I learned to code after seeing Sam Altman speak. Now I'm pausing my music career to go all in AI before it's too late.

• Alexander Cobb was set on a music career. He even signed with a label.
• At university, he heard Sam Altman speak and decided on a different path.
• Now, he's building an early-stage startup, hoping to ride the AI wave before it's too late.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Alexander Cobb, 25, a University of Cambridge graduate who pivoted from a career in music to AI. Business Insider has verified his music contract and academic credentials. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Before I saw Sam Altman give a talk at the University of Cambridge in November 2023, I was set on pursuing a career in music.

But by the end of the talk, I realized we were on the cusp of something major, and that AI could be the most revolutionary thing to happen in my lifetime.

With AI, time is of the essence, and I had a small window of opportunity to get into it at the right moment.

But as a kid, I wasn't that into tech beyond playing computer games. I grew up in the middle of the countryside, where the internet was so slow it took an hour to load a 10-minute YouTube video. Instead, I spent time skateboarding and playing music.

I have had music lessons since I was about seven, and was in a band and organized gigs while studying for myMPhil in economics at Cambridge. My own songs, which I'd describe as eclectic dance music featuring singing and rap, got tens of thousands of listens and views across Spotify and YouTube. In 2021, I signed with a sync label — meaning my songs could be used in ads, TV shows, and films. Music was my thing.

Then I saw Altman talk during my second and final year at Cambridge. That's when I realized there were maybe 10 years to get in on this whole AI startup thing, and I wanted to be on that wave. Music would be there for the next 50 years.

Nearly every evening at Cambridge, I was at a talk or debate. They were one of my favourite things about student life there.

Altman wasn't as famous as he is now when he gave the talk, and I had to look him up, but I figured I should go.

I wasn't especially interested in AI. At the time of the talk, ChatGPT had been out for about a year. I'd tried it, and it reminded me of those customer service chatbots that never really seemed to work.

Almost paradoxically, it wasn't Altman's speech that shifted my mindset — it was the audience's questions. Students and professors from all backgrounds asked about massive societal changes, like what happens when AI causes 80% unemployment.

Whether you believe that's likely or not, the fact that so many people were seriously engaging with AI's potential made me realize I should probably start paying attention to the technology.

When the internet first took off, lots of people were founding startups and finding success quickly. I missed that. But then, in my 20s, I was there right at the start of the AI boom.

I'd dipped into coding

Before Cambridge, I studied mathematics at Imperial College London for my undergraduate degree because I think it's the best subject for learning abstract problem-solving. Mathematics gives you high-level thinking skills you can apply to anything.

In my third year at Imperial, I took a data science course in which we built a neural network. It introduced me to programming and skills that I still use for coding.

As a student, I'd typically dip into coding, then drift back to writing music or my studies. But as I approached the end of my university career at Cambridge, it was different. In the latter half of my final year, after Altman's talk, I spent a lot of time researching AI — reading Reddit forums, browsing Hacker News, and figuring out which coding languages to learn. I knew I could either graduate and pursue music, my passion, or I could ride this new, massive wave. With my academic background, I was well-positioned to build something in the AI space.

I treated learning to code like a full-time job

After my final exams in July 2024, I partied for two weeks and then threw myself into learning to code. I treated it like a full-time job, working most days from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for 10 months straight.

I tutored two days a week to pay my rent. I gave up music to focus on mastering coding and getting into AI at the right moment, but I'm confident that I'll have the time and capacity to return to music one day, when the time is right.

I started by taking CS50, Harvard's intro to computer science, where I learned C, Python, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

Then, I learned through The Odin Project, an open-source coding curriculum, which I think is the best free resource on the internet. It was as good as the education I got at Imperial and Cambridge, because there was an emphasis on learning by doing. Unlike university, there are no exams, grades, or certifications. Once I'd finished that, I took a three-week TypeScript course.

Most of my friends went straight from university to corporate jobs. They were earning and progressing in their careers, and I was still studying and doing my university side hustle. My parents suggested I look at getting a job.

But the idea of putting my career in someone else's hands scared me. I felt like I was getting left behind, but I was deadset on building something. It was very tiring, but I was all-in.

I'm building an AI startup

Over the past few months, I'vestarted building applications and participating in hackathons. Both have been really fun — I won all three hackathons I competed in.

Now, I spend all day coding and building an early-stage AI startup that's in stealth mode. That's about all I can say for now.

I'm cofounding with someone who is bootstrapping for us. The great thing is that I'm able to take a salary, which means I no longer need to tutor on the side and can focus entirely on AI. I'm loving it. Every morning, I wake up genuinely excited to get to my desk.

I've always had an obsessive personality. I used to pour that energy into writing songs — now, it goes into building my startup. I'm slightly sad I'm not making music anymore, but writing code is just as much fun.

By putting my musical ambitions on hold, I'm making a bet: AI will be one of the most significant technologies of all time. I can easily see it being the fourth industrial revolution, and as big as or bigger than the internet.

In 10 years, I expect AI to be everywhere in society, and I'm confident in the gamble I've made to be a part of that future.

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