Your signal. Your price.
Sue Kim says Brilliant teaches problem solving over procedural knowledge, a more transferable skill than memorizing formulas. She says school math often fails when students encounter unfamiliar problems.
Brilliant’s new AI tutor Cooji launched last week and went viral with nearly 5 million views on X. Kim says the success shows consumer demand for AI that makes you think, not AI that replaces thinking.
Brilliant’s AI tutor Cooji is Socratic, uses interactive canvases LLMs can read and write to, and gradually removes visual scaffolding as students reach mastery. The core pedagogy and mathematical correctness are deterministic systems built over seven years.
Sue Kim says Brilliant’s pricing is benchmarked against human tutors, not casual apps. The goal is a product that does 95% of a tutor's job for 30 dollars a month, a fraction of the typical 10,000 dollar annual tutoring cost.
Sue Kim says 40% of Brilliant’s users are in the US, with 60% international. This drove the choice of the name Cooji, which is short, globally accessible, and not tied to a specific language.
Sue Kim says Brilliant chose a direct-to-consumer model over B2B sales to schools to stay close to learner feedback. They read every app store review and customer email for real-time product development insights.
Sue Kim says the ability of frontier LLMs to tutor well has plateaued since GPT-3.5 because they lack verifiable reward signals for learning outcomes. Brilliant's unique dataset of tutoring sessions provides that signal for model improvement.
Sue Kim says Brilliant’s vision is a world-class tutor in every home for every subject and language. They are expanding from math and coding into science and younger age groups, leveraging LLMs for high-quality localization.
David Sacks argued nationalizing AI accelerates corporate-government fusion, creating a 'central government AI' system with totalistic power over information and behavior akin to a social credit system.
Eric Oliver argues that ancient Greeks meant 'know thy place' rather than 'know thyself,' advising conformity to tribe and tradition for survival.
Oliver contends the modern quest for a singular, authentic self emerged only 300 years ago with the Enlightenment, capitalism, and liberal democracy.
Oliver found no single stable self during meditation; instead he perceived a diffuse, fluxing cloud of energy, with ego as ephemeral surface flotsam.
Oliver cites Darwin's theory to challenge a unitary self, noting all life shares a common ancestor named Luca from 3.7 billion years ago.
Oliver says animal brains crave certainty to avoid anxiety, leading people to glom onto scapegoats or easy explanations over complex reality.
Oliver adopts Carl Jung's concept of personas - masks like authoritative professor or jovial clown - which are tools for social negotiation but not the totality of self.
Oliver teaches that we are verbs not nouns, beings of constant change and flow; seeing oneself as a misaligned process allows for correction.
Oliver argues quieting the mind through contemplative practice reveals an inner effervescence often crowded out by ordinary consciousness dominated by ego.
Oliver notes his cat lives better because she lacks a discursive, language-dominated mind; humans can improve by letting go of unhelpful thoughts and focusing on breath.
Oliver found connection and reduced vulnerability by reframing wilderness sounds as friendly helloes from cousins in the shared life force, rather than threats.
Scott Barry Kaufman states Alfred Binet created an intelligence test for French schools to identify needs, but Americans like Lewis Terman repurposed it as a mass-produced genius metric.
Kaufman says IQ tests measure cognitive skills like vocabulary and spatial rotation, but labeling this as intelligence overlooks other talents crucial for a good life.
Kaufman points to Matthew effects where small early advantages compound, citing household book count correlation with reading ability as an example of inequality shaping outcomes.
Kaufman's research found zero correlation between IQ and creative achievement in the arts, while math-heavy fields like physics show stronger links to abstract reasoning.
Kaufman argues society overvalues general intelligence and undervalues traits like creativity, love, and spirituality, which are the true building blocks of a good life.
Kaufman advocates for universal screening and enriched resources for all students, rejecting the idea that only those above an arbitrary test cutoff deserve acceleration.
Kaufman notes students with IQs between 70 and 85 often fall between cracks, lacking access to special resources or gifted programs despite needing support.
Kaufman suggests rethinking grade-based systems to allow individualized pacing, using acceleration in specific subjects rather than expecting uniform progress.
Kaufman created the self-actualizationtest.com to measure wider human potential, arguing it shows unique paths better than IQ tests but cannot capture the whole person.
Kaufman states school systems are not designed for neurodivergent individuals; he advocates custom-tailored plans that build on strengths like ADHD creativity or dyslexia business aptitude.
Kaufman teaches self-anchoring as a skill to lead with personal passions and values instead of scanning for external approval, countering pervasive feelings of inadequacy.