Unsupervised Learning

Douwe’s contributions to AI are truly a part of its bedrock foundations. He wrote the first paper on retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and has raised over $100 million to help enterprises build contextual language models that fit their use cases. Before Contextual he was the head of research at Hugging Face, worked on the Facebook AI research team (i.e. Llama) and remains a professor at Stanford. Douwe was incredibly open about his take on AI’s recent history and where he thinks it’s going.

[0:00] Intro
[0:51] Exploring the Impact of Systems Thinking in AI
[1:49] Latency Constraints and AI Deployments
[2:05] Benchmarks and Real-World Applications
[3:27] Transition to Contextual and Company Vision
[5:12] Challenges and Innovations in Enterprise AI
[8:51] The Evolution and Future of RAG
[15:26] Alignment and Reinforcement Learning in AI
[23:52] Collaborations and the Role of Academia
[29:15] The Evolving Role of AI Developers
[30:19] Changing Perspectives in AI Research
[30:44] Synthetic Data and Agentic Workflows
[33:47] The Future of Multimodal Data
[35:31] Reasoning Capabilities in AI Models
[42:56] The Rise of Multi-Agent Systems
[45:24] Hugging Face and the AI Ecosystem
[46:59] Building Contextual and AI Startups
[49:51] The Future of AI and Personalized Entertainment
[50:41] Quickfire Round: Overhyped and Underhyped AI
[56:25] Final Thoughts and Parting Words

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

If you don’t know Grammarly, it’s a personalized AI assistant for writing that has over 30 Million Daily Active Users. Grammarly has been building AI productivity tooling long before the most recent GenAI wave and has raised over $400M, with a current valuation of $13B. Rahul believes AI will enable everyone to focus on more meaningful, creative interactions by automating the "drudgery" of daily tasks. It was interesting to hear him talk about how he thinks about competition and his longer-term perspective on how AI will be adopted by the enterprise.

[0:00] Intro
[1:03] The Future of AI in Human Communication
[3:47] Grammarly's Evolution and Product Overview
[8:21] Limitations of LLMs
[15:31] The Impact of ChatGPT and Future Prospects
[23:52] Fine-Tuning AI for User Needs
[30:16] Competitive Landscape and Differentiators
[39:14] AI in Education
[46:25] Over-hyped/Under-hyped
[49:57] Most Exciting AI Startups

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

Sarah Buchner is the Founder and CEO of Trunk Tools (https://trunktools.com/). She is a one-of-a-kind founder, having spent her young life as a carpenter in Austria and then working her way up the ranks of the construction industry. She’s also earned several graduate degrees including an MS in Civil Eng, a PHD in Data Science and an MBA from Stanford.

Trunk Tools is an AI Tool for the $13T construction industry aimed at enhancing project management and addressing the skilled Labor shortage.

We wanted to have Sarah on to share her experience in building a vertical AI tool - specifically: where AI will have the biggest impact on construction and behind the scenes of how they’ve built tools like TrunkText and TrunkScheduler to massively reduce the amount of rework in construction.

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

Snowflake sits in a unique position in the AI landscape: They enable fast, secure, and scalable proprietary data access for thousands of customers, many of whom are building AI tools. They also maintain their own suite of AI products, increasing the utility of their platform and empowering customers who may not have the resources to build their own.

That’s why it was so fascinating to speak with Baris Gultekin, Snowflake’s Head of AI, on our latest Unsupervised Learning. Baris has helped Snowflake launch several key products, including Cortex, AI Data Cloud, and even Snowflake’s own LLM, called Arctic. Baris was a founder himself — he joined Snowflake through an acquisition of his blockchain API startup, nxyz. He has a unique window into the future of AI via his role building key infrastructure. It was really fun to dive deep into this side of the AI ecosystem with Baris.

[0:00] Intro

[0:33] Snowflake's AI Product Portfolio

[0:52] Building Arctic LLM: Challenges and Innovations

[2:57] Use Cases and Applications of Arctic LLM

[3:10] Cortex: Snowflake's Managed Service for LLMs

[4:26] Tackling BI Challenges with Cortex Analyst

[8:46] Data Extraction and Analysis with AI

[10:15] Snowflake's AI Strategy and Future Directions

[13:12] Governance and Security in AI Deployments

[22:25] Supporting and Integrating New AI Models

[24:02] Discussing the 405B AI Model

[25:02] Enterprise Use Cases and Cost Considerations

[26:09] Future of Arctic LM and Security Concerns

[26:59] Open Source Models and Guardrails

[30:21] Internal Use of LLMs at Snowflake

[31:32] Comparing Snowflake and Databricks AI Strategies

[33:24] Opportunities for AI Startups

[34:14] Exciting AI Developments and Future Prospects

[40:34] Over-hyped/Under-hyped

[45:58] Closing Thoughts and Resources

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

We’re excited to bring you Connor Zwick, CEO and cofounder of Speak, on the podcast this week! Speak helps people learning a language have conversations with an AI speaking partner, which is critical to gaining fluency. It’s backed by OpenAI and most recently raised at a $500M valuation. Since launching in its inaugural market of South Korea in 2019, Speak has grown to over 10 million users and now has customers in more than 40 countries. 

We learned so much about how language works and how Connor has built this startup. Some of our favorite bits:

[0:00] Intro 

[0:38] Connor's Entrepreneurial Journey 

[3:40] Diving into AI and Language Learning 

[6:07] The Evolution of Speak 

[9:30] Building Specialized Models and Overcoming Challenges 

[18:17] User Experience and Interface Design 

[24:18] Future of AI in Language Learning 

[35:38] Comparing Duolingo and Speak 

[38:00] Challenges in Translation and Human Connection 

[41:18] Specialized AI Models and Their Impact 

[47:41] Opportunities in Professional and Personal Learning 

[53:38] The Evolution of Education with AI 

[59:31] Final Thoughts and Reflections

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

It was very special to have Github CEO Thomas Dhomke on the pod for many reasons, not the least of which is that my partner Erica Brescia was COO at Gitlab just before joining Redpoint! Thomas has been at Github for almost 6 years, and has been CEO for almost 3 of those years. He has a pulse on what engineers around the world are looking for from the world’s leading developer platform, and incredible vision and empathy in making Github delivers it.

