2017 Investor Roundtable:General Discussion

[chillaban]

It sounds to me like Chris Lattner just didn't have the expertise necessary. Apparently the new guy is a leading expert in vision and deep learning, and he's coming from OpenAi so he's well know to EM who decided this is the guy they need. This isn't a case of Lattner leaving and needing to find a replacement, it's a replacement by choice. I think this is actually good news and progress is about to get a lot faster.

I mean, Chris is a very talented person with a lot of accomplishments to the tech industry…. But still, you have a team of computer vision / AI guys, and you hire a talented compiler writer who was an upper management figure at another company working on something entirely unrelated both technically and logistically (in terms of release cycles)…. Frictionless would not be the term that I use to describe such a scenario.

I agree, it sounds like they hired a better fit for the role and that was part of a plan to replace Lattner. I really hope Chris finds a better fit, and as does Tesla. There's no reason why this can't be win-win, and certainly keeping someone in a position where the company isn't happy and he isn't happy is not good for anyone.

 

[22522]

It sounds to me like Chris Lattner just didn't have the expertise necessary. Apparently the new guy is a leading expert in vision and deep learning, and he's coming from OpenAi so he's well know to EM who decided this is the guy they need. This isn't a case of Lattner leaving and needing to find a replacement, it's a replacement by choice. I think this is actually good news and progress is about to get a lot faster.

This may be a Fisker pattern match. Let's see where he goes. The hardware mindset might work better for 68% of the functions needed. The glass mounted c-pillar camera may provide huge leverage in some situations.

 

[Italia81]

Anyone on here check out the AABC in SF this week? A lot of good battery info there...please share thoughts if you went. I know there are a lot detailed battery discussions on here.

 

[Mike Smith]

From Tesla:

Andrej Karpathy, one of the world’s leading experts in computer vision and deep learning, is joining Tesla as Director of AI and Autopilot Vision, reporting directly to Elon Musk. Andrej has worked to give computers vision through his work on ImageNet, as well as imagination through the development of generative models, and the ability to navigate the internet with reinforcement learning. He was most recently a Research Scientist at OpenAI.

Andrej completed his computer vision PhD at Stanford University, where he demonstrated the ability to derive complex descriptions of images using a deep neural net. For example, identifying not simply that there is a cat in a given picture, but that it is an orange, spotted cat, riding on a skateboard with red wheels on brown hardwood flooring (http://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/main.pdf). He also created and taught “Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition,” the first and still leading deep learning course at Stanford.

Andrej will work closely with Jim Keller, who now has overall responsibility for Autopilot hardware and software.

 

[Drax7]

From Tesla:

Andrej Karpathy, one of the world’s leading experts in computer vision and deep learning, is joining Tesla as Director of AI and Autopilot Vision, reporting directly to Elon Musk. Andrej has worked to give computers vision through his work on ImageNet, as well as imagination through the development of generative models, and the ability to navigate the internet with reinforcement learning. He was most recently a Research Scientist at OpenAI.

Andrej completed his computer vision PhD at Stanford University, where he demonstrated the ability to derive complex descriptions of images using a deep neural net. For example, identifying not simply that there is a cat in a given picture, but that it is an orange, spotted cat, riding on a skateboard with red wheels on brown hardwood flooring (http://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/main.pdf). He also created and taught “Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition,” the first and still leading deep learning course at Stanford.

Andrej will work closely with Jim Keller, who now has overall responsibility for Autopilot hardware and software.

One of the leading experts, though the leading expert is amnon shashua from Mobileye.
Hope Tesla can pull it off.

 

[chillaban]

One of the leading experts, though the leading expert is amnon shashua from Mobileye.
Hope Tesla can pull it off.

Maybe when it comes to applying the field to automotive applications, sure, but I am not sure there exists a definitive pecking order here. What's certainly clear is that it's a much better fit than a compiler guy.

 

[FluxCap]

From Tesla:

Andrej Karpathy, one of the world’s leading experts in computer vision and deep learning, is joining Tesla as Director of AI and Autopilot Vision, reporting directly to Elon Musk. Andrej has worked to give computers vision through his work on ImageNet, as well as imagination through the development of generative models, and the ability to navigate the internet with reinforcement learning. He was most recently a Research Scientist at OpenAI.

Andrej completed his computer vision PhD at Stanford University, where he demonstrated the ability to derive complex descriptions of images using a deep neural net. For example, identifying not simply that there is a cat in a given picture, but that it is an orange, spotted cat, riding on a skateboard with red wheels on brown hardwood flooring (http://cs.stanford.edu/people/karpathy/main.pdf). He also created and taught “Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition,” the first and still leading deep learning course at Stanford.

Andrej will work closely with Jim Keller, who now has overall responsibility for Autopilot hardware and software.

Despite building many a PC using Jim Keller's magical price/performance AMD Athlon parts years ago, and despite profiting enormously from buying oversold AMD stock last year when I heard he was close to releasing the (Ry)Zen architecture and then selling for quite the gain just before its release, I was a bit puzzled when I heard he joined Tesla to lead autopilot efforts. But since then, I have realized that it makes good sense in the context of having someone intimately familiar with breaking new ground not just in raw technological horsepower, but someone who is obsessed with "horsepower (compute power) per dollar" value, which is of the utmost importance for the success of Tesla's ambitious goals for Model 3 and the rest of the product mix. Adding a deeply experienced computer vision and machine learning mind like Karpathy into the mix to work with Jim seems like a very special sauce indeed.

