Best Pragmatic AI Labs Podcasts (2025)

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Building a multimodal lakehouse for AI (w/ Chang She) 56:58

Play Pause

1h ago56:58

56:58

In this episode, Tristan Handy sits down with Chang She — a co-creator of Pandas and now CEO of LanceDB — to explore the convergence of analytics and AI engineering. The team at LanceDB is rebuilding the data lake from the ground up with AI as a first principle, starting with a new AI-native file format called Lance. Tristan traces Chang's journey …

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De-Risking Climate Tech: Inside the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center with Galen Nelson 53:26

12d ago53:26

53:26

Galen Nelson, Chief Climate Officer at the MassachusettsClean Energy Center (MassCEC) explains how the state is helping accelerate climate innovation through early-stage grants, equity investments, and infrastructure support. Galen outlines how MassCEC targets “market failures” where private investors hesitate—such as pilot and demonstration projec…

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How Science Suggests You Change Your Organization - with Prosci’s Tim Creasey and Paul Gonzalez 53:46

13d ago53:46

53:46

Generative AI is moving fast, but most organizations aren’t. Tim Creasey and Paul Gonzalez have spent their careers studying why. As leaders at Prosci, they’ve worked with thousands of teams navigating complex change, and in this episode they share what their research says about the human side of transformation. They discuss why traditional tactics…

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Governing Climate Action: Massachusetts’ Strategy for Decarbonization and Resilience 44:53

26d ago44:53

44:53

Jonathan Schrag, Deputy Climate Chief for the Commonwealthof Massachusetts, joins Climate Rising to discuss how the state istackling emissions, electrifying infrastructure, and responding to a shiftingfederal policy landscape. Jonathan shares how Massachusetts’ newly created Climate Office coordinates across agencies—from housing to public health t…

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You Can’t Vibe Code a 100-Ton Truck: Inside Applied Intuition’s Approach to Safety-Critical AI 55:54

27d ago55:54

55:54

Applied Intuition builds the kind of AI you don’t see, but can’t live without. Co-founders Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig share how their $15 billion company powers vehicle intelligence across cars, trucks, tanks, mining equipment, and defense systems operating in some of the most demanding conditions on earth. They explain why combining AI with saf…

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How Crusoe is Reducing the Carbon Intensity of AI Data Centers 30:50

1M ago30:50

30:50

Hui Wen Chan, Senior Director of Sustainability at Crusoe, describeshow the rapid rise of AI is reshaping energy demand and Crusoe’s efforts to design more sustainable data centers. She explains how Crusoe leverages stranded energy sources, repurposed electric vehicle batteries, on-site renewables, and innovative energy-efficient cooling technologi…

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How IBM Used AI to Cut 40% of HR Operating Costs and Reinvest in the Company 53:08

1M ago53:08

53:08

As Head of IBM Consulting, Mohamad Ali led one of the most ambitious enterprise AI transformations to date. By making IBM its own “Client Zero,” his team tested every AI solution internally before bringing it to market. The effort began with massive hackathons involving 150,000 employees, turning curiosity into capability and belief at scale. Moham…

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Scaling Carbon Capture for Hard-to-abate sectors: Danielle Rapson of Mantel 40:07

2M ago40:07

40:07

Danielle Rapson, HBS alum and Co-founder and COO of Mantel, joins Climate Rising to explain how her company is developing a novel molten-based carbon capture system for hard-to-abate industrial sectors. Danielle shares the story of how Mantel spun out of an MIT lab, what sets its technology apart from existing amine-based carbon capture, and why th…

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How Do You Strategize in the AI Era? - with Martin Reeves, Head of BCG’s Think Tank 1:06:01

2M ago1:06:01

1:06:01

Martin Reeves has spent decades advising CEOs on how to think about strategy. As head of BCG’s Henderson Institute, he has built a career challenging leaders to balance efficiency with imagination and to prepare for the next disruptive shift. In this conversation, Martin tells Henrik and Jeremy why AI alone will not give companies an edge and might…

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ELO Ratings Questions 3:39

2M ago3:39

3:39

Key Argument Thesis: Using ELO for AI agent evaluation = measuring noise Problem: Wrong evaluators, wrong metrics, wrong assumptions Solution: Quantitative assessment frameworks The Comparison (00:00-02:00) Chess ELO FIDE arbiters: 120hr training Binary outcome: win/loss Test-retest: r=0.95 Cohen's κ=0.92 AI Agent ELO Random users: Google engineer?…

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The 2X Ceiling: Why 100 AI Agents Can't Outcode Amdahl's Law" 4:19

2M ago4:19

4:19

AI coding agents face the same fundamental limitation as parallel computing: Amdahl's Law. Just as 10 cooks can't make soup 10x faster, 10 AI agents can't code 10x faster due to inherent sequential bottlenecks. 📚 Key Concepts The Soup Analogy Multiple cooks can divide tasks (prep, boiling water, etc.) But certain steps MUST be sequential (can't sti…

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Building Climate-Resilient Farming with Robotics: Eric Adamson of Oishii and Tortuga 43:13

2M ago43:13

43:13

Eric Adamson, Robotics Executive at Oishii and co-founder of Tortuga AgTech, joins Climate Rising to share how automation and AI are transforming fruit farming. Eric explains how his team designed a strawberry-harvesting robot capable of operating in outdoor tunnels and vertical farms, bringing operational efficiency, labor savings, and climate res…

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The AI Playbook Every Leader Needs: A Chat With Adam Brotman & Andy Sack 1:04:59

2M ago1:04:59

1:04:59

Adam Brotman and Andy Sack sit down with Henrik and Jeremy to unpack their book AI First and the framework they have developed for leaders. They argue that AI is not just another technology wave but a leadership reset that demands new playbooks, new structures and new ways of thinking. They explain why AI should be seen as an augmentation of human …

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Microsoft ’s Climate Strategy and Its Carbon Removal Deal with Chestnut Carbon 44:34

3M ago44:34

44:34

Microsoft’s Brian Marrs, Senior Director of Energy and Carbon Removal, and Chestnut Carbon CFO Greg Adams share their perspectives as a major buyer and developer of carbon removal credits. Their 2025 deal is one of the largest carbon removal deals in the U.S. and seeks to deliver 7 million tons of nature-based carbon credits over 25 years. Brian ex…

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Agentic coding in analytics engineering (w/ Mikkel Dengsøe) 44:20

3M ago44:20

44:20

Tristan talks with Mikkel Dengsøe, co-founder at SYNQ, to break down what agentic coding looks like in analytics engineering. Mikkel walks through a hands-on project using Cursor, the dbt MCP server, Omni's AI assistant, and Snowflake. They cover where agents shine (staging, unit tests, lineage-aware checks), where they're risky (BI chat for non-ex…

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How Entrepreneurs Can Compete in the Age of AI: Henrik Werdelin & Nicholas Thorne on Their New Book Me, My Customer and AI 49:33

3M ago49:33

49:33

In a shift from the usual format, Henrik Werdelin steps into the guest seat—alongside Nicholas Thorne—for a live conversation with Jeremy Utley about their new book Me, My Customer, and AI. They explore what it takes for entrepreneurs to compete in the age of AI — from redefining resourcefulness to thinking like founders, even inside a job. The dis…

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Reducing Household Emissions with Dishwashing Innovation: A Conversation with P&G ’ s Ashley Fill 48:02

3M ago48:02

48:02

Ashley Fill, Global Director of Sustainability at P&G Home Care joins Climate Rising to discuss how consumer behavior and innovative technologies can reduce household carbon and water footprints. Ashley shares how life cycle assessments reveal that 87% of the emissions in P&G’s Home Care portfolio come from product use, particularly dishwashing. Sh…

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Under the hood of Apache Iceberg (w/ Christian Thiel) 55:59

3M ago55:59

55:59

Tristan digs deep into the world of Apache Iceberg. There's a lot happening beneath the surface: multiple catalog interfaces, evolving REST specs, and competing implementations across open source, proprietary, and academic contexts. Christian Thiel, co-founder of Lakekeeper, one of the most widely used Iceberg catalogs, joins to walk through the st…

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Inside Zapier’s Code Red: How CEO Wade Foster Hit Pause to Reinvent for AI 1:03:23

3M ago1:03:23

1:03:23

Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier, joins Henrik and Jeremy to talk about how AI is changing the company from the inside out. He shares the moment Zapier declared a “code red” on AI and the steps they took to turn urgency into action — encouraging more experiments, removing tolerance for inaction, and celebrating wins along the way. Wade dis…

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AI for Climate Resilient Food Systems with ClimateAi’s Himanshu Gupta 46:16

3M ago46:16

46:16

ClimateAi co-founder and CEO Himanshu Gupta explains how hiscompany uses machine learning to forecast extreme weather and help businesses adapt to climate volatility. Himanshu shares his journey from rural India to co-founding ClimateAi while he was an MBA student. He describes how ClimateAi's "biophysics-driven AI" combines limited weather and cro…

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Can AI Replace Me? Evan Ratliff on Letting an AI Clone Live His Life 58:11

4M ago58:11

58:11

In this episode, Evan Ratliff, journalist and creator of the podcast Shell Game, shares the wild and personal story behind his experiment in AI voice cloning. What began as curiosity turned into a six-month dive into building an AI version of himself—one that could answer phone calls, conduct interviews, and even fool friends and family. From scamm…

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The pragmatic guide to AI agents in the enterprise (w/ Sean Falconer) 49:59

4M ago49:59

49:59

What does it mean to be agentic? Is there a spectrum of agency? In this episode of The Analytics Engineering Podcast, Tristan Handy talks to Sean Falconer, senior director of AI strategy at Confluent, about AI agents. They discuss what truly makes software "agentic," where agents are successfully being deployed, and how to conceptualize and build a…

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Designing for Resilience: with Alex Berkowitz of Coastal Protection Services 38:10

4M ago38:10

38:10

This episode is another in our series on Climate Resilience featuringAlex Berkowitz, Founder and CEO of Coastal Protection Solutions (CPS), astartup developing nearshore infrastructure that reduces wave energy and enhances climate resilience. Alex shares how her personal experience with Hurricane Sandy in her hometown of Rockaway Beach led to the c…

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How the Chief Creative Officer of an Award-Winning Ad Agency Prompts the Perfect Pitch 42:13

4M ago42:13

42:13

In this episode, Jeff Benjamin, Global CCO of Tombras, shares how AI helps him get unstuck, build confidence, and push bold ideas forward—even when self-doubt creeps in. From romcom scripts to Arby’s pitches, he shows how AI acts as a sparring partner: sharpening thinking, stress-testing ideas, and keeping momentum alive. We get into what separates…

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How Amazon S3 works (w/ Andy Warfield) 50:05

4M ago50:05

50:05

In this season of the Analytics Engineering podcast, Tristan is deep into the world of developer tools and databases. If you're following us here, you've almost definitely used Amazon S3 it and its Blob Storage siblings. They form the foundation for nearly all data work in the cloud. In many ways, it was the innovations that happened inside of S3 t…

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Investing in Climate Resilience and Poverty Alleviation: Acumen Founder & CEO Jacqueline Novogratz 57:24

4M ago57:24

57:24

In this Climate Rising episode in our series on climate resilience, Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen shares how impact investing is agriculture is helping smallholder farmers build climate resilience. Jacqueline shares insights from two decades of investing in poverty alleviation that includes climate resilience and adaptation social…

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Chief of Staff for the Masses: How Meta’s Joshua To Designs Wearables with AI 1:00:37

5M ago1:00:37

1:00:37

In this episode, Joshua To, VP of Product Design at Meta, shares how AI is reshaping how—and where—we interact with technology. He walks us through Meta’s evolving approach to AR and wearables, why notifications are still the killer use case, and how AI is becoming the “brain behind empathy.” We dig into what it means to build interfaces that under…

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Forecasting Climate Risk with Geospatial AI: Sarah Russell of X , the Moonshot Factory at Alphabet 35:09

5M ago35:09

35:09

This episode, part of the Climate Rising series on climate resilience, features Sarah Russell, General Manager of Project Bellwether at X, The Moonshot Factory at Alphabet (formerly Google X). Sarah shares how geospatial data and artificial intelligence can help communities and businesses anticipate and respond to climate risks. Sarah shares insigh…

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The AI Implementation Audit: What Section’s CEO Learned in 18 Months 1:08:27

5M ago1:08:27

1:08:27

In this episode, Greg Shove, CEO of Section and founder of Machine and Partners, joins us for a "where are they now" follow-up—and doesn’t hold back. Greg walks through the rise of Pro AI, his new AI-powered coach, and why traditional upskilling is already obsolete. We explore the overlooked friction points in AI adoption, from cultural taboos (“it…

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From Docker to Dagger (w/ Solomon Hykes) 48:50

5M ago48:50

48:50

In this season of the Analytics Engineering podcast, Tristan is digging deep into the world of developer tools and databases. There are few more widely used developer tools than Docker. From its launch back in 2013, Docker has completely changed how developers ship applications. In this episode, Tristan talks to Solomon Hykes, the founder and creat…

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Closing the Loop by Recycling Apparel: Reju CEO Patrik Frisk 43:43

5M ago43:43

43:43

Patrik Frisk, CEO of ReJu, joins Climate Rising to discuss his company’s mission to recycle textile waste and build circular supply chains for apparel made of polyester fabric. Patrik brings his prior experience leading Under Armour and other global brands across the textile and footwear industry for over 35 years. Patrik describes how ReJu turns d…

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Rebuilding from Inside: How John Waldmann Led an AI Shift Without Breaking His Team 52:29

6M ago52:29

52:29

In this episode, John Waldmann, CEO of Homebase, shares how the 10-year-old SaaS company blew up its roadmap and rebuilt around AI—from culture to code. He walks us through the shift from 20-page PRDs to lightning-fast demos, reclaiming product leadership, and pushing teams into their “oh shit” moment with AI. We explore the leadership reckoning, c…

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The history and future of the data ecosystem (w/ Lonne Jaffe) 53:53

6M ago53:53

53:53

In this decades-spanning episode, Tristan Handy sits down with Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners and former CEO of Syncsort (now Precisely), to trace the history of the data ecosystem—from its mainframe origins to its AI-infused future. Lonne reflects on the evolution of ETL, the unexpected staying power of legacy tech, and why AI …

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Extending Apparel Lifespan: ThredUp CEO James Reinhart 38:02

6M ago38:02

38:02

James Reinhart, CEO of ThredUp, one of the largest online resale platforms for secondhand clothing. James co-founded the company while he was a Masters’ student at Harvard and has spent the last 15 years scaling a national logistics and digital infrastructure platform for resale. In this episode James describes why the company decided to handle phy…

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Why HR not CTOs Will Lead AI Augmentation - with Joshua Wöhle 1:02:10

6M ago1:02:10

1:02:10

In this episode, Joshua Wöhle, co-founder and CEO of Mindstone, shares how AI can go beyond automation to truly augment thinking, strategy, and workflows. He walks us through the personal rituals and frameworks he uses to spot high-leverage opportunities, and why iteration—not speed—is the real unlock. We explore how non-technical teams can build c…

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Everything terminals (w/ Zach Lloyd) 47:21

6M ago47:21

47:21

In this episode, Tristan talks to Zach Lloyd, founder of Warp—a terminal built for the modern era, including for AI agents. They explore the history of terminals, differences between terminals and shells, and what the future might look like. In a world driven by generative AI, the terminal could once again be the control center of computer usage. F…

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Plastic Shamans of AGI 10:32

6M ago10:32

10:32

The plastic shamans of OpenAI 🔥 Hot Course Offers:- 🤖 Master GenAI Engineering - Build Production AI Systems- 🦀 Learn Professional Rust - Industry-Grade Development- 📊 AWS AI & Analytics - Scale Your ML in Cloud- ⚡ Production GenAI on AWS - Deploy at Enterprise Scale- 🛠️ Rust DevOps Mastery - Automate Everything🚀 Level Up Your Career:- 💼 Production…

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The Toyota Way: Engineering Discipline in the Era of Dangerous Dilettantes 14:38

6M ago14:38

14:38

Dangerous Dilettantes vs. Toyota Way Engineering Core Thesis The influx of AI-powered automation tools creates dangerous dilettantes - practitioners who know just enough to be harmful. The Toyota Production System (TPS) principles provide a battle-tested framework for integrating automation while maintaining engineering discipline. Historical Conte…

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Designing for Circularity at Scale: A Conversation with Karen Pflug of Ingka Group 46:27

6M ago46:27

46:27

In the latest episode of Climate Rising from Harvard Business School, Karen Pflug, Chief Sustainability Officer of Ingka Group (IKEA), shares how IKEA is embedding circularity throughout its business model. She discusses how IKEA is redesigning iconic products like the Billy bookcase to make them easier to disassemble and repair, how secondhand ret…

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DevOps Narrow AI Debunking Flowchart 11:19

