Best Gradient Podcasts (2024)

1
From No-Code to AI-Powered Apps with Airtable’s Howie Liu 1:12:57

16h ago1:12:57

1:12:57

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Howie Lou, CEO of Airtable, joins host Lukas Biewald to dive into Airtable's transformation from a no-code app builder to a platform capable of supporting complex AI-driven workflows. They discuss the strategic decisions that propelled Airtable's growth, the challenges of scaling AI in enterprise settings, and t…

1
Meredith Ringel Morris: Generative AI's HCI Moment 1:37:45

17h ago1:37:45

1:37:45

Episode 138 I spoke with Meredith Morris about: * The intersection of AI and HCI and why we need more cross-pollination between AI and adjacent fields * Disability studies and AI * Generative ghosts and technological determinism * Developing a useful definition of AGI I didn’t get to record an intro for this episode since I’ve been sick. Enjoy! Mer…

1
Episode 35: Open Science at NASA -- Measuring Impact and the Future of AI 58:13

2h ago58:13

58:13

Hugo speaks with Dr. Chelle Gentemann, Open Science Program Scientist for NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer, about NASA’s ambitious efforts to integrate AI across the research lifecycle. In this episode, we’ll dive deeper into how AI is transforming NASA’s approach to science, making data more accessible and advancing open science pra…

1
Davidad Dalrymple: Towards Provably Safe AI 1:20:50

8d ago1:20:50

1:20:50

Episode 137 I spoke with Davidad Dalrymple about: * His perspectives on AI risk * ARIA (the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency) and its Safeguarded AI Programme Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Davidad is a Programme Director at ARIA. He was most recently a Research Fellow in technical AI safety at Oxford. He co-invented the top-40 cr…

1
Clive Thompson: Tales of Technology 2:27:35

19d ago2:27:35

2:27:35

Episode 136 I spoke with Clive Thompson about: * How he writes * Writing about the climate and biking across the US * Technology culture and persistent debates in AI * Poetry Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Clive is a journalist who writes about science and technology. He is a contributing writer forWired magazine, and is currently writing hi…

1
Launching the Fastest AI Inference Solution with Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman 53:14

17d ago53:14

53:14

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Andrew Feldman, CEO of Cerebras Systems, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the latest advancements in AI inference technology. They explore Cerebras Systems' groundbreaking new AI inference product, examining how their wafer-scale chips are setting new benchmarks in speed, accuracy, and cost efficiency. Andrew…

1
Judy Fan: Reverse Engineering the Human Cognitive Toolkit 1:32:39

23d ago1:32:39

1:32:39

Episode 136 I spoke with Judy Fan about: * Our use of physical artifacts for sensemaking * Why cognitive tools can be a double-edged sword * Her approach to scientific inquiry and how that approach has developed Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Judy is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford and director of the Cognitive Tools Lab. Her l…

1
Episode 34: The AI Revolution Will Not Be Monopolized 1:42:51

27d ago1:42:51

1:42:51

Hugo speaks with Ines Montani and Matthew Honnibal, the creators of spaCy and founders of Explosion AI. Collectively, they've had a huge impact on the fields of industrial natural language processing (NLP), ML, and AI through their widely-used open-source library spaCy and their innovative annotation tool Prodigy. These tools have become essential …

1
L.M. Sacasas: The Questions Concerning Technology 1:47:20

1M ago1:47:20

1:47:20

Episode 135 I spoke with L. M. Sacasas about: * His writing and intellectual influences * The value of asking hard questions about technology and our relationship to it * What happens when we decide to outsource skills and competency * Evolving notions of what it means to be human and questions about how to live a good life Enjoy—and let me know wh…

1
Episode 33: What We Learned Teaching LLMs to 1,000s of Data Scientists 1:25:10

1M ago1:25:10

1:25:10

Hugo speaks with Dan Becker and Hamel Husain, two veterans in the world of data science, machine learning, and AI education. Collectively, they’ve worked at Google, DataRobot, Airbnb, Github (where Hamel built out the precursor to copilot and more) and they both currently work as independent LLM and Generative AI consultants. Dan and Hamel recently…

1
Reinventing AI Agents with Imbue CEO Kanjun Qiu 48:37

1M ago48:37

48:37

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Kanjun Qiu, CEO and Co-founder of Imbue, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI agents are transforming code generation and software development. Discover the potential impact and challenges of creating autonomous AI systems that can write and verify code and and learn about the practical research involved. …

