Half of Anthropic's co-founders were theoretical physicists, says Princeton PhD dropout
matanSF · x · 2026-09-06
In an interview clip, Matan explains why he left his Princeton physics PhD: nearly half of Anthropic's co-founders, including Jared Kaplan and Dario, came from theoretical physics. He describes physics training — centuries of literature, daily paper floods, deep math prerequisites — as teaching judgment with minimal information, fueling an exodus of physicists into AI.
Related event: From String Theory to AI: Theoretical Physicists Flock to Startups(2 posts)→
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