Dileep George: compute is the helium of the AI era — scaling isn't enough
mjdramstead · x · 2026-10-29
Dileep George, Vicarious co-founder and now head of AI research at the Astera Institute, offered an analogy on Progress podcast ep. 10: compute is the helium of the AI era.
- In 1920 everyone bet on bigger balloons — you could fly without understanding aerodynamics; likewise you can get intelligent behavior without understanding intelligence.
- Today's AI is a "dirigible": flying on engineering stack, but scaling alone won't crack the real principles.
- The episode also covers why no one has decoded the brain yet and whether rogue-AI stories are overhyped.
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