I would like to move to virtual reality. I would like to physically move there.

I read a book in 2006 called Grey Hat Hacking. I realized that if you acquired these sort of powers you could control the world. I didn’t know much about computers back then. I started with electronics. The first iPhone hack was physical.

What systems have vulnerabilities these days? Everything does.

What have you learned about the design of systems? You learn to not take things for what people say they are. You look at things for what they actually are. I understand that is what you tell me it is, but what does it do?

Vulnerabilities exist in the world. Nation-states have them. High-powered bad actors have them.

Elon Musk was looking for someone to build a vision system for Autopilot. We talked about a contract. If I could deliver something that meets Mobileye level performance tomorrow I would get $12 million. I would lose $1 million for each month I couldn’t deliver.

In life, I usually get away with saying stupid things. Elon is very sharp. He immediately called me out on it. Most people don’t even notice.

If I sell out to make money I sold out. It doesn’t matter. What do I get? A yacht? I don’t want a yacht.

Tesla is going to win level 5. Tesla is gathering data on a scale no one else is. They are putting real users behind the wheel. The incremental strategy is the only strategy that works.

Lex: The way you make videos for your company is awesome. [He live streams videos from his phone] If stuff goes a little wrong you just go with it. It is real. It’s beautiful and in contrast to the way, other companies would put together videos like that. I think that is actually what people love. It’s genuine.

Before we ship a consumer product that can drive cars I want to make sure I have a driver monitoring system you can’t cheat.

A huge success for driver-assist programs would be if they could fix drivers that are drunk, distracted, and asleep. [The causes of a large percentage of fatalities.]

The long-term idea for Comma.AI to make money: Be a car insurance company. I have the best data set to see who statically are the safest drivers. We see you driving unsafely we won’t insure you. This causes a bifurcation in the market because the only people who can’t get Comma insurance are the bad drivers. Geico can insure them. Their premiums are crazy high. Our premiums are crazy low. We would win car insurance. Take over the whole market.

Our burn rate is about 200k a month. And our revenue is about 100k a month. We need to 4X our revenue. We sell stuff at shop.comma.ai. To me that is respectable revenues. We make it by selling products to consumers. We are honest and transparent about what they are.

I don’t want attention from the masses. I want attention from people who I respect. I respect people who have skills. I would like to be known among people who have real skills.

When I say that life is work what I mean is that work gives my life meaning. I don’t mean that every minute of the day you should be working. I don’t think that is the best way to maximize results. If you are working 12 hours a day you should be working smarter - not harder.

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George Hotz: Comma.ai, OpenPilot, and Autonomous Vehicles | Lex Fridman Podcast #31