Listen to Nick Hasty, Director of Product, Discovery & Machine Learning at Giphy, discuss the nature of creativity and its relationship to intelligence. Explore the transition from GIFs to stickers, the impact of L.L.M.s on shipping ML products, the decision-making process for using language models, combining intuition and data in AI product development, insights and challenges in helping startups and leading teams, and the paradoxes in the AI industry.
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Quick takeaways
Generative AI models challenge our understanding of creativity and its relationship to intelligence.
Startups should focus on niches, address unique needs, and prioritize user experiences to compete against big tech companies.
Successful product development requires a balance between intuition and data-driven approaches, staying true to the vision while iterating based on user feedback.
Deep dives
The Role of ML in Giphy's Growth
Giphy has been utilizing AI and machine learning in various aspects of its product, including search capabilities and content recommendations. They have been using embeddings and semantic search models to improve the search experience for users. The ML team at Giphy has also been experimenting with generative models to create new and interesting GIFs. While they don't have a fully polished product yet, they have been using open-source models like DALLE to generate GIFs internally.
Assisting Startups and Consulting Work
Nick Casey has been involved in helping startups and providing consulting services, leveraging his experience in building and scaling at Giphy. He has advised and assisted companies in various ways, from prototyping and developing products, to running engineering teams. Nick believes in alignment, respect, and fostering creative collaboration with engineers to produce the best results. He finds joy in helping others bring their ideas to life.
Challenges in Today's Startup Landscape
Nick highlights the evolving landscape of startup funding and the increasing focus on revenue and user traction. While AI capabilities have improved, getting investment for startups has become more challenging. Big tech companies dominate certain sectors, making it difficult for startups to compete directly. Nick advises startups to identify specific niches, build products that address unique needs, and focus on user experiences that big tech may not prioritize.
The Excitement of Building with AI
Despite the challenges, Nick finds the current environment exciting for building products with AI. He emphasizes the power of AI in expanding possibilities and delivering unique experiences. Although some aspects of AI are still being perfected, Nick sees great potential in generative models and their ability to create personalized and engaging content. He encourages engineers and entrepreneurs to continue exploring AI and building products that bring joy and value to users.
The Role of Intuition and Data in Product Development
Nick believes that successful product development involves a combination of intuition and data-driven approaches. Intuition stems from a deep understanding of the domain and user needs, whereas data provides insights and validation. Striking the right balance between trusting intuition and conducting user testing is crucial. Nick emphasizes the importance of staying true to a product vision while remaining open to feedback and iterating based on user responses.
Nick Hasty is the Director of Product, Discovery & Machine Learning at Giphy, an animated-gif search engine that allows users to search, share, and discover GIFs.
MLOps podcast #198, Inferring Creativity.
// Abstract
Generative AI models have captured our imaginations with their ability to produce new "creative" works such as visually striking images, poems, stories, etc, and their outputs often rival or excel what most humans can do. I believe that these developments should make us re-think the nature of creativity itself, and through identifying parallels and differences between generative models and the human brain we can establish a framework to talk about creativity, and its relationship to intelligence, that should hold up against future revelations in ML and neuroscience.
// Bio
Nick Hasty is a technologist & entrepreneur with a background in the creative arts. He was the founding engineer for GIPHY, where
he’s worked for the last 10 years and now leads ML/AI product initiatives. He also servers as a consultant helping early-stage startups scale their product and engineering teams. Before GIPHY, he worked with arts+cultural organizations such as Rhizome.org and the Alan Lomax archives. He got his graduate degree from NYU’s ITP program.
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// Related Links
Website: http://jnhasty.com/
Previous talks:
https://engineering.giphy.com/giphy2vec-natural-language-processing-giphy/
https://changelog.com/practicalai/38
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Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/
Connect with Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickhasty/
Timestamps:
[00:00] Nick's preferred coffee
[00:15] Takeaways
[06:58] Nick's background in ML
[12:15] Nick's GIPHY journey
[17:39] Nick's Success Factors
[20:50] The trajectory of AI
[28:09] Identifying as a product engineer
[32:42] Evaluate LLMs vs. Traditional Models
[35:03] AI Product: Intuition vs Data
[38:53] Giphy AI Product Development
[45:25] Startups and Venture Assistance
[52:30] AI Funding Landscape Shift
[54:00] Wrap up
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