Best Sierra Thomas Podcasts (2024)

1
Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy on Using Data to Create Simple, Reliable AI for Businesses 59:29

1d ago59:29

59:29

All of us as consumers have felt the magic of ChatGPT—but also the occasional errors and hallucinations that make off-the-shelf language models problematic for business use cases with no tolerance for errors. Case in point: A model deployed to help create a summary for this episode stated that Sridhar Ramaswamy previously led PyTorch at Meta. He di…

1
OpenAI's Noam Brown, Ilge Akkaya and Hunter Lightman on o1 and Teaching LLMs to Reason Better 45:22

7d ago45:22

45:22

Combining LLMs with AlphaGo-style deep reinforcement learning has been a holy grail for many leading AI labs, and with o1 (aka Strawberry) we are seeing the most general merging of the two modes to date. o1 is admittedly better at math than essay writing, but it has already achieved SOTA on a number of math, coding and reasoning benchmarks. Deep RL…

1
Not All Boats 46:39

7d ago46:39

46:39

Andrew and Tawny discuss a boat funeral during the Trump armada, their new instant classic segment Movie News and answer a listener question! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and watch the video of this episode at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
11. WILDCOAST Wonderland: Naturing Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis w/ Serge Dedina 1:16:56

7d ago1:16:56

1:16:56

We are excited to have Serge Dedina on the show to share his stories as a southern Californian ocean conservation hero and founder of the organization WILDCOAST / COASTASALVAJE. In this episode, we cover many exciting stories about coastal conservation and the journey that inspired Serge to co-found WILDCOAST. Along the way, we share ocean knowledg…

1
PMC-Sierra – The importance of innovation, adaptability and resilience 52:31

8d ago52:31

52:31

This is the first in a new Pender Ventures podcast series reflecting the scale-up stories of some of the great Canadian technology companies. We kick off with the story of PMC-Sierra, a pioneering and leading semiconductor chipset supplier that specialized in the design and development of integrated circuits for networking, telecommunications and d…

1
Why Vlad Tenev and Tudor Achim of Harmonic Think AI Is About to Change Math—and Why It Matters 39:45

16d ago39:45

39:45

Adding code to LLM training data is a known method of improving a model’s reasoning skills. But wouldn’t math, the basis of all reasoning, be even better? Up until recently, there just wasn’t enough usable data that describes mathematics to make this feasible. A few years ago, Vlad Tenev (also founder of Robinhood) and Tudor Achim noticed the rise …

1
Don't Title The Episode That 48:05

21d ago48:05

48:05

The crew discuss Tina Fondue's new assistant, Tawny's trip to Africa and answer a few listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and watch the video of this episode at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
10. Great White Sharks: Understanding Their Behavior & Genome with Dr. Chris Lowe 1:21:32

21d ago1:21:32

1:21:32

In this episode, we interview Dr. Chris Lowe, a Professor of Marine Biology at California State University Long Beach. Dr. Lowe’s goal is to help expand our knowledge of marine organisms so that we can better manage and protect their ecosystems. He enjoys developing and using new technology and techniques to answer questions about shark and game fi…

1
Jim Fan on Nvidia’s Embodied AI Lab and Jensen Huang’s Prediction that All Robots will be Autonomous 49:13

23d ago49:13

49:13

AI researcher Jim Fan has had a charmed career. He was OpenAI’s first intern before he did his PhD at Stanford with “godmother of AI,” Fei-Fei Li. He graduated into a research scientist position at Nvidia and now leads its Embodied AI “GEAR” group. The lab’s current work spans foundation models for humanoid robots to agents for virtual worlds. Jim …

1
The role of a public credit strategy in a diversified— and fortified— fixed income portfolio 23:31

27d ago23:31

23:31

In this discussion, hosted by Rita Silvan, Parul Garg, Pender’s distressed credit expert in default securities, reorganizations and recapitalizations, discusses the impending catalysts for generating meaningful alpha in distressed debt in the next 3-to-5 years, and how a public credit strategy complements investing in private credits. She explains …

1
Founder Eric Steinberger on Magic’s Counterintuitive Approach to Pursuing AGI 51:15

30d ago51:15

51:15

There’s a new archetype in Silicon Valley, the AI researcher turned founder. Instead of tinkering in a garage they write papers that earn them the right to collaborate with cutting-edge labs until they break out and start their own. This is the story of wunderkind Eric Steinberger, the founder and CEO of Magic.dev. Eric came to programming through …

