Reqless: Software In The Age Of AI podcast

#Tech #Entrepreneur #Business #News #Tech News #Aboards #Rich Paul

1:14:43

Artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented pace—what does that mean for the future of technology, venture capital, business, and even our understanding of ourselves? Award-winning journalist and writer Anil Ananthaswamy joins us for our latest episode to discuss his latest book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI . Anil helps us explore the journey and many breakthroughs that have propelled machine learning from simple perceptrons to the sophisticated algorithms shaping today’s AI revolution, powering GPT and other models. The discussion aims to demystify some of the underlying math that powers modern machine learning to help everyone grasp this technology impacting our lives, even if your last math class was in high school. Anil walks us through the power of scaling laws, the shift from training to inference optimization, and the debate among AI’s pioneers about the road to AGI—should we be concerned, or are we still missing key pieces of the puzzle? The conversation also delves into AI’s philosophical implications—could understanding how machines learn help us better understand ourselves? And what challenges remain before AI systems can truly operate with agency? If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits. Links: Read Why Machines Learn, Anil’s latest book on the math behind AI https://www.amazon.com/Why-Machines-Learn-Elegant-Behind/dp/0593185749 Learn more about Anil Ananthaswamy’s work and writing https://anilananthaswamy.com/ Watch Anil Ananthaswamy’s TED Talk on AI and intelligence https://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_ananthaswamy Discover the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship that shaped Anil’s AI research https://ksj.mit.edu/ Understand the Perceptron, the foundation of neural networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron Read about the Perceptron Convergence Theorem and its significance https://www.nature.com/articles/323533a0…

Reqless: Software in the Age of AI explicit

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AI is changing how we build software—for the better, for the worse, and in ways to be determined. In this podcast, two surprisingly entertaining software veterans go piece by piece, exploring how change is coming: for industries, for individuals, and always with a focus on how to put things into perspective, then put them into action to move your career along. Say goodbye to the endless requirements phase, say hello to building software as-needed—it’s time to get REQLESS.

147 एपिसोडस

Reqless: Software in the Age of AI explicit

updated 6 days ago

साझा करें

शृंखला होम•Feed

147 एपिसोडस

#Tech #Entrepreneur #Business #News #Tech News #Aboards #Rich Paul

सभी एपिसोड

1
AI Regulation (and Disregulation) 34:22

6 days ago34:22

34:22

Is it too late to regulate AI? On this week’s Reqless, Paul and Rich assess what “regulating AI” could even mean, from controlling training data sources to moderating its ability to spread information—and disinformation. They then zero in on the question in the context of the new American administration, and Paul muses about just how long he’d like to hold his breath underwater given the current state of the news. (Five minutes? Ten?)…

1
Clay Shirky: AI for Higher Education 37:21

13 days ago37:21

37:21

How is generative AI transforming the university? On this week’s Reqless, Paul and Rich sit down with someone on the front lines of AI in higher ed: Clay Shirky, a longtime educator and technologist who’s currently the Vice Provost of Educational Technologies at New York University. Clay outlines how the university’s approach to AI has shifted from semester to semester over the past few years, and then digs into the reasons why widespread student adoption of AI is worrying the faculty—and the students themselves.…

1
Waiting for the DOGE Barbarians 31:50

20 days ago31:50

31:50

Government by Grok? On this week’s Reqless, Paul opens with a poetry reading (stay with us) and then he and Rich discuss the poem’s relationship to Elon Musk’s DOGE effort, currently ransacking the U.S. Treasury. The DOGE strategy seems to be “destroy without oversight, replace with AI,” which leads to two questions: Could this work? (No.) And if you are going to take a sledgehammer to bureaucracy, is there an ethical way to swing the hammer? (Eh…)…

1
AI as an Accelerant for Good 35:16

27 days ago35:16

35:16

How is AI transforming the social sector? Flying solo in the Reqless hosting chair, Paul sits down with Perry Hewitt, Chief Marketing and Product Officer for Data.org, to talk about how AI tools are enhancing the projects they support. Topics discussed include what data collection can entail in the world of global nonprofits, the impact of constraints on technological problem solving, and real examples of how AI is being used right now, from healthcare settings in India to the wildfires in Los Angeles.…

