Coding the Future: Patrick Chao '16 

by Joyce Fang for Silver Quest

One of the most used websites today is chatgpt.com, which hosts a powerful generative AI chatbot that helps average people and professionals alike. Magnet students are all too familiar with this technology, yet some may not know that a Magnet alumnus actually works for ChatGPT as a researcher.

Experience at Blair 

As a Magnet student, Patrick Chao ‘16 took several advanced math classes at Blair. Upon graduating, he decided that he wanted to explore theoretical math in college. And yet, even during his years at the University of California, Berkeley, he found that the rigor of Blair math classes were unmatched. “Blair [has] basically the best in the country for any high school,” he says.

The math and science classes in the Magnet program allowed Chao to get an in-depth look at mathematics, which set a strong foundation for his career. “The Magnet program is incredible for STEM,” he says. “I think it teaches you at a very, very deep level on a relatively narrow set of areas like math, programming, science.” In particular, he highlights how the computer science classes at Blair allowed him to learn a lot about algorithms, such as Dijkstra’s algorithm.

Looking back, Chao found that the classes at Blair gave students an unmatched opportunity to learn much more about a subject that they were interested in. “It seemed kinda normal that we’re taking these classes at Blair because that’s what everyone’s doing,” he comments. “But when you take a step back or talk to other people, it’s very, very crazy, and [a] very fortunate position to be in.”

Chao also feels that the Magnet Program had a crazy amount of rigor and a large workload. “I think the workload in retrospect was kind of crazy,” he says. “I did not sleep very much, [and] we would take classes all day, then have a lot of homework, sleep very little, and do extracurriculars.” 

Chao’s time at Blair allowed him to adapt to the expectations of students in college, which made the transition much easier as the workload seemed to lighten. “I think the common trope when people get to college is often like, people go to college and it’s a lot harder, ” he says. “I think people from Blair typically had little trouble … in some sense, it was lighter in college than at Blair in the Magnet.”

College and Graduate School 

While Chao was able to explore more and gained academic flexibility in college, he also experienced some downsides on campus. “It’s very unstructured, so there’s this common sink or swim mentality. I think the school is overall very competitive, and there’s no one really to guide you other than the friends you make along the way,” he says. “It was pretty challenging in the beginning to fend for yourself.” However, Chao ultimately found value in being forced to make connections and find opportunities independently, which was similar to his experience in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania.

While completing his PhD, Chao was given the responsibility of pacing himself, and needed to maintain motivation. “A PhD is unique in that there’s no one to assign you deadlines or watch over you or provide feedback,” he says. “It’s kind of like a marathon, and the only person in that race is you. All you need to do is finish, but it’s a really long and hard run.” 

Finding his path 

Chao completed a couple of internships in finance and trading after graduate school, but he didn’t really find a lot of meaning from it. This allowed him to realize the environment and lab that he preferred. “I think the other research internships I’ve done mostly just led me to realizing what kind of lab I wanted to work in, like what kind of collaborators, what kind of peers, what kind of working style I enjoyed,” he states. 

Chao discovered ChatGPT after its release, and found it really interesting. Some of his friends worked at OpenAI and he decided to work at the leading company for language models, which he felt was going to be the next big thing. 

Chao’s journey to get to his position was a long process that started when he decided to start working on AI research to gravitate through AGI, eventually finishing graduate school and finding work as a researcher. “It’s been a seven-year process where I really wanted to work on AI research starting from when I first entered Berkeley,” he reflects. “I’m very fortunate to now be able to do that.” 

As for advice for current high schoolers, Chao recommends finding one’s own interests and avoiding being peer pressured into activities. “I enjoyed seeing all my friends from high school major in different things, end up exploring different careers and opportunities, and seeing what everyone eventually gravitated towards,” he says. “It’s worth taking your time and seeing what appeals to you.”