An LLM is like an operating system

Written by Alec Fearon on 3 August 2025 in Anapoly Diary
Transparency label: Human-led
<--- ChatGPT can check facts
---> Context is the new user interface

Reference: Andrej Karpathy’s keynote address on 17 June 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco

In the 1960s and ’70s:

a computer filled a large room in a central location, far from most of its users
it had an operating system which provided basic functions
application programs used operating system functions to do useful things
we accessed the computer remotely over telephone lines
we communicated with the computer using only text, from a terminal

In 2010:

computers were personal, portable, and mostly ran local software
the operating system managed files, programs, and user settings
applications were installed and launched directly by the user
internet access became always-on, but most processing still happened locally
we communicated with the computer through keyboard, mouse, and graphical interface

In 2025:

an AI runs in a cloud-based data centre, far from the user
it has an LLM which provides core functions for language, reasoning, and knowledge work
prompts use the core functions to do useful things
we access the AI remotely over the internet
we communicate with it using mainly text, (voice, or images are also possible, now) and still mostly from a terminal.

In 2050:

an AI will be personal, portable, and …

LLMs are the new operating systems.

Prompts are the new application programs.

Context is the new user interface.

Transparency: This post was conceived, structured, and written by a human author. ChatGPT was used to suggest phrasing and refine analogies, but all key ideas, narrative framing, and editorial decisions were made by the human. AI input was limited to supporting the writing process.