1
Don’t Freak About DeepSeek 25:44

5 weeks ago25:44

25:44

As Chinese LLM company DeepSeek makes headlines for wreaking havoc on the stock prices of the American tech sector, Paul and Rich sit down and answer the important questions: What is DeepSeek? Why does Paul feel like it’s Christmas? What does this mean for both AI and the broader industry? What does Rich think Microsoft should do with Three Mile Island now?…

1
Brains Are Better Than Butlers 25:57

6 weeks ago25:57

25:57

AI tools are often positioned as agents, assistants, or butlers—but their potential is so much greater than that. On this week’s Reqless, Rich explains to Paul why the “agent” model gets AI all wrong. Plus: A discussion about CTOs, and the spectrum from those who are resisting the change that’s coming to those who are embracing it.…

1
Not Quite Finishing Apps 22:16

7 weeks ago22:16

22:16

Can you actually build an app with AI right now? Fresh off a holiday break where he attempted to do just that (rather than talking to his family), Paul tells Rich what worked and what didn’t work in his experimentation: Where AI failed, where Paul got impatient, and how that mapped onto human programmers’ strengths and weaknesses. Building an entire app with AI might not be quite there yet—but is it close?…

1
We Need More Software 21:02

8 weeks ago21:02

21:02

Does the world actually need more software? In the first Reqless of 2025, Paul and Rich skip the “AI predictions for the coming year” and instead look at the tech landscape for smaller organizations. Do they really have the tools they need to get their work done? Featuring extensive corporate roleplay—including Paul’s very believable turn as a big-firm consultant—and a meditation on New York City’s venerable commercial waste-removal industry.…

1
A Year of Chaos Concludes 28:27

11 weeks ago28:27

28:27

Farewell 2024—a boring year in which nothing really happened! On this week’s Reqless, Paul and Rich reflect on our current moment of widespread instability, from the cultural to the political to the technological, and discuss some of the ways they try to manage it (waffles!) (also building software). And because this is an AI podcast, they look back over a year of rapid change in the space, and make predictions for what’s to come in 2025.…

1
Employees Don’t Care About AI 24:11

12 weeks ago24:11

24:11

Executives are all-in on AI, but many workers are not: A recent survey of white-collar employees conducted by Slack shows workplace AI adoption has slowed, even stalled, in recent months. On this week’s Reqless, Paul and Rich explore the various reasons Slack’s respondents gave for their reticence and what they suggest about the current moment in tech. Is the issue the tools? Or is it how they’re being asked to use them—or if they’re being asked to use them at all.…

1
AI Fires Our CEO, Rich 21:09

13 weeks ago21:09

21:09

This week the robots bring the pink slip…for Aboard’s CEO, Rich Ziade! On the latest episode of Reqless, Paul observes that much of Rich’s job at their old agency—listening to the client, reframing their needs, outlining a solution and a path to build it—could now be done, at least in part, by AI. What value can Rich—and other skilled software “translators”—bring to a project in a world of AI-accelerated development?…

1
Career Advice for a UX Researcher 20:25

14 weeks ago20:25

20:25

On this week’s Reqless, Paul and Rich receive a letter from a different Rich—a UX researcher interested in helping NGOs make the most of new AI tech. What should a UX researcher learn right now so they’re ready for what’s next? They discuss the things AI is particularly good at right now (translating artifacts!), and give concrete suggestions for things a UX researcher—or any technologist—can do to understand the breadth and scope of these tools.…

1
Things Keep Getting Faster 22:13

15 weeks ago22:13

22:13

AI is on the verge of utterly transforming the software industry, but how quickly will that change come? While Paul has been betting on a shorter timeline, Rich had thought the pace of institutional change would slow things down significantly. But on this week’s Reqless, Rich explains why his thinking has shifted—and how he’s coming around to Paul’s speedier timeline.…

1
What’s the Opposite of AI Slop? 29:33

16 weeks ago29:33

29:33

In the wake of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Paul and Rich look towards the future with an AI lens—especially with the incoming Trump administration unlikely to put any regulatory guardrails on this rapidly evolving technology. What can AI do for people in our deeply fractured state? Are we doomed to poison the information environment forever, or could we use it to start building things that help people make sense of the world?…

1
Can AI Save NGOs Tons of Money? 18:33

17 weeks ago18:33