NanoChat – The best ChatGPT that $100 can buy

Posted by huseyinkeles 10/13/2025

NanoChat – The best ChatGPT that $100 can buy(github.com)

https://x.com/karpathy/status/1977755427569111362

1523 points | 308 commentspage 5

tdhz77 10/13/2025|

These are the time of community posts that are legendary.

dinkblam 10/13/2025||

from their promotional material:

>> Why is the sky blue? > The sky is blue due to an optical illusion called the Rayleigh Scattering

Rayleigh Scattering is not an illusion but an effect.

> […] particles are made up of tiny blue and violet particles that cause the light to bend in a particular way.

ugh. no, there are no "tiny blue" particles in the sky.

simonw 10/13/2025||

That was the point. That example is meant to demonstrate that the model that trained for 4 hours can imitate a conversation but isn't actually anywhere close to being useful.

kragen 10/13/2025|||

Where did you find that?

simonw 10/13/2025||

It's in this screenshot: https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/1977755430093980034

Edit: direct link to image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G3Jjxmba8AA5mSs.jpg

kragen 10/13/2025||

Aha, thanks!

Ono-Sendai 10/14/2025||

not sure why you are being downvoted. That 'explanation' of Rayleigh scattering is just wrong.

simonw 10/14/2025|||

Because that explanation is expected to be wrong. This is a partially trained tiny model, Andrej shared that obviously incorrect explanation to emphasize that the model is not trustworthy or useful at that stage.

pixelpoet 10/14/2025|||

Downvoted for being obvious in context / missing the point and getting worked up about it. He even said it's like talking to a kindergartener.

homicipher 10/15/2025||

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computer23 10/13/2025||

Has the word ChatGPT become generic? This has nothing to do with OpenAI's ChatGPT.

simonw 10/13/2025||

It's a reasonable shortcut for what this project provides: training code, inference code and a ChatGPT-style web interface for chatting with the model.

huflungdung 10/13/2025||

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andrewmcwatters 10/13/2025||

[flagged]

jackphilson 10/13/2025||

[flagged]

dang 10/13/2025||

I believe you that you just meant this as an interesting example, and in that sense were engaged in curious conversation (generally what we want here). But the amount of provocation in the comment is so high, and the amount of information so little, that it ends up on the wrong side of "Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents." (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). In other words: not gonna end well.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45569878.

nsriv 10/13/2025||

Controlling culture, yes but wild pivot to mention that criminal alongside Karpathy.

cultofmetatron 10/13/2025|||

not a particularly ethical guy and I wouldn't hold him up as a example of morality but the guy hasn't actually been found guilty YET. Multiple courts have tried. You'd think that for a guy under as much scrutiny as him that they would have SOMETHING to pin him on by now.

Innocent until PROVEN guilty is a foundational legal precedent for a reason.

portaouflop 10/13/2025||

He is definitely guilty of being a waste of human life, a massive asshole and a general detriment to society worldwide. Don’t need a court to prove that.

There are 6 criminal cases against him in several countries, let’s see how they pan out - but regardless he is not an innocent person.

decremental 10/13/2025||

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jackphilson 10/13/2025|||

I mean just an example. He obviously wasn't the most ethical person. Depends how you do it

IOT_Apprentice 10/13/2025||

Neither are Stalin, Netanyahu, Pol Pot, Hitler, Charles Manson et al.

Way to derail the conversation. Focus on the positive people and their legacy of time, sharing, positive energy and contributions to society

jackphilson 10/13/2025||

not derailing, just pointing out effective ways of producing good which is what i was responding to. i think its good for people to be aware of this. those people are all examples of people who have influenced culture for bad. you can do it for good: bryan johnson, civil rights leaders, leftist streamers. andrew tate was just the most effective, recent, and obvious one which is why I pointed him out.

efficax 10/13/2025||

Try ~300k for an 8xH100 lol

cyanydeez 10/13/2025||

if the AI bubble is anything to be compared to, how is 100$ worth anything in GPT terms.