When to Build APIs vs Agents

Satish Bhambri is a Sr Data Scientist at Walmart Labs, working on large-scale recommendation systems and conversational AI, including RAG-powered GroceryBot agents, vector-search personalization, and transformer-based ad relevance models.

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// Abstract

The MLOps Community Podcast features Satish Bhambri, Senior Data Scientist with the Personalization and Ranking team at Walmart Labs and one of the emerging leaders in applied AI, in its newest episode. Satish has quietly built one of the most diverse and impactful AI portfolios in his field, spanning quantum computing, deep learning, astrophysics, computer vision, NLP, fraud detection, and enterprise-scale recommendation systems. Bhambri's nearly a decade of research across deep learning, astrophysics, quantum computing, NLP, and computer vision culminated in over 10 peer-reviewed publications released in 2025 through IEEE and Springer, and his early papers are indexed by NASA ADS and Harvard SAO, marking the start of his long-term research arc. He also holds a patent for an AI-powered smart grid optimization framework that integrates deep learning, real-time IoT sensing, and adaptive control algorithms to improve grid stability and efficiency, a demonstration of his original, high-impact contributions to intelligent infrastructure.

Bhambri leads personalization and ranking initiatives at Walmart Labs, where his AI systems serve more than (5% of the world’s population) 531 million users every month, roughly based on traffic data. His work with Transformers, Vision-Language Models, RAG and agentic-RAG systems, and GPU-accelerated pipelines has driven significant improvements in scale and performance, including increases in ad engagement, faster compute by and improved recommendation diversity.

Satish is a Distinguished Fellow & Assessor at the Soft Computing Research Society (SCRS), a reviewer for IEEE and Springer, and has served as a judge and program evaluator for several elite platforms. He was invited to the NeurIPS Program Judge Committee, the most prestigious AI conference in the world, and to evaluate innovations for DeepInvent AI, where he reviews high-impact research and commercialization efforts. He has also judged Y Combinator Startup Hackathons, evaluating pitches for an accelerator that produced companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, Instacart, and Reddit.

Before Walmart, Satish built supply-chain intelligence systems at BlueYonder that reduced ETA errors and saved retailers millions while also bringing containers to the production pipeline. Earlier, at ASU’s School of Earth & Space Exploration, he collaborated with astrophysicists on galaxy emission simulations, radio burst detection, and dark matter modeling, including work alongside Dr. Lawrence Krauss, Dr. Karen Olsen, and Dr. Adam Beardsley.

On the podcast, Bhambri discusses the evolution of deep learning architectures from RNNs and CNNs to transformers and agentic RAG systems, the design of production-grade AI architectures with examples, and his long-term vision for intelligent systems that bridge research and real-world impact. and the engineering principles behind building production-grade AI at a global scale.

// Related Links

Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2cpV5GUAAAAJ&hl=en

Patent: https://search.ipindia.gov.in/DesignApplicationStatus

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