- Scott Wu, founder of Cognition and a former world champion of competitive programming (2014), reflects on his lifelong path through math and programming competitions and the once-unthinkable idea of AI doing those tasks.
- Cognition builds Devin, the first AI software engineer, plus a suite of tools, working with banks, health insurers, governments, and private equity firms with a mission to help build software 10 times faster worldwide.
- Wu praises the collaborative, transparent partnership with Anthropic, recalling early belief from Dario, and frames Anthropic's own products like Claude Code as complementary, since no single product will cover all of software engineering.
The Problem Solvers: Scott Wu at Cognition
- Scott Wu grew up immersed in math and programming competitions and was world champion of competitive programming in 2014, an era when he and friends debated whether AI could ever do those things.
- Cognition builds Devin, the first AI software engineer, and a suite of tools around it, serving some of the world's biggest institutions including banks, health insurers, governments, and private equity firms.
- Cognition's mission is to help build software around the world 10 times faster.
- Wu attributes sticking with his singular vision for Devin to caring deeply about the art and craft of software engineering on the ground and solving the practical problems that unblock it.
- He recalls his first conversation with Dario, who immediately understood the concept without needing a pitch, validating an idea that many people didn't believe was possible.
- Wu sees Anthropic's launch of its own products like Claude Code as complementary rather than competitive, believing no single product will serve all of code and software engineering, so there is more to do together than separately.
- Working with Anthropic has let Cognition deliver customers the exact capabilities they want and help usher in a new era where building software is as easy as telling your computer what to do.
Cognition — The company founded by Scott Wu that builds Devin and a suite of AI software engineering tools.
Devin — Cognition's product, described as the first AI software engineer.
Competitive programming — Timed contests solving algorithmic problems; Scott Wu was its 2014 world champion.
AI software engineer — An AI agent that performs software engineering tasks end to end, as embodied by Devin.
Claude Code — Anthropic's own coding product, which Wu views as complementary to Devin.
Private equity firms — Among the institutions Cognition serves, alongside banks, health insurers, and governments.
And Scott, if you could please introduce yourself by telling us where you go to school and what grade you're in. I go to Glasgow Middle School and I'm in seventh grade. Excellent. We are going to move on to the first question. What is the value of 255 — [buzzer beeps] Scott? 5,000. 5,000 is the correct answer. [audience applauds]
I grew up — like, my whole life was math and programming competitions. Yeah. I was world champion of competitive programming in 2014. And I remember talking about this with some of my friends: do you guys think there's ever going to be a day where AI can actually just do all of these things that we do? And to say the obvious, it's crazy. Yeah.
What we do at Cognition is we build Devin, the first AI software engineer, and a suite of tools around that. We work with a lot of the biggest institutions in the world. We work with banks, health insurers, governments, private equity firms. Our whole mission is to help build software around the world 10 times faster.
You sort of had a singular vision on what Devin was going to look like. I'm curious how you managed to stick with it. We just care so much more about the art and craft of software engineering on the ground, and how do we figure out how to go and make that much faster and solve all the practical problems and unblock that.
It always felt like you had a very collaborative attitude towards how to make this happen together. I very vividly remember my first conversation with Dario. I got on the call with him, I was talking about, like, "Yeah, so we're working on this." He stopped me and he's like, "Don't worry, you don't have to pitch me on this, the concept, I totally get it." We were doing something that people didn't really believe was possible. Yeah, yeah. And I appreciated that a lot from the very beginning.
We've also started launching some of our own products, like Claude Code. As our relationships evolved, I'm curious what your feelings are about it. I really appreciate that you guys have been really transparent with us. I've always thought about it as — I really just don't think there's going to be a single product that does all of code and all of software engineering. There are so many experiences to serve. And I think from that perspective, there's so much more for us to do together than there is separate, and that's what we're excited about. Yeah.
From the beginning, I always loved that you could take any idea that you had and turn it into reality. Everyone will be able to turn those ideas into reality. We've been able to make so much more progress and see companies build much, much faster than they have been before. By getting to work with Anthropic, we're able to go and deliver customers the exact capabilities that they're looking for. We've been able to help bring folks to a new era of software engineering. This is a world where building software is just as easy as telling your computer what to do.
