging platforms in several fundamental ways:

1. Content as Data: Every piece of content is stored as markdown, making it instantly processable by AI systems. This isn't just about machine readability - it's about enabling AI to become an active participant in the content lifecycle.

2. Distributed Publishing, Centralized Management: Content flows automatically from our central repository to multiple channels - Telegram, Discord, Twitter, and more. But unlike traditional multi-channel publishing, AI helps maintain consistency and optimize for each platform.

3. Infrastructure Evolution: We moved from a basic 1 CPU/1GB RAM setup to a more robust infrastructure, not just for reliability but to support AI-powered features like real-time content analysis and automated editing.

The technical architecture reflects this AI-first approach:

.
├── _inbox            # AI-monitored draft space
├── notes             # published English notes
├── notes-zh          # published Chinese notes
├── crm               # personal CRM
├── ledger            # my beancount.io ledger
├── packages
│   ├── chat-tianpan  # LlamaIndex-powered content interface
│   ├── website       # tianpan.co source code
│   ├── prompts       # AI system prompts
│   └── scripts       # AI processing pipeline

Beyond Publishing: An Integrated Knowledge System​

What makes Version 3 unique is how it integrates multiple knowledge streams:

• Personal CRM: Relationship management through AI-enhanced note-taking
• Financial Tracking: Integrated ledger system via beancount.io
• Multilingual Support: Automated translation and localization
• Interactive Learning: AI-powered chat interface for deep diving into content

The workflow is equally transformative:

1. Content creation starts in markdown
2. CI/CD pipelines trigger AI processing
3. Zapier integrations distribute across platforms
4. AI editors continuously suggest improvements through GitHub issues

Looking Forward: The Future of Technical Publishing​

This isn't just about building a better blog - it's about reimagining how we share technical knowledge in an AI-augmented world. The system is designed to evolve, with each component serving as a playground for experimenting with new AI capabilities.

What excites me most isn't just the technical architecture, but the possibilities it opens up. Could AI help surface connections between seemingly unrelated technical concepts? Could it help make complex technical content more accessible to broader audiences? Will it be possible to easily produce multimedia content in the future?

These are the questions we're exploring with TianPan.co v3. It's an experiment in using AI not just as a tool, but as a collaborative partner in creating and sharing knowledge.

Your time and energy are your most valuable, self-renewing assets. Protect them to sustain an energetic and fulfilling life.

15.1 Make Personal Well-Being a Checklist Priority​

Self-care often gets overlooked amid external demands. Combat this by incorporating health habits into a daily or weekly checklist. A checklist offers:

• Continuous improvement: Track and adapt as your mental and physical state evolves.
• Proactive health management: Catch minor issues early to prevent chronic conditions.
• Cognitive ease: Reduce decision fatigue by automating routine care.

For example, treating a daily walk as a checklist item ensures you move regularly, easing your mind into or out of “work mode.”

15.2 Exercise Intentionally Across Five Key Areas​

Not all exercise is created equal. Each type serves specific needs for your body. Below is a breakdown of the five primary categories and their benefits:

Craft a routine that integrates these elements for comprehensive fitness.

15.3 Prioritize Sleep and Nutrition​

Sleep

Quality sleep underpins productivity and health. Protect your circadian rhythm with these strategies:

• Morning light exposure: Spend 20–30 minutes outdoors or use a light therapy box (10,000 Lux) on cloudy days.
• Limit blue light at night: Reduce screen time and establish a calming bedtime routine.
• Stick to a schedule: Align wake-up and sleep times for optimal recovery. A person can maintain about 14–16 hours of “relatively efficient wakefulness,” so if you plan to go to bed at midnight, it’s best to get up before 8 a.m.

Nutrition

Adopt a balanced diet aligned with dietary guidelines, emphasizing:

1. Diverse vegetables (dark greens, red/orange, starchy, legumes).
2. Whole fruits.
3. Whole grains over refined grains.
4. Lean proteins (poultry, seafood, nuts, legumes).
5. Healthy fats (e.g., Omega-3s).

Avoid high-glycemic foods and consider supplements for critical vitamins and minerals, which are critical to energy level and moods. For timing, practices like 16:8 intermittent fasting can enhance energy and focus.

15.4 Practice Mindfulness or Meditation to Manage Stress​

Mindfulness is about being fully present in the moment, observing without judgment. It:

• Heightens awareness of emotions and thoughts.
• Reduces stress by focusing attention on the now.
• Sharpens clarity and concentration.
• Improves overall well-being.

Mindfulness can extend beyond meditation into daily activities—whether walking, eating, or working—by fostering deliberate attention.

15.5 Take Breaks to Recharge​

Recovery is not optional—you either plan it deliberately or face burnout. Regular breaks restore energy, improve focus, and sustain high performance.

Recovery Principles:

• Schedule recovery like work: Plan breaks as intentionally as you plan tasks.
• Match recovery to stress type: Different stresses require different breaks—physical, emotional, or creative.
• Use varied recovery methods: Combine short breaks (like a walk or quick stretch) with longer recovery periods.