I never really understood how Chris Lattner fit into this picture, because while his accomplishments are many, it did not seem like his skill set was a natural fit for what autopilot needs to become in the months and years ahead (who knows, maybe a good compiler was needed for internal code development processes?) Regardless, I wish Chris well and have no doubt he will be just fine in a new role elsewhere.

I think this is a good move that further cements Tesla's competitive advantage and industry leadership in this groundbreaking product segment.

 

[MXWing]

Harrison Barnes is awesome but if you can put a Kevin Durant in the same position, Harrison goes.

It's that's simple.

On why Chris doesn't have another position maybe he's a piker? Maybe Elon gave him the boiler room speech because he got used to cushion at Apple?

"You are required to work your (beep beep) off at this firm. We want winners here, not pikers. A piker walks at the bell. A Piker asks how much vacation time you get in the first year. Vacation time? People come to work at this firm for one reason, to become filthy rich, that's it. You want vacation time, go teach third grade at a public school."

That's what I hope anyway. Crush the shorts I want my Model 3 asap.

Be thankful TSLA is within range of 400. No recent positive catalysts still keeping floor around 370 when

FANG down
Nasdaq profit taking
Sector rotations
Financial plays
Biotech plays
Everyone with a store hiding from Amazon

 

[koolkool]

It sounds to me like Chris Lattner just didn't have the expertise necessary. Apparently the new guy, Andrej Karpathy, is a leading expert in vision and deep learning, and he's coming from OpenAi so he's well know to EM who decided this is the guy they need. This isn't a case of Lattner leaving and needing to find a replacement, it's a replacement by choice. I think this is actually good news and progress is about to get a lot faster.

Edit: Also, remember in the shareholders meeting EM made the comment that progress was about to get a lot faster. I'm guessing this change has been in the works for a while and EM, Andrej Karpathy, and Jim Keller (the chip architect from AMD) have already worked out the path forward.

Would you have the source where Elon says AP updates will now be faster? Would like to read it to get the exact context.

 

[DaveT]

Just FYI, I reached out to Ben Kallo today regarding the Benzinga article.

Me: "An article about your meeting with Tesla management was just published claiming: 'Specifically, management noted that it is on track to produce about 250,000 vehicles by the end of 2017.' (Actionable Trading Ideas, Real Time News, Financial Insight | Benzinga). Can you confirm if this is true?"

Ben Kallo: "No that's not what we wrote. We wrote that production will ramp to that - consistent with what they said before - exiting the year at 5k M3 per week. Thanks for reaching out."

 

[larmor]

Just FYI, I reached out to Ben Kallo today regarding the Benzinga article.

Me: "An article about your meeting with Tesla management was just published claiming: 'Specifically, management noted that it is on track to produce about 250,000 vehicles by the end of 2017.' (Actionable Trading Ideas, Real Time News, Financial Insight | Benzinga). Can you confirm if this is true?"

Ben Kallo: "No that's not what we wrote. We wrote that production will ramp to that - consistent with what they said before - exiting the year at 5k M3 per week. Thanks for reaching out."

Deniable FUDability...

 

[Mike Smith]

Would you have the source where Elon says AP updates will now be faster? Would like to read it to get the exact context.

go to 1:17. The 'rapid advancement' in progress is apparently predicted to coincide with the addition of Andrej Karpathy.

 

[Runarbt]

Very insightful article. This writer is my new hero, after Elon of course.;-)

This is how Big Oil will die – NewCo Shift

 

[koolkool]

go to 1:17. The 'rapid advancement' in progress is apparently predicted to coincide with the addition of Andrej Karpathy.

You came through! Thanks!

 

[zzziii]

I was secretly hoping that Karpathy will work more with Tesla since he joined OpenAI and this news made my day since it is my best case scenario for Tesla.
This is a very bullish news even if Wall Street might no realize the long term potential of this hire.

As a side note, have a look at how positive is the reaction of the AI / Machine Learning community to the news on his Twitter post: Andrej Karpathy on Twitter

 

[Mike Smith]

I was secretly hoping that Karpathy will work more with Tesla since he joined OpenAI and this news made my day since it is my best case scenario for Tesla.
This is a very bullish news even if Wall Street might no realize the long term potential of this hire.

As a side note, have a look at how positive is the reaction of the AI / Machine Learning community to the news on his Twitter post: Andrej Karpathy on Twitter

From Stephen Merity of Salesforce (@Smerity):

"Few things could make me even more bullish on already sky high $TSLA val but @karpathy + Autopilot is one of them "

 

[SwTslaGrl]

A bit off topic - A webinar on simulating battery tech: Simulating Next-Generation Batteries in COMSOL Multiphysics® Webinar

 

[zzziii]

Andrej Karpathy wrote this on Reddit a few hours ago:

"At least on the short-medium term, the focus will be much more applied than what I've done at OpenAI, and will use techniques more along the lines of ConvNets trained with supervised learning, at scale, and deployed on an embedded system. But on a longer term I certainly hope to remain in the research world to some extent!"

Source

 

[Doit]

From Stephen Merity of Salesforce (@Smerity):

"Few things could make me even more bullish on already sky high $TSLA val but @karpathy + Autopilot is one of them "

Elon just retweeted @karpathy's announcement of himself joining Tesla.

 

[ValueAnalyst]

CATL 50 GWh by 2020: Chinese battery maker signs massive supply contract with NEVS ahead of build out of new Gigafactory-size plant

One key advantage Tesla has over CATL is that Tesla is vertically integrated whereas CATL needs to partner with car manufacturers.

Also, if Tesla delivers on its promise to build 3 or 4 more Gigafactories (2020/21?), it may have a battery production capacity of ~1TWh.

Given the size of Chinese market (more than 2x of US by 2020), I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla this week announced two Gigafactories in China.