1
Pete Wolfendale: The Revenge of Reason 2:52:57

1M ago2:52:57

2:52:57

Episode 134 I spoke with Pete Wolfendale about: * The flaws in longtermist thinking * Selections from his new book, The Revenge of Reason * Metaphysics * What philosophy has to say about reason and AI Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Pete is an independent philosopher based in Newcastle. Dr. Wolfendale got both his undergraduate degree and his…

1
Peter Lee: Computing Theory and Practice, and GPT-4's Impact 1:01:48

2M ago1:01:48

1:01:48

Episode 133 I spoke with Peter Lee about: * His early work on compiler generation, metacircularity, and type theory * Paradoxical problems * GPT-4s impact, Microsoft’s “Sparks of AGI” paper, and responses and criticism Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Peter is President of Microsoft Research. He leads Microsoft Research and incubates new resea…

1
Episode 32: Building Reliable and Robust ML/AI Pipelines 1:15:10

2M ago1:15:10

1:15:10

Hugo speaks with Shreya Shankar, a researcher at UC Berkeley focusing on data management systems with a human-centered approach. Shreya's work is at the cutting edge of human-computer interaction (HCI) and AI, particularly in the realm of large language models (LLMs). Her impressive background includes being the first ML engineer at Viaduct, doing …

1
From startup to $1.2B with Lambda’s Stephen Balaban 49:56

2M ago49:56

49:56

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Stephen Balaban, CEO of Lambda Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the journey of scaling Lambda Labs to an impressive $400M in revenue. They explore the pivotal moments that shaped the company, the future of GPU technology, and the impact of AI data centers on the energy grid. Discover the challenges and …

1
Manuel & Lenore Blum: The Conscious Turing Machine 2:23:04

2M ago2:23:04

2:23:04

Episode 132 I spoke with Manuel and Lenore Blum about: * Their early influences and mentors * The Conscious Turing Machine and what theoretical computer science can tell us about consciousness Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Manuel is a pioneer in the field of theoretical computer science and the winner of the 1995 Turing Award in recognition…

1
Kevin Dorst: Against Irrationalist Narratives 2:15:21

2M ago2:15:21

2:15:21

Episode 131 I spoke with Professor Kevin Dorst about: * Subjective Bayesianism and epistemology foundations * What happens when you’re uncertain about your evidence * Why it’s rational for people to polarize on political matters Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Kevin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at …

1
Harnessing AI for legal practice with CoCounsel’s Jake Heller 1:04:16

2M ago1:04:16

1:04:16

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Jake Heller, Head of Product, CoCounsel, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI is innovating legal practices and reshaping educational approaches for aspiring lawyers. From automating document review to enhancing legal research capabilities, explore the potential impact and challenges AI presents in the leg…

1
David Pfau: Manifold Factorization and AI for Science 2:00:52

2M ago2:00:52

2:00:52

Episode 130 I spoke with David Pfau about: * Spectral learning and ML * Learning to disentangle manifolds and (projective) representation theory * Deep learning for computational quantum mechanics * Picking and pursuing research problems and directions David’s work is really (times k for some very large value of k) interesting—I’ve been inspired to…

1
Episode 31: Rethinking Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI 1:36:04

2M ago1:36:04

1:36:04

Hugo speaks with Vincent Warmerdam, a senior data professional and machine learning engineer at :probabl, the exclusive brand operator of scikit-learn. Vincent is known for challenging common assumptions and exploring innovative approaches in data science and machine learning. In this episode, they dive deep into rethinking established methods in d…

1
Dan Hart and Michelle Michael: Bringing AI to Students in New South Wales 1:13:54

3M ago1:13:54

1:13:54

Episode 129 I spoke with Dan Hart and Michelle Michael about: * Developing NSWEduChat, an AI-powered chatbot designed and delivered by the NSW Department of Education for students and teachers. * The challenges in effectively teaching students as technology develops * Understanding and defining the importance of the classroom Enjoy—and let me know …

1
Kristin Lauter: Private AI, Homomorphic Encryption, and AI for Cryptography 1:17:13

3M ago1:17:13

1:17:13

Episode 129 I spoke with Kristin Lauter about: * Elliptic curve cryptography and homomorphic encryption * Standardizing cryptographic protocols * Machine Learning on encrypted data * Attacking post-quantum cryptography with AI Enjoy—and let me know what you think! Kristin is Senior Director of FAIR Labs North America (2022—present), based in Seattl…

1
Episode 30: Lessons from a Year of Building with LLMs (Part 2) 1:15:23

3M ago1:15:23

1:15:23

Hugo speaks about Lessons Learned from a Year of Building with LLMs with Eugene Yan from Amazon, Bryan Bischof from Hex, Charles Frye from Modal, Hamel Husain from Parlance Labs, and Shreya Shankar from UC Berkeley. These five guests, along with Jason Liu who couldn't join us, have spent the past year building real-world applications with Large Lan…