Implementation:

• Adopt the 52/17 rhythm: Work for 52 minutes, then rest for 17.
• Protect weekends: Use weekends to disconnect and rejuvenate.
• Plan quarterly resets: Schedule deep recovery periods to recharge and reflect.

15.6 Create Spaces People Love​

Your environment has a profound impact on your behavior, often outweighing willpower. Optimizing your spaces can make good habits easier and bad habits harder.

Implementation:

• Optimize workspaces for focus: Ensure good lighting, ergonomic furniture, and minimal distractions.
• Designate areas for different activities: Create separate zones for focused work, relaxation, and creative thinking.
• Reduce friction for positive habits: Keep tools for productive tasks accessible (e.g., a journal or fitness gear).
• Increase friction for negative habits: Add barriers to distractions, like keeping your phone in another room.

15.7 Navigate Brain States Intentionally​

Your brain operates in three primary states, each suited for specific tasks. Success depends on recognizing these states and transitioning between them effectively.

The Three States:

1. Relaxed: Ideal for creativity, reflection, and strategic thinking.
2. Working: Best for focused execution and problem-solving.
3. Overheated: A counterproductive state where stress reduces effectiveness.

Implementation:

• Learn your state indicators: Recognize when you’re entering each state (e.g., mental clarity vs. fatigue).
• Match tasks to states: Reserve deep focus tasks for the working state and creative tasks for the relaxed state.
• Develop transition rituals: Use activities like a short walk or a breathing exercise to move between states.
• Avoid overheating: Take breaks when stress builds to prevent burnout.

In 2024, Notion reached a $10B valuation. Their success offers a fresh lens on McCarthy's classic 4 Ps of marketing in the AI age. The 4 Ps—Product, Price, Place, and Promotion—remain as relevant as ever. Originally introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s, this framework distills marketing down to its essentials. But in the fast-paced world of startups, where innovation reigns and traditional playbooks are constantly rewritten, how do these pillars apply? Let’s dive into the 4 Ps and explore their modern applications for founders navigating the frontier of tech.

1. Product: Build Obsession, Not Just Utility​

In the 1960s, the product was king: make something people need, and you’ll sell. Today, “need” isn’t enough. The most successful tech products create obsession.

Notion didn’t become a $10B company because people needed another productivity tool. They succeeded because they became the default thought space for millions. Their product blends functionality (databases, templates) with delight (customization, aesthetics). In the AI era, personalization becomes the frontier for innovation.

Founders should ask:

• Does your product evolve with the user’s behavior?
• How does your product surprise and delight your audience in ways competitors can’t?

Great products today don’t just solve problems—they build ecosystems that users can’t imagine leaving.

2. Price: The Psychology of Free​

Price was once about cost-plus margin. Now, it’s a dance of psychology and scalability. While freemium is common in 2C SaaS, Notion perfected the model. By making their core product free, they turned users into evangelists, then charged enterprises for features they couldn’t refuse.

The lesson? Pricing isn’t about dollars; it’s about entry points. Your users need to feel they’re getting immense value before they even think of paying. AI products amplify this dynamic because the amortized cost of adding new users is nearly zero, while perceived value skyrockets with network effects.

Founders should ask:

• Are you lowering the barrier to entry while raising long-term value?
• Does your pricing strategy encourage viral growth?

3. Place: Everywhere and Nowhere​

In McCarthy’s day, “place” was about physical distribution—getting products into stores. In 2023, place is digital. It’s about being omnipresent without being intrusive.

Notion didn’t rely much on ads. Instead, they mastered organic discovery. Templates and websites created by power users spread like wildfire across social media. The product itself became its own distribution engine.

AI accelerates this trend. With APIs and integrations, place now includes where your product can live in someone else’s ecosystem. Think Slack bots, Shopify plugins, or Zapier automations.

Founders should ask:

• Are you meeting users where they are, or forcing them to come to you?
• How does your product seamlessly integrate into other platforms?

4. Promotion: Community Is the New Advertising​

Promotion used to mean ad buys and aggressive marketing campaigns. Today, it means community. Notion built a cult following by empowering creators—YouTubers, educators, and small businesses—to showcase the product in their own ways.

In the AI world, promotion shifts from shouting to listening. Community-building means enabling users to shape the narrative. OpenAI’s success with ChatGPT wasn’t just about building a great product—it was about letting users discover use cases the creators hadn’t even imagined.

Founders should ask:

• Are your users your best promoters?
• How does your community contribute to your product’s evolution?

Bringing the 4 Ps Together: The AI Playbook​

The 4 Ps aren't obsolete relics, but timeless guideposts: they are both the entirety of marketing and marketing in its entirety. Notion's rise demonstrates that while marketing's fundamental principles endure, they can be reinterpreted and reimagined for the AI-driven age.

As AI continues to reshape technology, the 4 Ps will evolve further:

• Products will self-improve based on usage patterns
• Pricing will become increasingly dynamic and personalized
• Place will expand to include AI-native environments
• Promotion will leverage AI to create personalized community experiences

For startups, the challenge is not just preserving core principles, but evolving them for the modern age. Ultimately, successful marketing isn't merely about attracting users—it's about building an ecosystem that resonates with users and grows sustainably over time. This is the key insight modern tech founders must grasp, and the core message we hope to convey through this piece.