2025 updates

Hi everyone!

Below are my 2025 updates.

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Writing

• May: What I’m thinking about these days

• July: Why I believe in AGI (again)

• September: I ran out of money a year ago, spent the last of my savings on a prostitute in Hong Kong, and became a commie.

• December: 2025 vibes

New Science

I interviewed Jacob Trefethen back in February for New Science and we talked about the organization of science and grant making (he directs about $100m/year to scientific research at Open Philanthropy).

New Science had five brilliant new fellows this year:

1. Maggie Li (tissue engineering, biophysics), an undergraduate @ University of Toronto.

2. Kiran Kling (climate engineering), an independent researcher.

3. Lev Chizhov (neurotech), an undergraduate @ École Polytechnique.

4. Kyrylo Kalashnikov (bio, physics, AI), an independent researcher.

5. Ryan Hassan (philosophy of science & technology), an independent researcher.

I’m extremely excited about all of them and it’s been a great pleasure to see the progress of the previous years’ fellows and grantees through the years, e.g.

• Adam Green: independent researcher -> Founder & CEO @ Markov Bio.

• Diana Leung: independent researcher -> Researcher @ Arc Institute.

• Isaak Freeman: independent researcher -> undergrad @ UC Berkeley -> grad student @ MIT -> Founder & CEO @ Axonic.

• Adam Strandberg: independent researcher -> grad student @ Harvard

• Julie Chen: undergrad @ Stanford -> grad student @ Rockefeller University + Hertz Fellow.

If you’d like to support New Science in its mission of building new institutions of basic science with a (tax-deductible) donation for the year 2026, let me know.

OpenAI

I now work on Special Projects at OpenAI. I’m writing code again, doing research, and am thinking about the future of science (OpenAI is hiring full-time scientists!), while splitting my time between our SF and NY offices.

It’s interesting to see how a company of this size still maintains the core belief system around which it was originally conceived (namely, the pursuit of AGI). It’s a very energizing place to be.

I believe that young companies are basically mirror reflections of their CEO, so this level of belief & energy says a lot about OpenAI’s CEO as well. (see my unauthorized advice from him here.)

2025 Favorites

Movies:

• Warfare (2025) (also see Generation Kill)

• Crazy. Stupid. Love. (2011)

• Splitsville (2025) (the funniest movie of the year)

• The Smashing Machine (2025)

• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)

Books:

• TrumpNation (Timothy L. O’Brien)

  • A prophetic book in many ways, originally published in 2005.

• It’s Better to Be Feared (Seth Wickersham)

  • “Michigan had recruited Brady to be the fourth or fifth quarterback on the depth chart; when he arrived, he was seventh.”

• Пробуждение (Михаил Герасимов)

  • Memoirs of a 23-year-old Russian conscripted into the Russian Imperial Army to fight in WW1. My highlights here.

Music

• RAYE - WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!

• T3NZU - Balenciaga

• Зачем - 5sta Family

• Hard Drive - Griffinilla

• Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

• Железный - Ляпис Трубецкой

• Love Me Not - Ravyn Lenae

New blogs

• Music blog by Maxime Vidal

• Steps to Phaeacia by Benny Chugg

• Human Invariant by Human Invariant

Assorted

• Favorite SF neighborhood: Outer Sunset

• Favorite NY neighborhood: Little Italy

• Favorite food: Gott’s California Burger (California), Tian Jin Onion Pancake (Taipei), toast with butter (anywhere)

• Favorite economists: Ben Golub, Paul Novosad, Tyler Cowen, Maksym Sherman, Arpit Gupta, Basil Halperin

Personal & 2026

I was going to write a section with stuff I’m thinking about these days but the post I wrote last May is still extremely current.

Day-to-day, I’ve been journaling most days for 30-60 minutes (via a custom app built by Codex CLI); mostly not drinking alcohol, but drinking more coffee; off adderall for 2 years now; spending lots of time writing in paper notebooks.

Next year I plan to visit London, Rome, and Japan (Tokyo and Kyoto). Let me know if you’re around.

Also send your (1) favorite movie you saw in 2025 and (2) the main question you want to answer in 2026.

Have a great year!

Stay frosty,
Alexey