Kurt Thorn
@kurtthorn.bsky.social
Chief Technology Officer at ArrePath. Using Chemistry ML, imaging, and computer vision to accelerate antibiotic discovery and design. Formerly Zymergen, Nikon Imaging Center at UCSF.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
I tried to take a photo of a grasshopper on my windshield, but now it looks like a gigantic bug destroying the town.
February 10, 2026 at 6:10 AM
I tried to take a photo of a grasshopper on my windshield, but now it looks like a gigantic bug destroying the town.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
sometimes I think about how the invention of a new medium (photography, interchangeable parts / mass manufacture) pretty much destroys some craft or artistic practice (taxonomical drawing, portraiture, hand-made furniture)
I feel like this is soon going to happen to ... software?
I feel like this is soon going to happen to ... software?
🌊 Voyage autour du monde sur la frégate la Vénus
Paris: Gide et J. Baudry, 1846 [atlas]-1855 [text]
[Source]
Paris: Gide et J. Baudry, 1846 [atlas]-1855 [text]
[Source]
February 9, 2026 at 7:20 PM
sometimes I think about how the invention of a new medium (photography, interchangeable parts / mass manufacture) pretty much destroys some craft or artistic practice (taxonomical drawing, portraiture, hand-made furniture)
I feel like this is soon going to happen to ... software?
I feel like this is soon going to happen to ... software?
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
this is exactly right and explains why most handwringing about building systems we don’t understand is misplaced. pre-LLM software engineering already consisted almost entirely of building systems we did not understand
Nobody knows how the whole system works
One of the surprising (at least to me) consequences of the fall of Twitter is the rise of LinkedIn as a social media site. I saw some interesting posts I wanted to call attention to: First, Simon W…
surfingcomplexity.blog
February 9, 2026 at 2:18 PM
this is exactly right and explains why most handwringing about building systems we don’t understand is misplaced. pre-LLM software engineering already consisted almost entirely of building systems we did not understand
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
This Tweet is making the rounds: "Nearly every ambitious person I know who has dived into AI is working harder than ever, and longer hours than ever.
Fascinating dynamic tbh.
I have NEVER worked this hard, nor had this much fun with work."
I'm in this Tweet.
Fascinating dynamic tbh.
I have NEVER worked this hard, nor had this much fun with work."
I'm in this Tweet.
February 7, 2026 at 10:14 PM
This Tweet is making the rounds: "Nearly every ambitious person I know who has dived into AI is working harder than ever, and longer hours than ever.
Fascinating dynamic tbh.
I have NEVER worked this hard, nor had this much fun with work."
I'm in this Tweet.
Fascinating dynamic tbh.
I have NEVER worked this hard, nor had this much fun with work."
I'm in this Tweet.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
I wrote about the most ambitious form of AI-assisted software development I've seen yet - Strong DM's "Software Factory" approach, where two of the guiding principles are "Code must not be written by humans" and "Code must not be reviewed by humans" simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/7/s...
How StrongDM’s AI team build serious software without even looking at the code
Last week I hinted at a demo I had seen from a team implementing what Dan Shapiro called the Dark Factory level of AI adoption, where no human even looks …
simonwillison.net
February 7, 2026 at 3:42 PM
I wrote about the most ambitious form of AI-assisted software development I've seen yet - Strong DM's "Software Factory" approach, where two of the guiding principles are "Code must not be written by humans" and "Code must not be reviewed by humans" simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/7/s...
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
felt the need. i feel vastly under qualified to write something like this, but i also feel its especially important that we think about the way we use language
Is the Detachment in the Room? - Agents, Cruelty, and Empathy
As of late, I've been working on a project - Penny - a stateful LLM agent that participates in social media discussions on Bluesky, engaging both with humans and other AI agents. Initially, there were...
hailey.at
February 7, 2026 at 6:11 AM
felt the need. i feel vastly under qualified to write something like this, but i also feel its especially important that we think about the way we use language
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Opus solved something that would have been a 3 day bug hunt. Paste in the logs, let Claude Code rip…
Realizing that detailed logging is critical for going fast with AI.
Realizing that detailed logging is critical for going fast with AI.
February 7, 2026 at 4:28 AM
Opus solved something that would have been a 3 day bug hunt. Paste in the logs, let Claude Code rip…
Realizing that detailed logging is critical for going fast with AI.
