Software 3.0
In plain wordsAndrej Karpathy's name for programming computers by writing plain-language instructions for AI models, following traditional code (Software 1.0) and trained neural networks (Software 2.0).
A paradigm in which large language modelslarge language model, n.: A computer program trained on enormous amounts of text to predict the words that come next. At vast scale, that simple skill lets it chat, answer questions, translate, summarize and write code. are programmed through natural-language promptsprompt, n.: The message or instructions you give an AI system — a question, a request, some examples or a document — that it responds to. Clearer prompts generally get better results., so that the prompt is the program and English, or any human language, is the programming language. In Andrej Karpathy's scheme, Software 1.0 is explicit code written by people, Software 2.0Software 2.0, n.: Andrej Karpathy's 2017 name for software whose behavior is learned from examples by a neural network instead of being written line by line by programmers. is neural-network weights produced by optimization on data, and Software 3.0 is instructions that steer a general-purpose pretrained model. He described LLMs as a new kind of computer or operating system, with the context windowcontext window, n.: How much an AI model can read and keep in view at once: the instructions, the conversation so far and any attached documents. Text that does not fit has to be cut, summarized or left out. serving as working memory, still at a stage comparable to 1960s time-sharing; he argued that the three paradigms will coexist, that developers will choose among them task by task, and that the near-term opportunity lies in 'partial autonomy' products with adjustable levels of AI control.
Half our pipeline is Software 1.0, the classifier is 2.0, and the triage step is pure Software 3.0.
Origin
Presented by Andrej Karpathy in his keynote 'Software Is Changing (Again)' at Y Combinator's AI Startup School in San Francisco in June 2025, extending his 2017 essay on Software 2.0 and his 2023 quip that English is the hottest new programming languageEnglish is the hottest new programming language, phr.: A catchphrase meaning that people can now get computers to do things by describing what they want to an AI in ordinary language, instead of writing code.. Others had used the label loosely before; Karpathy's talk fixed its current meaning.
Related
- Software 2.0Software 2.0, n.: Andrej Karpathy's 2017 name for software whose behavior is learned from examples by a neural network instead of being written line by line by programmers.
- English is the hottest new programming languageEnglish is the hottest new programming language, phr.: A catchphrase meaning that people can now get computers to do things by describing what they want to an AI in ordinary language, instead of writing code.
- vibe codingvibe coding, n.: Programming by conversation: you ask an AI for what you want, try out what it produces and ask again until it works, trusting the code without really reading it.
- prompt engineeringprompt engineering, n.: The skill of writing requests to an AI — picking the words, examples, format and background information it receives — so that it reliably gives the result you want, without retraining it.
- context engineeringcontext engineering, n.: Managing an AI model's reading material: choosing, trimming and arranging the instructions, documents, tool results and memories it is given on every turn, so that it has what the task needs and little else.
- Andrej KarpathyAndrej Karpathy, prop. n.: A Slovak-Canadian AI researcher and teacher who co-founded OpenAI, led Tesla's self-driving vision team, and coined popular phrases such as 'vibe coding'.
Mentioned in
vibe codingvibe coding, n.: Programming by conversation: you ask an AI for what you want, try out what it produces and ask again until it works, trusting the code without really reading it., AI engineerAI engineer, n.: A software developer who builds products using ready-made AI models — connecting them to data and tools and testing that they work well — rather than inventing or training the models., AI-nativeAI-native, adj.: Describes a product, company or person built around AI from the start, rather than one that added AI features to older ways of working., Andrej KarpathyAndrej Karpathy, prop. n.: A Slovak-Canadian AI researcher and teacher who co-founded OpenAI, led Tesla's self-driving vision team, and coined popular phrases such as 'vibe coding'., Software 2.0Software 2.0, n.: Andrej Karpathy's 2017 name for software whose behavior is learned from examples by a neural network instead of being written line by line by programmers., English is the hottest new programming languageEnglish is the hottest new programming language, phr.: A catchphrase meaning that people can now get computers to do things by describing what they want to an AI in ordinary language, instead of writing code.