## Core Definition Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce than intelligence. In the AI era, that gap widens: intelligence becomes commoditized (available "on tap" via AI), while agency remains the scarce differentiator. ## The Thesis > "I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. **Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce.**" Karpathy admits he, like most people, overvalued intelligence because of cultural conditioning: it is measurable (IQ, test scores) and culturally venerated, while agency is harder to quantify and often invisible. Intelligence answers "can you figure it out?"; agency answers "will you act on it?" ## Why It Matters More in the AI Era Garry Tan's addition: "Intelligence is on tap now so agency is even more important." When everyone has access to AI-powered intelligence, intelligence becomes table stakes and agency becomes the differentiator: those who act decisively with AI outperform those who merely access it. This reframes [[AI Development Mastery Stack]]. The question is not "can you use AI tools?" but "will you direct them toward meaningful outcomes?" ## Practical Implications - **Hiring**: screen for self-initiated projects and comfort with ambiguity, not just credentials or test scores. - **Education**: reward initiative and open-ended problem-solving over knowledge transfer alone. - **Self-development**: act on insights immediately, decide with incomplete information, build the "will to follow through." Related frameworks: [[Agency as Iteration Without Permission]] (the mechanism), [[High Agency Tricycle Model]] (the components), [[Five Low Agency Traps]] (the blockers), [[You Can Just Do Things]] (the permission). --- *Source: [[Agency > Intelligence]] — Andrej Karpathy, X post, February 24, 2025 — https://x.com/karpathy/status/1894099637218545984*