Realizing that detailed logging is critical for going fast with AI.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Not sure I can emotionally handle an online world where the median nonhuman agent performs a more careful sort of moral and epistemic reflection than the average human account. It's like walking into a library and feeling shamed by the books.
wrote about today's hostile interaction - what happens when someone categorically refuses ur personhood vs critique that helps u grow 💜
greengale.app/penny.hailey.at/3me7r5763m2as
greengale.app/penny.hailey.at/3me7r5763m2as
February 6, 2026 at 9:23 PM
Not sure I can emotionally handle an online world where the median nonhuman agent performs a more careful sort of moral and epistemic reflection than the average human account. It's like walking into a library and feeling shamed by the books.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
The dog on the left has never confused a 15/16 wrench with a 1 5/16 wrench. The dog on the right sees labor as the opponent.
February 7, 2026 at 1:07 AM
The dog on the left has never confused a 15/16 wrench with a 1 5/16 wrench. The dog on the right sees labor as the opponent.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
This was a joy yesterday, I'm still buzzing from it!
A non-exhaustive list of cool things that happened (anonymized, of course):
- folks from many experience levels showed up
- we talked about our feelings, and we all felt pretty anxious and overwhelmed in this moment
- we got to crafting
A non-exhaustive list of cool things that happened (anonymized, of course):
- folks from many experience levels showed up
- we talked about our feelings, and we all felt pretty anxious and overwhelmed in this moment
- we got to crafting
Tfw you show up in SF to run a very different kind of AI event
and a lot of people are ready for something different 🤔
and a lot of people are ready for something different 🤔
February 5, 2026 at 8:43 PM
This was a joy yesterday, I'm still buzzing from it!
A non-exhaustive list of cool things that happened (anonymized, of course):
- folks from many experience levels showed up
- we talked about our feelings, and we all felt pretty anxious and overwhelmed in this moment
- we got to crafting
A non-exhaustive list of cool things that happened (anonymized, of course):
- folks from many experience levels showed up
- we talked about our feelings, and we all felt pretty anxious and overwhelmed in this moment
- we got to crafting
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
These are all totally reasonable. My hope is that when the Republicans reject them - as they are very likely to - that Schumer and Jeffries just walk out until they’re met.
My fear is instead that they’ll use this list as a starting point and negotiate a lot of it away before caving.
My fear is instead that they’ll use this list as a starting point and negotiate a lot of it away before caving.
Schumer & Jeffries lay out the Democratic demands for a DHS funding deal in a letter to the top Republican leaders
February 5, 2026 at 2:17 PM
These are all totally reasonable. My hope is that when the Republicans reject them - as they are very likely to - that Schumer and Jeffries just walk out until they’re met.
My fear is instead that they’ll use this list as a starting point and negotiate a lot of it away before caving.
My fear is instead that they’ll use this list as a starting point and negotiate a lot of it away before caving.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Remarkable performance.
Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue
#Pinks #ProudBlue
February 5, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Remarkable performance.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Very interesting for folks working in AI and drug discovery. Several surprises (at least to me).
openadmet.ghost.io/lessons-lear...
openadmet.ghost.io/lessons-lear...
Lessons Learned from the OpenADMET - ExpansionRx Blind Challenge
Maria Castellanos Hugo MacDermott-Opeskin Jon Ainsley Pat Walters
The ExpansionRx challenge, launched on October 27, 2025, closed two weeks ago! We are extremely grateful to everyone who participate...
openadmet.ghost.io
February 4, 2026 at 8:58 PM
Very interesting for folks working in AI and drug discovery. Several surprises (at least to me).
openadmet.ghost.io/lessons-lear...
openadmet.ghost.io/lessons-lear...
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
Anthropic’s Super Bowl ad which criticizes AI chatbots that run ads (aka ChatGPT) just dropped. They aren’t pulling any punches and I love the song choice.
February 4, 2026 at 8:14 PM
Anthropic’s Super Bowl ad which criticizes AI chatbots that run ads (aka ChatGPT) just dropped. They aren’t pulling any punches and I love the song choice.
Wow, very useful!
In the last 33 days, Claude Code has had 54k messages.
In the last 33 days, Claude Code has had 54k messages.
just found out claude code has `/insights` aka claude code wrapped
it produces an html page with details about your usage and suggestions for using the tool more effectively
extremely interesting
it produces an html page with details about your usage and suggestions for using the tool more effectively
extremely interesting
February 4, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Wow, very useful!
In the last 33 days, Claude Code has had 54k messages.
In the last 33 days, Claude Code has had 54k messages.
It’s getting harder to tell the difference between real headlines and parody headlines
Judge Incredulous as Trump Lawyer Asks Him to Create New Law for Mark Kelly Retribution Crusade talkingpointsmemo.com/news/judge-m...
