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The Prompt Is Still a Punch Card - Ted Johnson, JoinIn AI

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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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The Prompt Is Still a Punch Card - Ted Johnson, JoinIn AI

The Prompt Is Still a Punch Card - Ted Johnson, JoinIn AI

Ted Johnson argues that current AI interfaces, particularly prompting, operate on an outdated "batch processing" protocol akin to punch cards. Despite advanced LLM capabilities, this interface design forces humans to adapt to machines, hindering natural interaction. He advocates for a shift towards human-compatible interfaces where AI actively participates in real-time conversation, leveraging its intelligence to remove user burdens and amplify human potential.

How Nuclear Will Unlock Energy Abundance with Valar Atomics Founder Isaiah Taylor

How Nuclear Will Unlock Energy Abundance with Valar Atomics Founder Isaiah Taylor

Valar Atomics founder Isaiah Taylor discusses how his company is rapidly advancing nuclear energy through hardware iteration, manufacturing, and a unique regulatory pathway. He explains their intrinsic safety philosophy, the strategic importance of vertical integration for speed and cost reduction, and their venture-backed approach to building gigasites. Taylor highlights how the demand for AI compute is a major driver for nuclear, showcasing their direct powering of an NVIDIA Blackwell chip, and casts a compelling vision for a future of "hyper-technoindustrialism" enabled by abundant, cheap atomic energy.

The Platform Engineer’s Handbook • Ajay Chankramath & Kaspar von Grünberg • GOTO 2026

The Platform Engineer’s Handbook • Ajay Chankramath & Kaspar von Grünberg • GOTO 2026

This conversation with Ajay Chankramath, author of 'The Platform Engineer’s Handbook,' delves into why practical, code-first guidance is essential for building Internal Developer Platforms. He argues that developer adoption failures stem from a "product discipline gap," not a technology one, emphasizing developer experience as a first-class outcome. The discussion covers the book's arc from foundations to enterprise-grade features and its focus on 100% open-source, vendor-agnostic tooling. Crucially, it highlights how agentic AI raises the stakes for platform engineering, requiring new IDP layers for agent context, memory, and guardrails, asserting that these must be built, owned, and operated internally for safe and productive AI adoption.

Technology

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Are Your Tests Slowing You Down? • Trisha Gee • GOTO 2025

Are Your Tests Slowing You Down? • Trisha Gee • GOTO 2025

Trisha Gee delivers a compelling talk on Developer Productivity Engineering (DPE) for testing, dissecting common pain points in writing, troubleshooting, and running tests. She advocates for strategic use of IDEs, advanced tooling like build caches and predictive test selection (leveraging ML), and a disciplined approach to test design to overcome these challenges, emphasizing that good tests serve as crucial living documentation.

The new post-quantum cryptography executive order. Plus: What is Q-Day, really?

The new post-quantum cryptography executive order. Plus: What is Q-Day, really?

This episode delves into Q-Day, the anticipated future when quantum computers can break public key cryptography, and the U.S. Executive Order accelerating the transition to post-quantum cryptography. Experts discuss why Q-Day is a gradual process rather than a sudden event, the critical importance of "crypto-agility" as a long-term strategy, and the necessity for organizations to begin immediate discovery and planning to secure data against "collect now, decrypt later" threats. The discussion also touches upon the broader, transformative benefits of quantum computing beyond just security.

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.

Recent Post

The ML Technique Every Founder Should Know

The ML Technique Every Founder Should Know

YC Visiting Partner Francois Chaubard and YC General Partner Ankit Gupta break down diffusion, the machine learning framework behind generative AI models like Sora and Midjourney. They discuss its core principles, trace its evolution from complex KL-divergence methods to the elegant simplicity of flow matching, and explore its vast applications beyond images, from protein folding to robotics, arguing it's a key component for future AI systems.

Effect Oriented Programming • Bill Frasure, Bruce Eckel, James Ward & Andrew Harmel-Law • GOTO 2026

Effect Oriented Programming • Bill Frasure, Bruce Eckel, James Ward & Andrew Harmel-Law • GOTO 2026

Authors Bill Frasure, Bruce Eckel, and James Ward discuss the core concepts of Effect-Oriented Programming. They explain how effects are composable operations that encapsulate side effects and defer execution, allowing developers to manage unpredictability with compiler-checked types. The conversation covers ZIO, the expansion of effect systems into languages like TypeScript and Kotlin, and their unique, constraint-driven writing process.

No Priors Live: Building Durable Software in the AI Age with MongoDB President & CEO CJ Desai

No Priors Live: Building Durable Software in the AI Age with MongoDB President & CEO CJ Desai

CJ Desai, CEO of MongoDB, discusses why platforms, not products, are the key to long-term success in the software industry, especially in the age of AI. He explores the shifting landscape of enterprise software, the reality of AI adoption in Fortune 500 companies, and what truly constitutes a "moat" when software can be generated on demand.

What is Agent Observability?

What is Agent Observability?

Lior Gavish, CTO and co-founder of Monte Carlo Data, discusses the critical transition from data observability to agent observability. He covers the widespread adoption of AI agents in data teams, the new challenges they introduce for monitoring, and why traditional tools fall short in providing the necessary insights into agent performance, security, and governance.

Context Engineering Our Way to Long-Horizon Agents: LangChain’s Harrison Chase

Context Engineering Our Way to Long-Horizon Agents: LangChain’s Harrison Chase

Harrison Chase, co-founder of LangChain, explains the evolution of AI agents from early, rigid scaffolding to modern, flexible "harnesses." He argues that "context engineering"—managing what an LLM sees—is the key to building effective long-horizon agents. Chase also explores how agent development differs from traditional software, highlighting the critical role of traces as the new source of truth and memory systems that enable agents to improve themselves over time.

SW Design, Architecture & Clarity at Scale • Sam Newman, Jacqui Read & Simon Rohrer • GOTO 2025

SW Design, Architecture & Clarity at Scale • Sam Newman, Jacqui Read & Simon Rohrer • GOTO 2025

A panel discussion with Sam Newman, Jacqui Read, and Simon Rohrer exploring the intersection of software design and architecture. The conversation delves into the critical role of communication, the practical application of Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), strategies for bridging the gap between architects and developers, and modern approaches to standardization through platform engineering and creating agile enterprise architectures.

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