In this episode, we had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Carmine Paolino — an AI innovator, Ruby enthusiast, and all-around tech wizard. From his early days automating PC games at age five to building cutting-edge AI tools in Berlin, Carmine’s journey is as inspiring as it is impressive.
We dove deep into his latest creation: RubyLLM, a Ruby gem that simplifies working with large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini. Think of it as an intuitive, plug-and-play toolkit that lets Ruby developers tap into powerful AI features — chat, image generation, embedding, tools, and even multi-model support — with just a few lines of code. And yes, it’s as awesome as it sounds.
Key Takeaways:
- RubyLLM is built for simplicity and power. Carmine wanted a tool that “just works” — one unified interface for chatting, streaming, tool use, image generation, and more. It abstracts away the API mess and keeps things Ruby-friendly.
- Tooling support is next-level. RubyLLM allows for agentic AI by letting devs define tools (like checking the weather or sending a calendar invite). The gem handles when and how to use them — magic!
- Support for multiple models and providers. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google — RubyLLM makes it easy to switch between them seamlessly, even mid-conversation. Carmine also teased a future integration with a smarter model registry via an AI-powered API called Parsera.
- Streaming and performance? Covered. Carmine shares clever architecture tricks using Turbo Streams and async Ruby for blazing-fast, lightweight responses — even when handling many concurrent users.
- Real-world use case: ChatWithWork. Carmine’s app lets users “chat” with their docs from Google Drive, Notion, and Slack. RubyLLM is the backbone, and it’s got real startup traction. (Oh, and he DJed the night it went viral on Hacker News.)
- Embeddings and image generation are just as easy. Need vector search or auto-generated podcast art? Just call .embed or .paint — seriously, that’s it.
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