1
We're Not Nude Best Friends with Spencer Taylor 41:55

1M ago41:55

41:55

Andrew and writer/stand-up Spencer Taylor discuss massages and answer a few listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and watch the video of this episode at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Crucible Moments Returns for S2: The ServiceNow Story ft. CEO Frank Slootman & Founder Fred Luddy 42:53

1M ago42:53

42:53

On Training Data, we learn from innovators pushing forward the frontier of AI’s capabilities. Today we’re bringing you something different. It’s the story of a company currently implementing AI at scale in the enterprise, and how it was built from a bootstrapped idea in the pre-AI era to a 150 billion dollar market cap giant. It’s the Season 2 prem…

1
Sierra Co-Founder Clay Bavor on Making Customer-Facing AI Agents Delightful 1:12:31

1M ago1:12:31

1:12:31

Customer service is hands down the first killer app of generative AI for businesses. The reasons are simple: the costs of existing solutions are so high, the satisfaction so low and the margin for ROI so wide. But trusting your interactions with customers to hallucination-prone LLMs can be daunting. Enter Sierra. Co-founder Clay Bavor walks us thro…

1
I'd Do Well with a Time Machine with Andrea Jin 47:30

2M ago47:30

47:30

Andrew and comedian Andrea Jin discuss keeping secrets and answer listener questions. Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and watch the video of this episode at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Phaidra’s Jim Gao on Building the Fourth Industrial Revolution with Reinforcement Learning 50:33

2M ago50:33

50:33

After AlphaGo beat Lee Sedol, a young mechanical engineer at Google thought of another game reinforcement learning could win: energy optimization at data centers. Jim Gao convinced his bosses at the Google data center team to let him work with the DeepMind team to try. The initial pilot resulted in a 40% energy savings and led he and his co-founder…

1
Fireworks Founder Lin Qiao on How Fast Inference and Small Models Will Benefit Businesses 39:18

2M ago39:18

39:18

In the first wave of the generative AI revolution, startups and enterprises built on top of the best closed-source models available, mostly from OpenAI. The AI customer journey moves from training to inference, and as these first products find PMF, many are hitting a wall on latency and cost. Fireworks Founder and CEO Lin Qiao led the PyTorch team …

1
The Truffle Pig of Racism 34:45

2M ago34:45

34:45

Tawny and Andrew discuss Trump questioning Kamala's Blackness, if there's a light dimmer on the bridge, and Tawny's new Star Trek live action show! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on Building Copilot, and the the Future of Software Development 1:07:34

2M ago1:07:34

1:07:34

GithHub invented collaborative coding and in the process changed how open source projects, startups and eventually enterprises write code. GitHub Copilot is the first blockbuster product built on top of OpenAI’s GPT models. It now accounts for more than 40 percent of GitHub revenue growth for an annual revenue run rate of $2 billion. Copilot itself…

1
Meta’s Joe Spisak on Llama 3.1 405B and the Democratization of Frontier Models 42:07

2M ago42:07

42:07

As head of Product Management for Generative AI at Meta, Joe Spisak leads the team behind Llama, which just released the new 3.1 405B model. We spoke with Joe just two days after the model’s release to ask what’s new, what it enables, and how Meta sees the role of open source in the AI ecosystem. Joe shares that where Llama 3.1 405B really focused …

1
And She's Very Famous with Jessica Gao 35:29

3M ago35:29

35:29

Tawny, Kevin and former CEO-current manager of the show Jessica Gao discuss Kamala Harris running for President before getting into some listener questions. Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on Getting AI to Do the Work of 700 Customer Service Reps 51:35

3M ago51:35

51:35

In February, Sebastian Siemiatkowski boldly announced that Klarna’s new OpenAI-powered assistant handled two thirds of the Swedish fintech’s customer service chats in its first month. Not only were customer satisfaction metrics better, but by replacing 700 full-time contractors the bottom line impact is projected to be $40M. Since then, every compa…