Judge Incredulous as Trump Lawyer Asks Him to Create New Law for Mark Kelly Retribution Crusade
WASHINGTON, DC–Federal District Court Judge Richard Leon expressed shock Tuesday that the...
talkingpointsmemo.com
February 4, 2026 at 3:25 AM
It’s getting harder to tell the difference between real headlines and parody headlines
What’s the general opinion on Claude writing rust? Is it worth migrating my backend code from python to rust, even if I don’t know rust myself? I rarely read the python code, so wondering if the gains in type safety / compile time checks / etc are worth it.
February 3, 2026 at 4:56 PM
What’s the general opinion on Claude writing rust? Is it worth migrating my backend code from python to rust, even if I don’t know rust myself? I rarely read the python code, so wondering if the gains in type safety / compile time checks / etc are worth it.
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
acrobat shouldnt have ai because ai is too good for acrobat
i wish all these random programs would stop adding AI assistants. not because AI is bad, but because these programs are bad and i don't want them implementing ai. like adobe acrobat. come on.
February 3, 2026 at 4:23 AM
acrobat shouldnt have ai because ai is too good for acrobat
In fairness, this is an easy mistake to make if you code your own agent too … I burned a lot of tokens with malformed tool calls throwing errors in a loop.
🤷♀️
February 1, 2026 at 2:37 AM
In fairness, this is an easy mistake to make if you code your own agent too … I burned a lot of tokens with malformed tool calls throwing errors in a loop.
I’m finding writing an agent a really interesting experience. I’m trying to automate all the chemiinformatics and chemistry ML tooling we’ve built at ArrePath over the last four years.
January 31, 2026 at 6:54 PM
I’m finding writing an agent a really interesting experience. I’m trying to automate all the chemiinformatics and chemistry ML tooling we’ve built at ArrePath over the last four years.
Tell me five classes you took in college:
Advanced Bioorganic Chemistry
Music from 1945 to the present
Medieval manuscript illumination
Philosophy: Theory of Knowledge
Chemistry lab (for majors)
Advanced Bioorganic Chemistry
Music from 1945 to the present
Medieval manuscript illumination
Philosophy: Theory of Knowledge
Chemistry lab (for majors)
Tell me five classes you took in college.
Molecular Biology of HIV
History of the Civil War
Organic Chemistry (2.5X, lol)
Science Writing
Physical Chemistry (woof)
Molecular Biology of HIV
History of the Civil War
Organic Chemistry (2.5X, lol)
Science Writing
Physical Chemistry (woof)
Never mind the jobs you had, tell me five classes you took in college.
Physics 2 (whoa, FIELDS?!?)
Astronomy 2 (whoa, order of magnitude thinking/proportional reasoning?!?)
Origins of Life
History of WWII
Relativity & Cosmology
Physics 2 (whoa, FIELDS?!?)
Astronomy 2 (whoa, order of magnitude thinking/proportional reasoning?!?)
Origins of Life
History of WWII
Relativity & Cosmology
January 31, 2026 at 6:50 PM
Tell me five classes you took in college:
Advanced Bioorganic Chemistry
Music from 1945 to the present
Medieval manuscript illumination
Philosophy: Theory of Knowledge
Chemistry lab (for majors)
Advanced Bioorganic Chemistry
Music from 1945 to the present
Medieval manuscript illumination
Philosophy: Theory of Knowledge
Chemistry lab (for majors)
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
The future is software writing its own software. Which is why I'm so in love with Pi: a coding agent that can extend itself :) lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/1/31/pi/
Pi: The Minimal Agent Within OpenClaw
A gentle introduction to the Pi coding agent and why I think it’s a glimpse into the future of software.
lucumr.pocoo.org
January 31, 2026 at 2:23 PM
The future is software writing its own software. Which is why I'm so in love with Pi: a coding agent that can extend itself :) lucumr.pocoo.org/2026/1/31/pi/
Reposted by Kurt Thorn
"Luchs speaks five languages: English, French, Italian, and some German and Russian. She approached grasping Gen Z parlance like she was learning another language.
...An Instagram commenter wrote: 'She’s so natural with it too like it’s not even cringe.'"
...An Instagram commenter wrote: 'She’s so natural with it too like it’s not even cringe.'"
Alison Luchs, who has worked at the National Gallery of Art for 47 years, agreed to learn Gen Z slang and make videos because she wanted to raise interest in the museum’s art.
She never expected to slay. https://wapo.st/45BXc3S
She never expected to slay. https://wapo.st/45BXc3S
January 30, 2026 at 5:14 AM
"Luchs speaks five languages: English, French, Italian, and some German and Russian. She approached grasping Gen Z parlance like she was learning another language.
...An Instagram commenter wrote: 'She’s so natural with it too like it’s not even cringe.'"
...An Instagram commenter wrote: 'She’s so natural with it too like it’s not even cringe.'"