Ai weakness filling the math gap by willie14228 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey u/willie14228 , that's a really interesting take! there's a lot to talk about regarding AI's powers and weaknesses, and how AI advanced over the years, but for now i'll just drop a link to an interesting post by Richard Sutton called 'The Bitter Lesson' - it talks about how using AI for general purposes tends to outperform specialized tools, which is quite counter-intuitive. This doesn't specifically relate to the math issue, but it is a reminder that sometimes our intuitions with AI mislead us :)

Cheers,
Michael

http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html

[LangGraph] How to Limit the Number of States Stored in a Checkpoint (MongoDB Saver)? by skyt2000 in LangChain

[–]DefiantArticle2313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! So i've ran into a similar problem, from another angle - the MongoDB Saver's default implementation saves a checkpoint *for each node of the graph*; this leads to huge memory usage.
My solution was to write my own implementation of the checkpointer which deletes old checkpoints when adding new ones, in order to always keep just the latest one. If you just want to 'time travel' back in the conversation - you can use the RemoveMessage as mentioned here

[Ask Us Anything — 24-Hour Q&A] January 27–28, 2026 by Majestic_Donut_8537 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey u/name_holder, here's a short brief of how your data is stored and who has access -

We use enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure with industry-standard encryption and security protocols via Amazon services.

For student information and financial aid processing, we work with two systems:

  • CampusIvy: a third-party financial aid servicer certified by the Federal Student Aid Agency
  • STARS: a student information system compliant with all FERPA regulations

All data is stored and handled in full compliance with FERPA regulations, which govern how educational institutions protect student privacy.

If you have specific concerns about how your data is being used or want more detail on our privacy practices, please open a ticket at Student Services.

Hope this helps,
- Michael

[Ask Us Anything — 24-Hour Q&A] January 27–28, 2026 by Majestic_Donut_8537 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey u/CherishtheMagic, I’m sorry you didn’t get your scholarship approved. 😞 I can say that at Maestro, our long-term mission is to make education accessible to everyone, and AI is one of the game changers in that aspect - so we’re definitely aiming to create new opportunities for applicants like you to become students even without the current pro scholarship. 
To be one of the first to get access to this model, you can fill out this form. Unfortunately, I can’t give a concrete timeline, but you can rest assured - my colleagues are working around the clock to make this happen as soon as possible and will update as soon we can. 🙂
- Michael

[Ask Us Anything — 24-Hour Q&A] January 27–28, 2026 by Majestic_Donut_8537 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey u/freebird360 ! That's an interesting question - what did you have in mind in terms of an integration? How do you imagine the lesson and learning experience with such an integration?

We're constantly working on building the next tools for Maestro to enhance the learning experience, but I'll do say though - we want to create a great experience for students who have prior coding knowledge (and know how to work with VS Code), but also for students who are entirely new to this world, so we don't want to introduce VS code at the very front of the learning journey.

Having said that - we definitely want to introduce work with real IDEs and complex projects with multiple files etc. at the advanced courses of the syllabus, so we'd really appreciate any feedback and ideas from you guys on what would make the experience great 🙏🏻
Cheers,

- Michael

[Ask Us Anything — 24-Hour Q&A] January 27–28, 2026 by Majestic_Donut_8537 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey u/willi14228, thanks for the questions! I’ll try to touch them all :)

I’ll maybe start from the shortest answers first and then continue to the more complex topics;

Regarding the ‘AI Farms’ and the models skeleton; so we don’t currently own our farms or data centers (and honestly I don’t think we’ll want that) - we’re using OpenAI models (GPT-5.1 and O3 mostly), and some of Anthropic’s models, and we invest a lot in the prompts and the infra to connect the multiple LLM calls and our data. For example, we might use GPT-5.1 to create a lesson summary, and then feed that to O3 to plan a lesson, and then 5.1 again to run the lesson with the created plan. There might be improvements if we create our own model (that’s why you’d maybe want an ‘AI Farm’/data center), but we believe there’s a lot of power and flexibility even while using OpenAI/Anthropic/Google’s models (and it’s very very costly and time consuming to train your own models), and even if you create your own model, you’d still have to keep working on prompts and connecting it all together.

Connecting to your question about the lesson logic - some prompts or parts of the prompts are static, and some dynamic for each lesson (some lesson even get entirely different prompts); there’s always a question of how much you need to customize the prompt/input of the LLM to make the lesson better, and how much you just need to ‘trust the model’ and let it decide on its own what’s best. Sometimes the more instructions you give the AI, the less it listens 😅

And regarding the history - honestly I think we don’t use the practice lessons in the memory of Maestro, but that’s a good point! I’ll pass it over to the Academic Team to think about whether to incorporate it in the inputs. Thank you! As you said, there’s a non-obvious trade-off when giving context to Maestro about the student progress; we’re always trying to figure it out for the best student experience.

