An expert overview of post-training techniques for language models, covering the entire workflow from data generation and curation to advanced algorithms like Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), Direct Preference Optimization (DPO), and Reinforcement Learning (RL), along with practical advice on evaluation and iteration.
This talk introduces Anaximander, a system designed to bridge the gap between traditional, GUI-driven Geographic Information System (GIS) workflows and modern, code-heavy machine learning practices. Anaximander integrates geospatial foundation models directly into QGIS, allowing experts to interactively orchestrate, run, and evaluate models for tasks like semantic segmentation and object detection on satellite imagery.
At Applied Compute, efficient Reinforcement Learning is critical for delivering business value. This talk explores the transition from inefficient synchronous RL to a high-throughput asynchronous 'Pipeline RL' system. The core challenge is managing 'staleness'—a side effect of in-flight weight updates that can destabilize training. The speakers detail their first-principles systems model, based on the Roofline model, used to simulate and find the optimal allocation of GPU resources between sampling and training, balancing throughput with algorithmic stability and achieving significant speedups.
Thomas Wolf, co-founder of Hugging Face, discusses his journey from physics to AI, the power of open-source models to accelerate innovation, the practical challenges of productionalizing AI demos, and why the biggest opportunities for founders now lie in the application layer on top of powerful foundation models.
Daren Fields, Co-Founder & CEO of Virtual Select, discusses the future of manufacturing, emphasizing the role of AI as a tool for human augmentation, not replacement. He explores how to modernize manufacturing by combining a carbon-based workforce with silicon-based systems to prevent defects, reduce costs, and de-risk execution.
The panel discusses Anthropic's Claude Cowork and the challenge of user trust in AI agents for everyday tasks. They then analyze the Apple-Google partnership to integrate Gemini into Siri, debating its implications for edge AI, privacy, and hardware limitations. Finally, they explore Linus Torvalds' use of AI for "vibe coding," considering its impact on hobbyist programming and entrepreneurship versus the current limitations in producing production-ready software.
Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, shares his unconventional journey and leadership philosophy. He provides a masterclass in building a multi-platform company through strategic M&A, explains why founders should sometimes ignore customers, and reveals how to lead with conviction while managing imposter syndrome.
Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack and Flickr, shares the product frameworks and leadership principles that guided his success. He delves into concepts like "utility curves" for feature investment, the "owner's delusion" in product design, and why focusing on "comprehension" is often more important than reducing friction. He also introduces powerful mental models for organizational effectiveness, such as combating "hyper-realistic work-like activities" and applying Parkinson's Law to team growth.
Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi discusses the operational playbook for reinventing a 40-year-old company, from its slow transition to SaaS to its early adoption of AI. He shares insights on winning the SMB market by treating small businesses like consumers, building effective channel partnerships, and developing a platform strategy. Goodarzi also details his leadership philosophy, emphasizing that grit and curiosity are more critical than raw talent.
Robert from Emergent Methods discusses how grounded synthetic news data can solve the publisher revenue crisis in the AI era. He details the process of 'Context Engineering' news into token-optimized, objective data for high-stakes AI agent tasks, covering their open-source models for entity extraction and bias mitigation, and the on-premise infrastructure that protects publisher content.
Ryan Fox-Tyler from Hypermode explains their philosophy of empowering AI agents to design and deploy other agents. He introduces Concierge, an agent that builds other agents, and details the underlying actor-based runtime built for scalability, fault tolerance, and efficient, event-driven execution of thousands of parallel agent instances.
Simba Khadder explains that the primary bottleneck for LLM agents is not intelligence, but access to structured data. He introduces EnrichMCP, an open-source framework that creates a semantic layer over data models, enabling agents to discover, reason about, and query data sources like SQL databases effectively, moving beyond the limitations of RAG and direct API conversions.
Marit van Dijk and Hannes Lowette discuss why reading code is a critical, yet underdeveloped, skill for software developers. They explore research-backed strategies like structured code reading clubs, leveraging modern IDEs and AI assistants to comprehend complex codebases, and the importance of empathy in code reviews. The conversation emphasizes using tests as documentation and writing clear commit messages to improve collaboration and long-term maintainability.
Julien Launay, CEO of Adaptive ML, discusses the evolution of Large Language Model (LLM) training, detailing the critical shift from pre-training to post-training with Reinforcement Learning (RL). He explains the nuances of RL feedback mechanisms (RLHF, RLEF, RLAIF), the role of synthetic data, and how his company provides the "RLOps" tooling to make these powerful techniques accessible to enterprises. The conversation also explores the future of AI, including scaling beyond data limitations and the path to a "spiky" AGI.
Dara Ladjevardian, founder of Delphi, discusses creating "digital minds" using an adaptive temporal knowledge graph. Inspired by Ray Kurzweil's theory of the mind, this technology aims to scale human thought and expertise, transforming content consumption from static feeds into interactive, conversational media while emphasizing the premium value of authentic human connection.
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