# #490 – State of AI in 2026: LLMs, Coding, Scaling Laws, China, Agents, GPUs, AGI

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lex-fridman-podcast/490-state-of-ai-in-2026-llms-coding-scaling-laws-china-agents-gpus-agi
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lex-fridman-podcast/490-state-of-ai-in-2026-llms-coding-scaling-laws-china-agents-gpus-agi.md
Podcast: [Lex Fridman Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/lex-fridman-podcast)
Published: 2026-02-01T02:46:43+00:00
Episode link: https://lexfridman.com/ai-sota-2026/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ai-sota-2026
Audio file: https://media.blubrry.com/takeituneasy/ins.blubrry.com/takeituneasy/lex_ai_ai_sota_2026.mp3
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## Resource

Nathan Lambert and Sebastian Raschka are machine learning researchers, engineers, and educators. Nathan is the post-training lead at the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) and the author of The RLHF Book. Sebastian Raschka is the author of Build a Large Language Model (From Scratch) and Build a Reasoning Model (From Scratch). Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep490-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/ai-sota-2026-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: Box: Intelligent content management platform. Go to https://box.com/ai Quo: Phone system (calls, texts, contacts) for businesses. Go to https://quo.com/lex UPLIFT Desk: Standing desks and office ergonomics. Go to https://upliftdesk.com/lex Fin: AI agent for customer service. Go to https://fin.ai/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex CodeRabbit: AI-powered code reviews. Go to https://coderabbit.ai/lex LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Perplexity: AI-powered answer engine. Go to https://perplexity.ai/ OUTLINE: (00:00) – Introduction (01:39) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections (16:29) – China vs US: Who wins the AI race? (25:11) – ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini vs Grok: Who is winning? (36:11) – Best AI for coding (43:02) – Open Source vs Closed Source LLMs…

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## Transcript

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