[0:00] Intro

[1:08] The Magic of GitHub Copilot 

[2:07] AI's Impact on Software Development 

[2:49] Global Adoption and Democratization of AI 

[4:20] Keeping Developers in the Creative Flow 

[6:59] Future of Software Development with AI 

[9:54] Challenges and Opportunities in AI-Powered Coding 

[11:31] The Role of Agents in Copilot's Strategy 

[17:03] AI's Influence on Open Source Ecosystem 

[24:08] Fine-Tuning and Customization of Copilot 

[28:22] The Rapid Evolution of Copilot 

[30:26] Future Innovations and Accelerating Pace of AI 

[33:09] The Future of AI in Software Development 

[33:44] AI's Impact on Different Tech Stacks 

[34:21] The Evolution of Media Consumption 

[35:15] The Competitive Landscape of AI Models 

[37:02] The Infinite Game of Business 

[38:17] The Role of Multiple AI Models in Enterprises 

[43:01] Advice for Founders Competing with Incumbents 

[45:06] The Importance of Focus in Startups 

[45:50] Expanding the GitHub Ecosystem with Extensions 

[47:20] The Next Wave of Copilot 

[50:57] Quick Fire Questions 

[54:35] Erica and Jordan Debrief

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

Cris is the co-founder and CEO of Runway, which builds breathtakingly real video AI tools, including the incredible Gen-3 Alpha foundation model. Cris sits right at the intersection of technology and creativity, and in 2023 was named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI. Runway is reported to be in talks to raise capital at a $4 Billion valuation.

(0:00) intro
(0:37) how early are we in the AI for creative tools space
(3:01) how Cris tests new models
(8:21) who uses Runway?
(10:37) how Runway teaches new users
(14:08) does UI matter?
(29:09) what are the next frontiers for video models?
(32:32) allocating resources for the research time
(39:15) how Cris thinks about pricing
(42:10) one video model to rule them all?
(44:24) incorporating IP
(52:45) over-hyped/under-hyped
(53:30) biggest surprises while building Runway
(55:12) advice for art students

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

According to Ramp’s (ramp.com) quarterly spend report, Fireflies was the 4th highest AI platform by spend. With over 300,000 customers worldwide and 16M users, Fireflies.ai is operating at some of the largest scale amongst AI companies today. 

This week on Unsupervised Learning we had Krish Ramineni, Co-founder & CEO of Fireflies on to talk about how he sees AI changing the way we work and conduct meetings, and share his biggest learnings around AI in building Fireflies.

(0:00) intro

(1:01) how will AI change meetings going forward

(4:03) Fireflies’ capabilities

(8:18) how new models change Fireflies

(11:19) shortcomings of current models

(16:36) Krish’s lack of belief in fine-tuning

(26:19) dealing with high inference costs

(34:00) taking on incumbents

(40:50) what metrics matter most to Fireflies

(46:37) how is Fireflies so fast?

(54:28) over-hyped/under-hyped

(55:11) biggest surprises in building Fireflies

(1:01:15) Jacob and Rashad debrief

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

Scott Belsky is the founder of Behance, a creative platform sold to Adobe in 2012. He’s since gone on to take on the role of Chief Product Officer at Adobe leading design for all products across Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and the Digital Experience business. This week on Unsupervised Learning Scott shares his thoughts on the future of creative tools with AI, a future where hyper-personalization wins and what humans will do when content is commoditized.

(0:00) intro

(2:27) Adobe’s new AI tools

(4:40) best uses of Adobe’s AI features

(7:22) educating users

(9:28) will the future have one model or thousands?

(11:01) Adobe building their own models

(15:12) goals for video generation

(19:40) hyper-personalized media

(22:11) AI music

(26:30) pricing for AI features

(28:02) biggest surprises in building AI features for Adobe

(30:58) most exciting AI startups (KoBold AI)

(32:13) where else would Scott build in the AI world

With your co-hosts: 

@jacobeffron 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health 

@patrickachase 

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn 

@ericabrescia 

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare) 

@jordan_segall 

- Partner at Redpoint

Last week, Suno announced $125M in funding, marking a significant milestone in their journey to reshape the music creation landscape. On this week's episode of Unsupervised Learning, we caught up with Suno's founder, Mikey Shulman, to dive into their approach to multiplayer music collaboration, how they got Suno to be so fast and the future of digital concerts (and workshopped new intro music for the pod 👀).

(0:00) intro
(0:31) Mikey’s favorite Suno songs
(5:17) who uses Suno?
(7:50) teaching people how to use Suno
(9:57) new ways to prompt models
(13:24) the social aspect of Suno
(17:45) how does Suno approach pricing?
(19:37) model eval
(23:27) how models can improve
(24:58) how is Suno so fast?
(26:50) handling usage spikes
(34:28) raising $125 million
(41:00) IP partnerships
(45:55) over-hyped/under-hyped
(46:56) biggest surprises in building Suno
(50:53) generating an Unsupervised Learning theme song
(53:26) Jacob and Rashad debrief

With your co-hosts:  

@jacobeffron  

- Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health  

@patrickachase  

- Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn  

@ericabrescia  

- Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq’d by VMWare)  

@jordan_segall  

- Partner at Redpoint