Why can Kimi ship K3? Let me tell my story.
Earlier this year, I left academia for industry. I talked to a lot of companies along the way. Here's what I saw: 1. Arrogance. They believe the AI war is over, and they won. No hunger for the future, and no hunger for talent. 2. Restlessness. Young labs short on foundation, either rushing to catch the frontier or pivoting away from the competition. 3. Fear. Strong teams with real experience, but from the second tier, they can't quite bring themselves to aim for #1. 4. Misalignment. Everyone is optimizing for their own credit, but nobody really cares whether the company can reach AGI.
Kimi was different. Over many conversations with the founders, the same thing came through every time: a raw, genuine hunger for AGI.
I joined. The hunger was real. We shipped K3. This is only the beginning.
