The Problem Solvers: Kay Zhu at Genspark

Kay Zhu built Genspark on a belief he's living at home: that AI should free people to follow their heart. His teenage son is studying commercial dance instead of computer science with his full support. As CTO and co-founder, Kay built Genspark to make that possible at scale with an all-in-one AI workspace for business. In a market moving this fast, anyone can build, but Kay believes the team is what makes the difference. He chose Claude for its reasoning capabilities, and found something beyond the model: a close partnership with Anthropic that let him take Genspark further than he could alone. The Problem Solvers is a series from Anthropic speaking to founders about how they're solving problems, and why they build with Claude. Learn more about how Kay Zhu is building with Claude: https://claude.com/customers/genspark Discover more from the founders building at the frontier: https://claude.com/problem-solvers

Kay Zhuguest

May 22, 20262mWatch on YouTube ↗

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2 min read · 320 words

0:00 – 0:00
Intro
1. KZKay Zhu
  [upbeat music]
0:00 – 0:30
Why AI changes what to study: “follow your heart” careers
1. KZKay Zhu
  I have a son who is turning eighteen, and three years ago, if you asked me, I may force him to [chuckles] major in computer science. He is actually going to the college to study commercial dance. Because AI can help people to do so much of things, you basically should pursue your heart. Uh, you know, to just follow your heart. [upbeat music] Genspark is the all-in-one AI workspace. We do AI
0:30 – 0:49
What Genspark is building: an all-in-one AI workspace
1. KZKay Zhu
  spreadsheet, AI slides, AI document, all kinds of work for normal white-collar workers.
2. SPSpeaker
  When you think about how we work together, the Applied AI team and Genspark, what's it like on your side when you get something new from us?
0:49 – 1:00
Working with Applied AI: new requests as a catalyst
1. KZKay Zhu
  All our engineers are very curious about the latest advancement for the latest models. So every time we got this request, it's kind of like a invitation to the party. [chuckles] So we enjoyed it a lot. We are a
1:00 – 1:11
Why partnerships matter for a small startup
1. KZKay Zhu
  very small startup, so we cannot do everything by ourself, and working with kind of trusted partner is really, really important.
2. SPSpeaker
  What do you think are the things that you do that make you unique and, and help you succeed?
1:11 – 1:13
Rethinking the ‘moat’: speed and culture over defensibility
1. KZKay Zhu
  Everybody is talking about moat these days.
2. SPSpeaker
  Yeah.
1:13 – 1:37
Openness as a strategy: secrets expire fast in AI
1. KZKay Zhu
  I don't really think nowadays a- anybody have any moat because everything is happening so fast. The only moat is the team's culture. We always exploring and trying the newest technology to execute faster. [upbeat music] In the collaboration, the openness is the key. The some of the secret you kept today will be worthless, you know-
2. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
1:37 – 2:05
How great partnerships work: trust and tight feedback loops
1. KZKay Zhu
  ... tomorrow. The success of the partnership, it comes to, um, deep mutual trust. When it's really working, it's very tight feedback loop. I just did a interview yesterday, and the candidate asked me, "What will Genspark be in two years?" My answer is, "I don't know." A lot of new things will happen, and it will even seem like magic. [upbeat music]