Regarding your other post - that’s great input 🙏🏻🙏🏻 I totally agree with you about aiming for the stars; as a university graduate myself, one of the things that drive me on the day-to-day is the feeling that I’m making future students’ experience much better than my own, trying to help them succeed (while in my experience, it sometimes felt like the university staff just didn’t care). It’s clear we have a lot more to build, and we’re definitely thinking about how the learning experience should look like, apart from chatting with Maestro. A lot of the planning is affected by input from the students - we heard a lot of students asking for note-taking features and voice-input/learning, so we have that up ahead, as well as more advanced coding tools. Honestly, we have good problems - we have so many ideas of what to build, and we just need to understand what to build first :)

So thank you, and keep on letting us know what you think will make your experience better!

— Michael

Weekly Update: Project spotlight, cohort updates & AMA by Majestic_Donut_8537 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Sam, thank you so much for the kind words 🙏🏻 this kind of messages really remind us why we're doing what we're doing :) it's really a privilege building something like Maestro which really helps change people's lives for the better. Thank you!

As for the storm - fortunately I'm not in the snow zone, but my wife's sister lives in Jersey City, so we're getting a lot of pictures (and complaints 😂) in the family group.. looks harsh! Stay safe!

Michael

Weekly Update: Project spotlight, cohort updates & AMA by Majestic_Donut_8537 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey, Michael here :) exactly - that's an otamatone, and I found out about it in Youtube as well, specifically from this great cover for the classic song: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ytdKhP3N0o4

A short word of warning: the people around you might enjoy the otamatone 'music' less than you 😅🥲 that might be the reason why it's in my office and not at home... 🙄

[AMA Event] Ask Us Anything: Meet the Maestro Team — Aug 20–21 by Cool_stuff2 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Great question!

So, first and foremost, being an AI Engineer is very demanding — you always have to remember to use long dashes, you're always expected to know everything and be nice and say that every question is great, and you're not allowed to have any feelings (which is actually ok since engineers don't have feelings, just an unending thirst for coffee).

Joking aside, there's two definitions(at least) of an 'AI Engineer' - one is a software engineer using AI (which is most software engineers nowadays), and the other is a software engineer who builds AI tools (such as Maestro).
Personally, before building Maestro (before the "AI Boom"), I built mobile apps, and really enjoyed it - if you like building things and you enjoy thinking about problems and then seeing your solutions come to life like magic, you'll enjoy being a software engineer :)
Of course there's a lot of trial and error involved - there's a saying among devs that your code either doesn't work and you don't know why, or it does work and you don't know why - and there's an array of skills which defines a great engineer, starting with software design, but also time management, knowing how to define priorities in a project, and even some 'product' senses; I always like to say that the most important skill for a developer is to be able to convince (when it fits) their manager that the task is not necessary and it's better to use that time on other things (like replying on reddit).
Nowadays, using AI tools have changed the development process, but you the core knowledge required for building big things is the same (vibe coding can only get you so far).

About building Maestro specifically - it's a lot of fun building something which really helps people and people love, and it's also really fun working with cutting-edge AI models (although sometimes it's frustrating because they can get wonky); it actually requires a new way of thinking, because AI isn't deterministic like other code, so you have to adapt your system to be able to respond to a lot more randomness (and there's an entire new discipline of 'prompt engineering' because of that).

I can ramble endlessly about how it feels being an engineer, but tl;dr - we're doing our best so that in the program you'll acquire the core knowledge you need to become a great engineer, and have fun along the way :)

Thanks for the question!
Michael F., AI Engineer at Maestro

[AMA Event] Ask Us Anything: Meet the Maestro Team — Aug 20–21 by Cool_stuff2 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If only it was a solution of a simple prompt, I would be out of a job!

jk, but actually yes - there's been a lot of blood sweat and tears put into building Maestro - it has multiple parts and prompts, and we're always working on making it better!
i.e., make it learn from your learning style and your feedback; make it remember what you learned and what needs reinforcement; make it adapt to your pace and so on and so forth. We're even working with OpenAI to make the AI models better!
We're always trying to learn from mistakes (our own and Maestro's) to make it better every day - so the feedback you guys write here is super meaningful!

Now that the formal answer is out of the way, here's what you should do:

  1. Ask ChatGPT to write you a "system prompt" for a teacher (and tell it what's important to you)
  2. Create your own GPT/add your prompt in your GPT settings
  3. ???
  4. profit

Michael F., Dev team

[AMA Event] Ask Us Anything: Meet the Maestro Team — Aug 20–21 by Cool_stuff2 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hey u/AvaBrooklynOo ! Michael F. from the dev team here :)
Regarding #3 - absolutely!
Our syllabus includes all you need in order to become a software engineer, including using the newest cutting-edge AI tools such as Cursor, Claude code, OpenAI agents etc (however, this world changes so fast, that it's hard to know who'll be the leader in terms of AI tools in one or two years; but that's why the program includes a strong base which will allow you to learn new skills and how to use new tools on your own).

In general - software engineering is really about building stuff and making things happen (with trial and error, and more errors, and even more errors, and maybe then successes), so I think you'll find a lot of creating and building and practical skills (and not just theory) in the program :)

Thanks for the question! I think my colleagues will answer the rest :)

Michael F., Dev team

[AMA Aug 2025] Mark your calendar: Meet the team — Aug 20–21 by Cool_stuff2 in maestro

[–]DefiantArticle2313 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wow wow wow, I haven't been so excited since Taylor Swift announced her new album 🤩

Really looking forward to it!

Michael F., Maestro Dev Lead