#447 #447 – Cursor Team: Future of Programming with AI
The Future of AI-Assisted Programming
The Future of AI-Assisted Programming
Dr. Lex Fridman Host
Curious computer scientist and insightful podcast host exploring diverse ideas.
Aman Sanger
Arvid Lunnemark
Michael Truell
Sualeh Asif
Summary
The conversation revolves around the future of programming and the role of AI in enhancing the coding experience. The founding members of the Cursor team—Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, and Aman Sanger—discuss how Cursor, a code editor based on VS Code, integrates AI to assist developers. They explore the evolution of code editors, the impact of AI tools like GitHub Copilot, and the potential for AI to revolutionize how programmers interact with code. The team also delves into technical details such as speculative decoding, model training, and the challenges of making AI-assisted coding fast and intuitive. The discussion highlights the importance of human-AI collaboration, the iterative nature of programming, and the future of software development in an AI-driven world.
Highlights
- The code editor is largely the place where you build software and today or for a long time, that’s meant the place where you text edit a formal programming language.
- I think also a code editor should just be fun.
- Fundamentally, I think one of the things that draws a lot of people to building stuff on computers is this insane iteration speed.
- Cursor is a fork of VS Code and VS Code is one of the most popular editors for a long time.
- The goal of Cursor Tab is let’s eliminate all the low entropy actions you take inside of the editor.
Takeaways
- AI-assisted code editors like Cursor can significantly improve developer productivity by automating repetitive tasks.
- The future of programming involves a hybrid approach where humans and AI collaborate closely.
- Making AI tools intuitive and fast is crucial for their adoption in everyday programming.
- Understanding context in code is a key challenge for AI models, but advancements in retrieval systems and embeddings are helping.
- The balance between human creativity and AI automation will define the next generation of software development.
Official description
Aman Sanger, Arvid Lunnemark, Michael Truell, and Sualeh Asif are creators of Cursor, a popular code editor that specializes in AI-assisted programming.
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep447-sc
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/cursor-team-transcript
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey
AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama
Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring
Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact
EPISODE LINKS:
Cursor Website: https://cursor.com
Cursor on X: https://x.com/cursor_ai
Anysphere Website: https://anysphere.inc/
Aman's X: https://x.com/amanrsanger
Aman's Website: https://amansanger.com/
Arvid's X: https://x.com/ArVID220u
Arvid's Website: https://arvid.xyz/
Michael's Website: https://mntruell.com/
Michael's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3zIDkPN
Sualeh's X: https://x.com/sualehasif996
Sualeh's Website: https://sualehasif.me/
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
Encord: AI tooling for annotation & data management.
Go to https://encord.com/lex
MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts.
Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod
Shopify: Sell stuff online.
Go to https://shopify.com/lex
NetSuite: Business management software.
Go to http://netsuite.com/lex
AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks.
Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex
OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(09:25) - Code editor basics
(11:35) - GitHub Copilot
(18:53) - Cursor
(25:20) - Cursor Tab
(31:35) - Code diff
(39:46) - ML details
(45:20) - GPT vs Claude
(51:54) - Prompt engineering
(59:20) - AI agents
(1:13:18) - Running code in background
(1:17:57) - Debugging
(1:23:25) - Dangerous code
(1:34:35) - Branching file systems
(1:37:47) - Scaling challenges
(1:51:58) - Context
(1:57:05) - OpenAI o1
(2:08:27) - Synthetic data
(2:12:14) - RLHF vs RLAIF
(2:14:01) - Fields Medal for AI
(2:16:43) - Scaling laws
(2:25:32) - The future of programming
PODCAST LINKS:
- Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
- Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
- Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep447-sc
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/cursor-team-transcript
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey
AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama
Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring
Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact
EPISODE LINKS:
Cursor Website: https://cursor.com
Cursor on X: https://x.com/cursor_ai
Anysphere Website: https://anysphere.inc/
Aman's X: https://x.com/amanrsanger
Aman's Website: https://amansanger.com/
Arvid's X: https://x.com/ArVID220u
Arvid's Website: https://arvid.xyz/
Michael's Website: https://mntruell.com/
Michael's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3zIDkPN
Sualeh's X: https://x.com/sualehasif996
Sualeh's Website: https://sualehasif.me/
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
Encord: AI tooling for annotation & data management.
Go to https://encord.com/lex
MasterClass: Online classes from world-class experts.
Go to https://masterclass.com/lexpod
Shopify: Sell stuff online.
Go to https://shopify.com/lex
NetSuite: Business management software.
Go to http://netsuite.com/lex
AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks.
Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex
OUTLINE:
(00:00) - Introduction
(09:25) - Code editor basics
(11:35) - GitHub Copilot
(18:53) - Cursor
(25:20) - Cursor Tab
(31:35) - Code diff
(39:46) - ML details
(45:20) - GPT vs Claude
(51:54) - Prompt engineering
(59:20) - AI agents
(1:13:18) - Running code in background
(1:17:57) - Debugging
(1:23:25) - Dangerous code
(1:34:35) - Branching file systems
(1:37:47) - Scaling challenges
(1:51:58) - Context
(1:57:05) - OpenAI o1
(2:08:27) - Synthetic data
(2:12:14) - RLHF vs RLAIF
(2:14:01) - Fields Medal for AI
(2:16:43) - Scaling laws
(2:25:32) - The future of programming
PODCAST LINKS:
- Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
- RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
- Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
- Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips