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Session on Reasoning

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Machine Learning

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Frontier results, on device - RL Nabors, Arize

Frontier results, on device - RL Nabors, Arize

RL Nabors discusses the significant costs associated with using frontier AI models, covering security, latency, and financial implications. She introduces a framework for right-sizing AI solutions by leveraging smaller, task-specific models and Small Language Models (SLMs). The framework details how to prove task feasibility, establish success criteria with golden datasets, conduct capability evaluations (using tools like Phoenix), and select the most appropriate "Small And Good Enough" (SAGE) model. Nabors further demonstrates how prompt engineering, particularly few-shot prompting, and post-processing can close performance gaps with larger models, while advocating for continuous regression evaluations to maintain performance integrity. The overarching message is to "prototype big, deploy small" to optimize AI deployments.

Research to Reality: Bringing Frontier ML Research to Production - Vaidas Razgaitis, Higharc

Research to Reality: Bringing Frontier ML Research to Production - Vaidas Razgaitis, Higharc

Vaidas Razgaitis, Senior Research Engineer at Higharc, shares three tactical tips to accelerate the transition of novel AI/ML research into production-ready features. He emphasizes addressing the critical handoff challenge between ML researchers and software engineers through structured documentation (Research Prototype Taxonomy Document), a well-organized monorepo utilizing decoupled microservices, and a systematic approach to code decomposition and PR review. These strategies aim to improve legibility, maintainability, and delivery speed for ML-driven products.

Uncertainty-Guided Data Augmentation for Engineers | Deep Dive - Yongmin Kwon

Uncertainty-Guided Data Augmentation for Engineers | Deep Dive - Yongmin Kwon

This session details a data-efficient method for training engineering surrogate models by using uncertainty quantification (UQ) to guide geometric data augmentation. Instead of random deformations, the approach lets the deep ensemble model identify its own knowledge gaps (epistemic uncertainty), then uses Free-Form Deformation (FFD) to generate new shapes specifically in those uncertain regions. This ensures every expensive simulation run yields maximally informative data, significantly improving model accuracy for a fixed computational budget across domains like structural mechanics and aerodynamics.

Artificial Intelligence

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Session on Reasoning

Session on Reasoning

This session features two talks on optimizing and verifying AI reasoning. Hongxiang Fan discusses cross-stack co-design for efficient AI, focusing on Test-Time Scaling (TTS) challenges, optimal verification granularity, and system-level optimizations for edge deployments. Nagarajan Natarajan introduces 'Advancing Verified Reasoning' with the InterVent platform, aiming to ensure AI agents comply with complex policies through formal verification, dynamic steering, and leveraging verification signals for training. Both emphasize addressing the computational and reliability costs of advanced AI.

Multimodal & Embodied Intelligence (Pt 1), Panel on Multimodal AI: Progress, Pitfalls, Possibilities

Multimodal & Embodied Intelligence (Pt 1), Panel on Multimodal AI: Progress, Pitfalls, Possibilities

This session explored Multimodal and Embodied Intelligence, featuring talks on hybrid AI in robotics (classical vs. end-to-end), AI's role in healthcare (focusing on NCDs, deployment, and uncertainty modeling), and fundamental perception challenges in multimodal reasoning (using educational video QA and visual puzzles). A panel discussed the impact of foundation models, the blurred lines between AGI and human-like AI, critical deployment pitfalls (human factors, efficiency, architectural limits), and future directions, emphasizing task-specific models and the redefinition of 'foundation models.'

Grant Sanderson (@3blue1brown) – AI and the future of math

Grant Sanderson (@3blue1brown) – AI and the future of math

Grant Sanderson and Dwarkesh Patel discuss AI's rapid but uneven progress in mathematics, exploring whether AI can achieve true conceptual breakthroughs, the challenge of measuring creativity, and the long-term implications for human understanding and the future roles of mathematicians. They delve into the unique 'grindability' of math for AI training, the potential of formalization, and why AI currently struggles with 'theory of mind' in writing, offering advice for students navigating an AI-transformed world.

Technology

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Plenary Talk 3​: Challenges and research opportunities for global hyperscale services

Plenary Talk 3​: Challenges and research opportunities for global hyperscale services

Jim Kleewein's talk outlines the immense challenges and critical research opportunities in building and operating global hyperscale services like Microsoft 365 and Azure. He emphasizes that at this scale, traditional approaches fail, necessitating a "new golden age of applied research" across areas like continuous availability, data management, security, and sustainability. Kleewein also discusses AI's powerful but limited role, stressing the ongoing need for human expertise, and highlights the ethical imperative to prevent failures that can have life-or-death consequences.

Platforms: Build Abstractions, not Illusions • Gregor Hohpe • GOTO 2025

Platforms: Build Abstractions, not Illusions • Gregor Hohpe • GOTO 2025

Gregor Hohpe explains the critical role of platforms in managing the growing cognitive load on developers due to complex distributed systems. He contrasts platforms, driven by "economies of speed" and fostering innovation through diversity, with traditional IT services and oversimplified abstractions that create dangerous illusions. Hohpe emphasizes building platforms that provide intuitive, domain-specific abstractions to solve real business problems, rather than just repackaging existing cloud services.

Full Stack Greenfield Projects : Are they still relevant?

Full Stack Greenfield Projects : Are they still relevant?

Bharat Goenka, co-founder of Tally, discusses the company's unconventional approach to software development through "Full Stack Greenfield" projects. He explains why building every component from scratch, despite being a high-risk strategy, has been crucial for Tally's success in serving the SMB market, fostering extreme customer loyalty, and aspiring to connect 200 million businesses. The talk delves into the historical context, the philosophy of questioning and choosing constraints, and the distinction between product and custom engineering.

Recent Post

AI Models as a Service: Powering Agentic AI, Privacy, & RAG

AI Models as a Service: Powering Agentic AI, Privacy, & RAG

Cedric Clyburn explains the Models-as-a-Service (MaaS) pattern, detailing how organizations can build their own private AI infrastructure to deploy models like LLMs securely and at scale. He covers the benefits over public APIs, including cost control, data sovereignty, and lifecycle management, and outlines a technical architecture using Kubernetes, API gateways, and observability tools.

Why Every Satellite Needs Earth | Northwood CEO on a16z

Why Every Satellite Needs Earth | Northwood CEO on a16z

Bridgit Mendler, CEO of Northwood, details the critical bottleneck in the space economy: ground infrastructure. She explains how Northwood's vertically integrated approach is reducing deployment times from years to months, aiming to create a foundational data layer for space, much like cloud computing did for the internet.

Performance Optimization and Software/Hardware Co-design across PyTorch, CUDA, and NVIDIA GPUs

Performance Optimization and Software/Hardware Co-design across PyTorch, CUDA, and NVIDIA GPUs

Chris Fregly discusses his new book, "AI Systems Performance Engineering", covering the co-design and optimization of hardware, software, and algorithms across PyTorch, CUDA, and NVIDIA GPUs. The talk explores GPU architecture, system-level reliability challenges, and the use of modern coding agents for low-level kernel optimization.

Will machines ever be intelligent?

Will machines ever be intelligent?

Doug Burger, Nicolò Fusi, and Subutai Ahmad explore the intelligence of AI, contrasting transformer-based LLMs with the human brain's distributed, continuously learning architecture. They delve into differences in efficiency, representation, and sensory-motor grounding, debating what intelligence truly means and how future AI might bridge the gap.

The Q/A Layer for the AI Coding Era

The Q/A Layer for the AI Coding Era

Weiwei Wu and Jeff An, co-founders of Momentic, discuss their AI-powered testing platform that acts as a verification layer for software. They explore how the rise of AI-generated code makes robust testing more critical than ever and share their vision for a future of "truth-driven development" where engineers write specs, not code.

Kubernetes at the Edge • Charles Humble & Hannah Foxwell • GOTO 2026

Kubernetes at the Edge • Charles Humble & Hannah Foxwell • GOTO 2026

Charles Humble discusses his e-book "Kubernetes at the Edge," exploring the definition of edge computing, its practical applications in industries like agriculture and healthcare, vendor selection strategies, and the critical importance of Day-2 operations. The conversation also delves into how edge computing promotes sustainability and concludes with a thoughtful examination of the tech industry's ethical responsibilities in the age of generative AI.

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