Garry Tan and Claude Code: The AI Obsession Dividing Tech

Garry Tan and His Enthusiasm for AI

Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator, recently expressed his overwhelming excitement for artificial intelligence agents during a talk at SXSW. He revealed that he suffers from "cyberpsychosis," a condition he associates with his enthusiasm for AI, which drives him to sleep only four hours a night. In his conversation with Bill Gurley, a venture capitalist, Tan joked that a third of the CEOs he knows share this obsession with AI. Although said in jest, AI-induced psychosis is a condition that can be dangerous.

Tan compared this period to when he was running his startup Posterous, which was sold to Twitter in 2012. At that time, he needed $10 million in venture capital and a team of 10 people to keep the business running. He recalls taking antidepressants and modafinil, a wakefulness-promoting drug, to cope with the pressure. Today, his mind is so stimulated by working with AI agents that he suffers from natural insomnia. "I don’t need modafinil with this revolution. I’m awake. I went to bed at 4 a.m. I woke up at 8 a.m.," he stated.

Tan worked on his startup for two years, a period marked by personal and professional challenges. However, the impact of AI agents on his daily life is such that he feels constantly awake and energized, without needing substances to stay alert.

The Rise of Claude Code

Tan recently launched Claude Code, an open-source project on GitHub, which immediately attracted attention. In just two days after its release on March 12, the project garnered nearly 20,000 stars and 2,200 forks. Claude Code consists of specific skills, called "skill.md," allowing AI to simulate different roles within a company, such as CEO, engineer, or code reviewer. Tan proudly shared his Claude Code setup, which he calls "gstack," on social media, explaining that he wanted others to benefit from his exact configuration.

Tan's tweet about gstack went viral on X and trended on Product Hunt, reflecting massive interest in the project. Since its release, Tan has added several additional skills to Claude Code. The GitHub repository for gstack currently indicates that there are 13 skills, but it seems that every hour, Tan tweets something new. In one post, he provided an example of how his setup works. First, he asks Claude for feedback on the relevance of a startup idea or feature using a skill where Claude acts as CEO. He uses another skill to have Claude write the feature as an engineer, and another for him to review his own work for bugs and security issues as a code reviewer. Other skills cover design, documentation, and more.

Mixed Reactions

While Claude Code has been met with enthusiasm, it has also sparked criticism. A CTO friend of Tan referred to the project as "god mode," highlighting its ability to detect security flaws. Thanks to gstack, this friend discovered a security vulnerability in his company's code, reinforcing the idea that this tool could be widely used.

However, some observers, like vlogger Mo Bitar, have downplayed its significance, describing it as merely a set of prompts. Bitar created a video titled "AI Makes CEOs Delusional," in which he critiques the exaggerated perception of gstack's impact. One founder also posted on X, criticizing Tan for his tweet about gstack, suggesting that the CTO who found the flaw should be fired.

Opinions on Claude Code are divided. ChatGPT stated that gstack is a set of "reasonably sophisticated prompt workflows, but they are not ‘magical’." Gemini described the setup as "sophisticated," adding that "gstack is essentially a ‘Pro’ setup." Claude, the AI in question, praised the project as an example of advanced design, calling it a "mature and opinionated system built by someone who actually uses it intensively."

On Monday, Tan explained in another post on X that he took modafinil to stay awake longer, in order to turn his ideas into lines of code before sleep or distraction could erase them. Despite the criticisms, Tan remains passionate about AI, asserting that coding with these tools is a powerful experience for him. He continues to promote Claude Code, convinced of its potential to transform work with artificial intelligence.