1
Episode 29: Lessons from a Year of Building with LLMs (Part 1) 1:30:21

3M ago1:30:21

1:30:21

Hugo speaks about Lessons Learned from a Year of Building with LLMs with Eugene Yan from Amazon, Bryan Bischof from Hex, Charles Frye from Modal, Hamel Husain from Parlance Labs, and Shreya Shankar from UC Berkeley. These five guests, along with Jason Liu who couldn't join us, have spent the past year building real-world applications with Large Lan…

1
Transforming Search with Perplexity AI’s CTO Denis Yarats 43:54

3M ago43:54

43:54

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Denis Yarats, CTO of Perplexity, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the innovative use of AI in creating high-quality, fast search engine answers. Discover how Perplexity combines advancements in search engines and LLMs to deliver precise answers. Yarats shares insights on the technical challenges, the importan…

1
Sergiy Nesterenko: Automating Circuit Board Design 1:03:35

3M ago1:03:35

1:03:35

Episode 128 I spoke with Sergiy Nesterenko about: * Developing an automated system for designing PCBs * Difficulties in human and automated PCB design * Building a startup at the intersection of different areas of expertise By the way — I hit 40 ratings on Apple Podcasts (and am at 66 on Spotify). It’d mean a lot (really, a lot) if you’d consider l…

1
C. Thi Nguyen: Values, Legibility, and Gamification 1:30:13

3M ago1:30:13

1:30:13

Episode 127 I spoke with Christopher Thi Nguyen about: * How we lose control of our values * The tradeoffs of legibility, aggregation, and simplification * Gamification and its risks Enjoy—and let me know what you think! C. Thi Nguyen as of July 2020 is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah. His research focuses on how social …

1
Episode 28: Beyond Supervised Learning: The Rise of In-Context Learning with LLMs 1:05:38

3M ago1:05:38

1:05:38

Hugo speaks with Alan Nichol, co-founder and CTO of Rasa, where they build software to enable developers to create enterprise-grade conversational AI and chatbot systems across industries like telcos, healthcare, fintech, and government. What's super cool is that Alan and the Rasa team have been doing this type of thing for over a decade, giving th…

1
AI in electronics: Quilter’s journey in PCB design 43:50

4M ago43:50

43:50

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Sergiy Nesterenko, CEO of Quilter, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the groundbreaking use of reinforcement learning in PCB design. Learn how Quilter automates the complex, manual process of creating PCBs, making it faster and more efficient. Nesterenko shares insights on the challenges and successes of integ…

1
Vivek Natarajan: Towards Biomedical AI 1:55:03

4M ago1:55:03

1:55:03

Episode 126 I spoke with Vivek Natarajan about: * Improving access to medical knowledge with AI * How an LLM for medicine should behave * Aspects of training Med-PaLM and AMIE * How to facilitate appropriate amounts of trust in users of medical AI systems Vivek Natarajan is a Research Scientist at Google Health AI advancing biomedical AI to help sc…

1
Episode 27: How to Build Terrible AI Systems 1:32:24

4M ago1:32:24

1:32:24

Hugo speaks with Jason Liu, an independent consultant who uses his expertise in recommendation systems to help fast-growing startups build out their RAG applications. He was previously at Meta and Stitch Fix is also the creator of Instructor, Flight, and an ML and data science educator. They talk about how Jason approaches consulting companies acro…

1
Thomas Mullaney: A Global History of the Information Age 1:43:45

4M ago1:43:45

1:43:45

Episode 125 False universalism freaks me out. It doesn’t freak me out as a first principle because of epistemic violence; it freaks me out because it works. I spoke with Professor Thomas Mullaney about: * Telling stories about your work and balancing what feels meaningful with practical realities * Destabilizing our understandings of the technologi…

1
The Future of AI in Coding with Codeium CEO Varun Mohan 54:53

4M ago54:53

54:53

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Varun Mohan, Co-Founder & CEO of Codeium, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the transformative power of AI in coding. They explore how Codeium evolved from GPU virtualization to a widely used AI coding tool and tackled the technical challenges and future prospects of AI-assisted software development. Varun sha…

1
Seth Lazar: Normative Philosophy of Computing 1:50:17

4M ago1:50:17

1:50:17

Episode 124 You may think you’re doing a priori reasoning, but actually you’re just over-generalizing from your current experience of technology. I spoke with Professor Seth Lazar about: * Why managing near-term and long-term risks isn’t always zero-sum * How to think through axioms and systems in political philosphy * Coordination problems, econom…

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