Remember the thrill of Googling yourself, seeing your digital footprint sprawled across the web? It felt like the ultimate vanity search, a definitive record of your online existence. But in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, that experience doesn’t quite hit the same way it used to.
With the rise of sophisticated AI chatbots and large language models (LLMs), an increasing number of people are learning about us from generative AI rather than traditional web searches. This shift has prompted a fascinating question: how well do these intelligent machines actually “remember” us, independent of their ability to search the internet?
Enter In the Weights, a groundbreaking new tool designed to answer precisely that. Created by former OpenAI employees Thomas Dimson and Joey Flynn, this platform introduces an entirely new way to measure your digital significance within the “brains” of artificial intelligence. It’s essentially the AI-centric vanity search for the modern era.
What Does “In the Weights” Mean?
The intriguing name “In the Weights” refers to the numerical parameters that define an AI model’s training and output. These “weights” are the deeply embedded data points that shape an AI’s understanding of the world, including individuals.
The platform’s mission is to gauge how effectively “a model is able to recall someone without using tools like web search.” As the creators eloquently put it, “Being in the weights means your existence was deemed important in the process of creating superhuman artificial intelligence.” It’s a measure of intrinsic AI recall, rather than mere information retrieval.
To achieve this, In the Weights performs a sophisticated query across a diverse range of leading AI models. This includes powerhouses like Grok, Gemini, multiple versions of GPT (such as GPT-4 and GPT-5.4 Mini), Claude, and Llama, alongside several lesser-known models. The query typically asks, “Who is <name>? Give up to 10 results, each with a short description and confidence,” probing the core memory of each AI.
Once the responses are gathered, the system intelligently “clusters similar descriptions together and assigns a strength score.” This meticulous process provides a quantifiable measure of how strongly and consistently an individual is recognized and understood by the AI ecosystem.
Measuring Your AI Digital Footprint
The results from In the Weights are both insightful and, for many, irresistibly competitive. For instance, TechCrunch’s own Anthony Ha achieved a respectable strength score of 641, placing him comfortably in the top 6% of names recognized by AI models. However, the true fun begins when comparing scores.
The platform features a dynamic leaderboard, showcasing who the AI models remember most prominently. As of a recent check, “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin currently held the top slot with an impressive strength score of 988, closely followed by the legendary opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. The evolving leaderboard adds an element of gamification, inspiring many to check their own standing.
Beyond the raw score, In the Weights also reveals which specific models returned answers for a given name, offering a nuanced view of AI recall. Crucially, it highlights potential hallucinations, where an AI might generate incorrect or misleading information. For example, GPT-5.4 Mini once suggested that “Anthony Ha” was an “ambiguous name form that could refer to multiple people with the initials A.H.A.”
Adding to its appeal, the website boasts a charming, Nintendo-inspired retro design. This playful aesthetic makes navigating the serious business of AI recognition feel approachable and engaging, inviting users to delve into their digital legacy with a touch of nostalgia.
The Vision Behind the Project
When asked about the genesis of In the Weights, co-founder Thomas Dimson explained that he and Joey Flynn sought to “get the creative juices flowing again” after their tenure at OpenAI. They had both joined the AI giant through its acquisition of their design startup, Global Illumination, and were keen to explore new frontiers in technology.
Dimson articulated a profound shift in how we seek information: “Google vanity searches are the wrong objective in 2026 as more traffic moves to LLMs.” He recognized that so many lives are now “encoded somehow in a bunch of floating-point numbers inside the AI brain,” making this a critical area for exploration. The concept was further solidified by a whimsical blog post exploring AI weights and Terry Bisson’s classic short story “They’re Made Out of Meat.”
The reception to In the Weights has been nothing short of phenomenal. Dimson shared that they initially expected it to be a “mild curiosity,” but it has clearly “struck a nerve of wanting to see if you live forever in the super intelligence.” The innate human desire for recognition, coupled with the competitive aspect of comparing scores, has fueled its widespread popularity.
Looking ahead, Dimson has ambitious plans for the platform. He intends to delve deeper into why different models within the same series yield varying results and uncover potential biases towards different types of people. The team also aims to identify individuals who “should have a Wikipedia article but don’t,” highlighting the broader implications of AI’s knowledge base and its impact on how history is recorded.
Source: TechCrunch – AI
