A figure has gained attention in the tech world for taking a path less traveled in education. Gabriel Petersson, who dropped out of high school in Sweden, taught himself machine learning using artificial intelligence tools. Over the years, he has honed his expertise through experiences in various ventures. In December, he joined OpenAI and began working with the company's Sora team.
In his podcast program titled 'Extraordinary,' Petersson expressed that universities no longer hold an absolute monopoly on fundamental knowledge. According to him, it's possible to access much of the essential information one might need through artificial intelligence tools. He shared that he consistently presents himself with real problems during the learning process and seeks solutions in collaboration with ChatGPT.
He described his approach as 'top-down,' where he first sets a goal, then asks the model which project he should build. When errors emerge in the code he's working on, he rectifies them with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
In 2019, Petersson decided to drop out of high school in Sweden and started working at a small startup. He began to learn coding, not out of interest, but out of necessity. His responsibilities included setting up product recommendation systems, data scraping for information collection, and developing various integrations.
Subsequently, he served as a software engineer at prominent companies such as Midjourney and Dataland. Leveraging his experiences across different fields, he expanded his portfolio and joined the ranks of OpenAI in December. Currently, he is part of the team working on the company's video production model, Sora.
Gabriel Petersson has stated that companies are now focusing more on the results and production capabilities of candidates, rather than their formal qualifications. In his opinion, the most important thing for an institution is to solve problems and create value. Those who can demonstrate this open up significant opportunities for themselves.
His approach aligns with the statements of high-level figures in the industry. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has expressed his admiration for young entrepreneurs who drop out of school and forge their own path.