What's New In Data Is Text-to-SQL Ready for Prime Time? Insights from Ethan Ding, CEO of TextQL
Sep 27, 2024
Ethan Ding, co-founder and CEO of TextQL, dives into the revolutionary text-to-SQL technology transforming data analysis. He shares how natural language queries empower users, eliminating the need for coding skills. The conversation highlights the challenges of data management and the crucial role of high-quality data for decision-making. Ethan draws interesting parallels between AI in self-driving cars and data querying, showcasing the future of self-service analytics and how TextQL seamlessly integrates with existing BI tools to boost productivity.
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Ethan's Startup Origin Story
- Ethan Ding shared his entrepreneurial journey of tackling a 35-year unsolved text-to-SQL problem starting after being fired from a startup and nearly deported.
- He and his co-founder chose a high-risk problem with only a small chance of success but high expected value.
What Text-to-SQL Really Means
- Text-to-SQL means users query data using natural language instead of code like SQL.
- The ultimate goal is effortless data exploration where vague queries like "how we make more money" yield meaningful insights.
Limits of Current Text-to-SQL
- Despite hype, "chatGPT for internal data" isn't fully here; most companies still rely on data teams for requests.
- Pure next token prediction by language models for text-to-SQL has hit a local optimum, requiring a new approach for real reliability and scale.