I'm Yiqiao Zhou

Three core challenges define the agent problem: 1. Communication and alignment between humans and agents; 2. How humans—or agents themselves—review agent outputs; 3. Tool calling and context window management.

Watching a friend use vibe coding to build a relationship-memory app for his girlfriend reminded me that love and a strong desire are the first drivers of both execution and ideas.

A great product leverages today's capabilities to delight tomorrow's users.

Attended CES 2026 (Jan 6-9). Noticed that successful projects focus on dominating a specific niche, listening closely to users and market feedback, then rolling out 'light' versions for broader audiences. The LVCC halls felt similar, but seeing so many robots actually working was pretty impressive. Also saw lots of healthcare-focused products. Met interesting ideas and people at the Venetian startup pavilion.

After coming to CMU in the second half of the year, I fell into deep confusion and felt lost—couldn't find a clear direction or purpose. Later realized that the fulfillment from working hard in the summer wasn't about achieving results or finding a clear path, but about doing things amid uncertainty and growing through the process. Perhaps I'll never find that 'main thread,' and seeking an optimal answer was just wishful thinking. For the new year: communicate more, do more, learn from great people, work in the right environment, get quick feedback, adjust fast, and be honest with myself.

Dewey argued in 'How We Think' that thinking is humanity's fundamental trait, and education's role is to help students develop clear, careful, and thorough thinking habits. In the AI era, while machines can process vast information and execute complex tasks, critical thinking and logical reasoning become even more valuable—these are uniquely human strengths and our most important capabilities when collaborating with AI.

GEO is a tricky technology because it's simultaneously a method for polluting and compromising models—something model providers don't want to see. But with such a massive traffic entry point, how to monetize it? A very interesting question.

Acknowledge uncertainty, embrace uncertainty, acknowledge complex variables and intricate causal logic.

Current chat interfaces are stuck in 2023 paradigms and severely limit what 2025 AI can actually deliver. We need to shift from conversational back-and-forth to command-driven agents that directly produce outcomes.

The GPT-5 Prompting Guide is a product upgrade designed to help API users build better products.

Working with the right people in a team with the right culture to do the right things is a heaven-sent happiness.

At its core, AI/LLM represents a paradigm shift where natural language becomes the universal API for computational power—transforming human intent into compute resource orchestration.

AI fundamentally boils down to decision-making systems that must own their outcomes—the real test isn't just accuracy, but accountability for consequences.

The essence of an AI agent lies in three capabilities: multi-step decision making, tool invocation, and self-iteration—basically turning single queries into autonomous execution loops.