6M ago11:19

11:19

Extensive Notes: The Truth About AI and Your Coding Job Types of AI Narrow AI Not truly intelligent Pattern matching and full text search Examples: voice assistants, coding autocomplete Useful but contains bugs Multiple narrow AI solutions compound bugs Get in, use it, get out quickly AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) No evidence we're close to…

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No Dummy, AI Isn't Replacing Developer Jobs 14:41

6M ago14:41

14:41

Extensive Notes: "No Dummy: AI Will Not Replace Coders" Introduction: The Critical Thinking Problem America faces a critical thinking deficit, especially evident in narratives about AI automating developers' jobs Speaker advocates for examining the narrative with core critical thinking skills Suggests substituting the dominant narrative with altern…

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The Narrow Truth: Dismantling IntelligenceTheater in Agent Architecture 10:34

6M ago10:34

10:34

how Gen.AI companies combine narrow ML components behind conversational interfaces to simulate intelligence. Each agent component (text generation, context management, tool integration) has direct non-ML equivalents. API access bypasses the deceptive UI layer, providing better determinism and utility. Optimal usage requires abandoning open-ended in…

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The Pirate Bay Hypothesis: Reframing AI's True Nature 8:31

6M ago8:31

8:31

Episode Summary: A critical examination of generative AI through the lens of a null hypothesis, comparing it to a sophisticated search engine over all intellectual property ever created, challenging our assumptions about its transformative nature. Keywords: AI demystification, null hypothesis, intellectual property, search engines, large language m…

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What AI Can't Replace - How The Atlantic Deals with Disruption 1:00:45

7M ago1:00:45

1:00:45

In this episode, Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, shares a personal and expansive look at how AI is reshaping creativity, leadership, and human connection. From using ChatGPT in marathon training to rethinking journalism in the age of agents, Nicholas explores AI not just as a tool—but as a thought partner. We dive into cognitive offloading …

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Why compilers matter (w/ Lukas Schulte) 41:59

7M ago41:59

41:59

In this episode, Tristan Handy and Lukas Schulte, co-founder of SDF Labs and now part of dbt Labs, dive deep into the world of compilers—what they are, how they work, and what they mean for the data ecosystem. SDF, recently acquired by dbt Labs, builds a world-class SQL compiler aimed at abstracting away the complexity of warehouse-specific SQL. Jo…

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Advancing the Circular Economy: A Conversation with Lauren Rodriguez of Closed Loop Partners 41:45

7M ago41:45

41:45

Lauren Rodriguez, who leads partnerships at Circular Services, a Closed Loop Partners company, joins host Mike Toffel to discuss building the infrastructure and investment models needed to scale the circular economy. Lauren explains how Closed Loop Partners supports the transition from a linear to a circular economy through capital management, inno…

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Claude Code Review: Pattern Matching, Not Intelligence 10:31

7M ago10:31

10:31

Episode Notes: Claude Code Review: Pattern Matching, Not Intelligence Summary I share my hands-on experience with Anthropic's Claude Code tool, praising its utility while challenging the misleading "AI" framing. I argue these are powerful pattern matching tools, not intelligent systems, and explain how experienced developers can leverage them effec…

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Deno: The Modern TypeScript Runtime Alternative to Python 7:26

7M ago7:26

7:26

Deno: The Modern TypeScript Runtime Alternative to Python Episode Summary Deno stands tall. TypeScript runs fast in this Rust-based runtime. It builds standalone executables and offers type safety without the headaches of Python's packaging and performance problems. Keywords Deno, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python alternative, V8 engine, scripting lan…

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Reframing GenAI as Not AI - Generative Search, Auto-Complete and Pattern Matching 16:43

7M ago16:43

16:43

Episode Notes: The Wizard of AI: Unmasking the Smoke and Mirrors Summary I expose the reality behind today's "AI" hype. What we call AI is actually generative search and pattern matching - useful but not intelligent. Like the Wizard of Oz, tech companies use smoke and mirrors to market what are essentially statistical models as sentient beings. Key…

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Academic Style Lecture on Concepts Surrounding RAG in Generative AI 45:17

7M ago45:17

45:17

Episode Notes: Search, Not Superintelligence: RAG's Role in Grounding Generative AI Summary I demystify RAG technology and challenge the AI hype cycle. I argue current AI is merely advanced search, not true intelligence, and explain how RAG grounds models in verified data to reduce hallucinations while highlighting its practical implementation chal…