Why we’re at the beginning of the AI hardware boom | Caitlin Kalinowski (ex–OpenAI, Meta, Apple)
This episode features a deep dive with Caitlin Kalinowski, an accomplished hardware leader, discussing the burgeoning AI hardware boom. The conversation explores how technologies from VR/AR are now powering robotics, the inherent challenges of hardware development, critical supply chain vulnerabilities exacerbated by AI demand, and the future of human-robot interaction. Kalinowski also shares invaluable leadership lessons from her time at Apple, Meta, and OpenAI, and offers a framework for building successful hardware products.
- Digital AI, the kind built behind a keyboard, is hitting its limits. Caitlin Kalinowski, a veteran hardware leader from Apple, Meta, and OpenAI, points to this saturation as the driver pushing AI’s next frontier into the physical world: robotics, manufacturing, and industrialization. Read →
- AI is at the "very, very beginning" of impacting CAD, lacking the foundational understanding needed for complex engineering design. Read →
- Sam Altman instills an almost unsettling focus on scale, pushing teams to ask, “Why not 100x or 10,000x?” and reject incremental thinking. Read →
- Hardware doesn't pivot. Unlike software, physical products can't easily change direction mid-development. Caitlin Kalinowski, a hardware veteran from Apple and Meta, stresses that you must define clear goals early on, such as target cost or display resolution, and then stick to them. This disciplin… Read →
- VR's Core Contributions: While VR struggled for mainstream adoption, its pursuit of immersive spatial experiences led to breakthroughs in spatial understanding (SLAM) and depth sensing, which are now critical technologies. Read →