In a brief YouTube short, Jason M. Lemkin, Harry Stebbings, and Rory debate the AI product that defined 2024. Lemkin declares Claude 3.5/3.7 (and the later 4) the "product of the year," arguing that the model unlocked the functionality of a suite of developer tools—Replit, Cursor, Gamma, and Lovable—by providing reliable, high‑quality AI assistance. He questions whether Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei deserves credit for the breakthrough, noting the hype around AI‑driven mass unemployment but ultimately crediting the software itself. Rory, adopting a contrarian tone, criticizes the format of year‑end wrap‑ups, likens founder awards to the Ballon d’Or, and ultimately agrees with Lemkin that Dario is the "founder of the year," while disputing the alarmist unemployment narrative. Harry interjects with brief, informal banter. The conversation highlights the perceived paradigm shift caused by Claude, the ecosystem of tools built on it, and the cultural debate over credit and societal impact.
Chapters
You know what the product of the year is? The product of the year is Claude 3.5 or 3.7. Without this, we have no vibe coding. Without this, we have no lovable, no vacations to Greece, no Replit, no cursor that really works, no Gamma. None of these products, many of which existed for years, did not work until— we could debate when it was. They worked with Claude 3.5 at the end of last year, but they didn't really— they weren't great until 3.7 and then 4 this year, and 4 changed our lives. And you may not use it. You may use the outputs. You may use Agent Force, you know, which, which it's not all that. You may use Cursor, which is 90%, still 90% powered by Anthropy. You may use Gamma or Replit or, again, Lovable for Harry. None of these products we use, this changed the way we deliver AI inside of products. It's not just coders. It changed everything else. So do I give Dario credit as CEO? I, I don't know. I mean, I, I, I don't love all those warnings about how 90% of the world's gonna be unemployed in several weeks, um, but he delivered, right? So I think you got— I, without question, that it is the software of the year. Do you give the CEO credit when— for the product of the year? Maybe not. I'm gonna anyway though.
Rory?
Damn, because, you know, I'm— God, I hate agreeing with Jason, but I'll just take a while to get there because first of all, he didn't answer the original question, the whole product of the year. Focus on the founder of the year. Anyway, I mean, look, it's a— I mean, one, I'm going to start with Harry. I'm going to be grumpy today because I hate these events. I hate these kind of wrap-up things. I think they're bullshit. So I will be grumpy the whole time and I make no bones about that. I also do intuit them in the one way.
I'm like, "Oh, when we were waiting for you." And I'm like, "Rory." He goes, "Fuck off." It's a second.
It's a second. So let's talk about that. You know, founder of the, the problem, one thing about that, you know the Ballon d'Or where they pick the best football player, right? As we call it, or soccer as they do here in America, right? And you know, it's kind of one of those things where, you know, every year, It's kind of try and come up with someone else, but we all know it's Messi. You know, it's a 10 or 15-year period where it's just silly, or maybe it's Ronaldo. So I feel, you know, if you really, when we come to pick founder of the decade, founder of the blah, it's gonna be Elon. But so let's just leave that to one side, right? And just do the, I'll do this year, right? And then as it were, exclude him from the year, 'cause otherwise it gets boring. I do actually come out exactly the same place Jason did, Dario. And I do think it's not just product of the year, but also what I like, I find the stuff about, unemployment to be bizarre. And I think he's wrong, and I'll come back to that. But that's the CEO as pontificator.