TL;DR
- Scott Wu, founder of Cognition and a former world champion of competitive programming (2014), reflects on his lifelong path through math and programming competitions and the once-unthinkable idea of AI doing those tasks.
- Cognition builds Devin, the first AI software engineer, plus a suite of tools, working with banks, health insurers, governments, and private equity firms with a mission to help build software 10 times faster worldwide.
- Wu praises the collaborative, transparent partnership with Anthropic, recalling early belief from Dario, and frames Anthropic's own products like Claude Code as complementary, since no single product will cover all of software engineering.
Takeaways
- Scott Wu grew up immersed in math and programming competitions and was world champion of competitive programming in 2014, an era when he and friends debated whether AI could ever do those things.
- Cognition builds Devin, the first AI software engineer, and a suite of tools around it, serving some of the world's biggest institutions including banks, health insurers, governments, and private equity firms.
- Cognition's mission is to help build software around the world 10 times faster.
- Wu attributes sticking with his singular vision for Devin to caring deeply about the art and craft of software engineering on the ground and solving the practical problems that unblock it.
- He recalls his first conversation with Dario, who immediately understood the concept without needing a pitch, validating an idea that many people didn't believe was possible.
- Wu sees Anthropic's launch of its own products like Claude Code as complementary rather than competitive, believing no single product will serve all of code and software engineering, so there is more to do together than separately.
- Working with Anthropic has let Cognition deliver customers the exact capabilities they want and help usher in a new era where building software is as easy as telling your computer what to do.
Vocabulary
Cognition — The company founded by Scott Wu that builds Devin and a suite of AI software engineering tools.
Devin — Cognition's product, described as the first AI software engineer.
Competitive programming — Timed contests solving algorithmic problems; Scott Wu was its 2014 world champion.
AI software engineer — An AI agent that performs software engineering tasks end to end, as embodied by Devin.
Claude Code — Anthropic's own coding product, which Wu views as complementary to Devin.
Private equity firms — Among the institutions Cognition serves, alongside banks, health insurers, and governments.
Transcript
And Scott, if you could please introduce yourself by telling us where you go to school and what grade you're in. I go to Glasgow Middle School and I'm in seventh grade. Excellent. We are going to move on to the first question. What is the value of 255 — [buzzer beeps] Scott? 5,000. 5,000 is the correct answer. [audience applauds]
I grew up — like, my whole life was math and programming competitions. Yeah. I was world champion of competitive programming in 2014. And I remember talking about this with some of my friends: do you guys think there's ever going to be a day where AI can actually just do all of these things that we do? And to say the obvious, it's crazy. Yeah.
What we do at Cognition is we build Devin, the first AI software engineer, and a suite of tools around that. We work with a lot of the biggest institutions in the world. We work with banks, health insurers, governments, private equity firms. Our whole mission is to help build software around the world 10 times faster.
You sort of had a singular vision on what Devin was going to look like. I'm curious how you managed to stick with it. We just care so much more about the art and craft of software engineering on the ground, and how do we figure out how to go and make that much faster and solve all the practical problems and unblock that.
It always felt like you had a very collaborative attitude towards how to make this happen together. I very vividly remember my first conversation with Dario. I got on the call with him, I was talking about, like, "Yeah, so we're working on this." He stopped me and he's like, "Don't worry, you don't have to pitch me on this, the concept, I totally get it." We were doing something that people didn't really believe was possible. Yeah, yeah. And I appreciated that a lot from the very beginning.
We've also started launching some of our own products, like Claude Code. As our relationships evolved, I'm curious what your feelings are about it. I really appreciate that you guys have been really transparent with us. I've always thought about it as — I really just don't think there's going to be a single product that does all of code and all of software engineering. There are so many experiences to serve. And I think from that perspective, there's so much more for us to do together than there is separate, and that's what we're excited about. Yeah.
From the beginning, I always loved that you could take any idea that you had and turn it into reality. Everyone will be able to turn those ideas into reality. We've been able to make so much more progress and see companies build much, much faster than they have been before. By getting to work with Anthropic, we're able to go and deliver customers the exact capabilities that they're looking for. We've been able to help bring folks to a new era of software engineering. This is a world where building software is just as easy as telling your computer what to do.