1
Reflection AI’s Misha Laskin on the AlphaGo Moment for LLMs 1:07:04

3M ago1:07:04

1:07:04

LLMs are democratizing digital intelligence, but we’re all waiting for AI agents to take this to the next level by planning tasks and executing actions to actually transform the way we work and live our lives. Yet despite incredible hype around AI agents, we’re still far from that “tipping point” with best in class models today. As one measure: cod…

1
Doo-Doo Esquire 43:32

3M ago43:32

43:32

Tawny, Andrew and Kevin discuss country music recs and answer some listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on How Far Scaling Laws Will Extend 1:00:27

3M ago1:00:27

1:00:27

The current LLM era is the result of scaling the size of models in successive waves (and the compute to train them). It is also the result of better-than-Moore’s-Law price vs performance ratios in each new generation of Nvidia GPUs. The largest platform companies are continuing to invest in scaling as the prime driver of AI innovation. Are they rig…

1
Distressed Credit Markets: An Inside Look at the Pender Credit Opportunities Fund 26:13

3M ago26:13

26:13

In a candid conversation, Parul Garg, hosted by Rita Silvan, provides an in-depth overview of the Pender Credit Opportunities Fund. Known for its strategic focus on distressed and stressed credits in public fixed income markets, the Fund leverages its nimble approach to capitalize on unique opportunities often overlooked by larger funds. Parul expl…

1
Zapier’s Mike Knoop launches ARC Prize to Jumpstart New Ideas for AGI 55:12

3M ago55:12

55:12

As impressive as LLMs are, the growing consensus is that language, scale and compute won’t get us to AGI. Although many AI benchmarks have quickly achieved human-level performance, there is one eval that has barely budged since it was created in 2019. Google researcher François Chollet wrote a paper that year defining intelligence as skill-acquisit…

1
Karma's Revenge Body 41:11

4M ago41:11

41:11

Tawny and Andrew discuss Baby Yellowstone, a wild listener text and a few voicemails! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
9. A Wonderful Whale Tale: Drone's Eye View of Blue, Gray, & Humpback Giants w/ Daina Buchner 1:43:59

4M ago1:43:59

1:43:59

Hey everyone, and welcome back! In this episode of Planet People, we dive into the world of whales with conservation photographer and videographer Daina Buchner. Join us on this exciting and ocean-filled episode as Daina shares her inspiring journey from childhood memories by the ocean, to becoming a leading figure in the field of marine conservati…

1
Factory’s Matan Grinberg and Eno Reyes Unleash the Droids on Software Development 59:10

4M ago59:10

59:10

Archimedes said that with a large enough lever, you can move the world. For decades, software engineering has been that lever. And now, AI is compounding that lever. How will we use AI to apply 100 or 1000x leverage to the greatest lever to move the world? Matan Grinberg and Eno Reyes, co-founders of Factory, have chosen to do things differently th…

1
LangChain’s Harrison Chase on Building the Orchestration Layer for AI Agents 49:50

4M ago49:50

49:50

Last year, AutoGPT and Baby AGI captured our imaginations—agents quickly became the buzzword of the day…and then things went quiet. AutoGPT and Baby AGI may have marked a peak in the hype cycle, but this year has seen a wave of agentic breakouts on the product side, from Klarna’s customer support AI to Cognition’s Devin, etc. Harrison Chase of Lang…

1
Navigating Public Stressed and Distressed Credit Investing in Today’s Markets 27:47

4M ago27:47

27:47

Welcome to the PenderFund podcast! In today's episode, we delve into the intricate world of public distressed credit investing. Join Rita Silvan, Director of Content Strategy at PenderFund Asset Management, as she speaks with Parul Garg, a specialist in stressed and distressed public holdings within the Pender Credit Opportunities Fund and the Pend…

1
Yo-driver 45:20

4M ago45:20

45:20

Andrew and Tawny discuss the Peabody Awards, the new Star Wars show and answer a few listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Introducing "Training Data" 1:26

4M ago1:26

1:26

Join us as we train our neural nets on the theme of the century: AI. Sequoia Capital partners Sonya Huang and Pat Grady host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to ask critical questions and develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications for technology, business and society. The content of this…

1
8. Orca Odyssey: Secrets of the Sea from SoCal to Alaska w/ Nicole Schriber 1:34:17

4M ago1:34:17

1:34:17

Welcome to Episode #8 of Planet People! In this episode, we interview killer whale expert Nicole Schriber, who studies these amazing whales as a marine biology student at UC San Diego. She also works as a naturalist specializing in orca research and educating wildlife enthusiasts who join the “Gone Whale Watching” boat tours in San Diego. The recen…

1
That's Why I'm Like This 42:22

4M ago42:22

42:22

Andrew and Tawny discuss questions about media literacy and the reaction to a broadcaster's social media post. Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
You Can't Allegedly Yourself 44:24

5M ago44:24

44:24

Tawny, Andrew and Kevin discuss B6 and answer a few listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
The Palm Springs of Canada (with Matt Apodaca) 49:59

5M ago49:59

49:59

Andrew, Kevin and Matt Apodaca discuss Gosling season, The Muppets and answer some listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Wake Me For Meals (with Jessica Gao and Sierra Katow) 52:30

5M ago52:30

52:30

Andrew chats with Jessica Gao and Sierra Katow talk about Sierra's new stand up special Funt and answer some listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
7. Save One Life Pt.2: Protecting Wildlife In Coastal California & Costa Rica w/ Amber Becerra 1:05:14

5M ago1:05:14

1:05:14

Welcome to Episode #7 of Planet People! In this episode, we continue our conversation from Ep. 6 with Amber Becerra, founder of Sol Sanctuary, Wildlife Protection Alliance, and former CEO of Marine Mammal Care Center. In this episode, we learn more about Amber’s eco-lodge and what it means to operate one through a sustainable approach to living amo…

1
Fine I Guess (with Jessica Gao) 40:56

5M ago40:56

40:56

Andrew, Kevin and the show's former CEO/current manager Jessica Gao discuss media literacy, protests throughout college campuses and answer a few listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
Make It Taste Good 36:49

6M ago36:49

36:49

Tawny and Andrew are talkin tofu, nicknames and checking bags while traveling! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Deploying Generative AI: Predictions, Surprises, Strategies and Shortages 34:35

6M ago34:35

34:35

Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures gets an in-depth status report on Generative AI in this fascinating conversation with Duncan Stewart, Director of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Research at Deloitte Canada. Duncan’s research includes travelling the world for real-time, face to face updates from companies in every s…

1
6. Save One Life Pt.1: Protecting Wildlife in Coastal California & Costa Rica w/ Amber Becerra 1:26:15

6M ago1:26:15

1:26:15

Welcome to Episode #6 of Planet People! In this episode, we introduce Amber Becerra, founder of Wildlife Protection Alliance and former CEO of Marine Mammal Care Center. We take you behind the scenes with Amber to learn more about her advocacy work and the challenges she faces as a conservationist. From rebuilding the Marine Mammal Care Center and …

1
What Has this Podcast Turned Into? with Ify Nwadiwe 48:13

6M ago48:13

48:13

Andrew and guest co-host Ify Nwadiwe discuss Boston Comic-Con, the importance of constantly checking yourself and answer a listener question! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
Came in with a Cattitude 38:29

6M ago38:29

38:29

Tawny, Andrew and Kevin discuss Beyoncé new album Cowboy Carter before answering a few listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.By Andrew Ti, Tawny Newsome

1
Church Except You Can Swear with Jane Marie 36:21

6M ago36:21

36:21

Andrew chats with writer/podcaster Jane Marie (The Dream) about her new book Selling the Dream. They also talk about people saying the military is too woke and weird small talk at the dentist's office. Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listen…

1
French or Gambit? (with Cody Ziglar) 41:01

7M ago41:01

41:01

Andrew and guest co-host Cody Ziglar discuss Zig's time at Toronto Comic-Con, getting tattoos before doing your research and answer some listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
John Wick on the Bass (with Matt Apodaca) 48:22

7M ago48:22

48:22

Andrew, Kevin and special guest Matt Apodaca talk music and street food outside of stadiums before getting into some listener questions! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

1
March of the Alleged Penguins 41:27

7M ago41:27

41:27

Tawny and Andrew discuss if birds are real. Also, if you're having any issues getting the latest Yo, Can We Live or Sub-Optimal episodes, try re-adding the feeds from your suboptimalpods.com account! Call or text with your questions at 323-389-RACE and subscribe to Tawny and Andrew's bonus podcasts at suboptimalpods.com. See omnystudio.com/listener…

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Sierra Thomas Podcasts

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