The Gradient: Perspectives on AI

Andrew Lee: How AI will Shape the Future of Email

Apr 4, 2024

Andrew Lee, Co-founder and CEO of Shortwave, discusses leveraging AI for email user experience. Topics include AI system as a black box, Google's lack of email innovation, Shortwave's product vision, AI features for email, and strategies for fast product iteration and deployment.

01:03:40

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Episode guests

Andrew Lee

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Shortwave aims to revolutionize email with AI-driven innovations for a personalized experience.

Lee's entrepreneurial journey emphasizes customer-centric product development and iterative scaling based on feedback.

Innovations in Shortwave focus on enhancing email functionalities with AI, addressing privacy concerns and streamlining user interaction.

The podcast discusses the core product features of Shortwave's AI assistant, emphasizing the importance of leveraging data sources for accurate responses.

Deep dives

Pioneering Email Client with AI Integration

The podcast episode discusses the stagnation in email product experiences and the introduction of AI-driven innovations by Andrew Lee to revolutionize email communication. Lee's company, Shortwave, aims to enhance the email client experience by leveraging AI technology. The implementation involves using LLMs to process email content, leading to a more thoughtful and personalized communication platform.

Introduction

2min

Evolution of Firebase: From Chat Product to API Service

6min

Balancing Theory and Practicality in AI System Design

4min

Evolution of Email Innovation and AI Assistants

32min

Optimizing AI Systems for Efficient Processing

13min

Strategies for Fast Product Iteration and Deployment

3min

Exciting Advancements in AI Enhancements and Multimodal Interactions

3min

In episode 118 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Andrew Lee.

Andrew is co-founder and CEO of Shortwave, a company dedicated to building a better product experience for email, particularly by leveraging AI. He previously co-founded and was CTO at Firebase.

Have suggestions for future podcast guests (or other feedback)? Let us know here or reach Daniel at editor@thegradient.pub

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Outline:

* (00:00) Intro

* (01:43) Andrew’s previous work, Firebase

* (04:48) Benefits of lacking experience in building Firebase

* (08:55) On “abstract reasoning” vs empirical capabilities

* (10:30) Shortwave’s AI system as a black box

* (11:55) Motivations for Shortwave

* (17:10) Why is Google not innovating on email?

* (21:53) Shortwave’s overarching product vision and pivots

* (27:40) Shortwave AI features

* (33:20) AI features for email and security concerns

* (35:45) Shortwave’s AI Email Assistant + architecture

* (43:40) Issues with chaining LLM calls together

* (45:25) Understanding implicit context in utterances, modularization without loss of context

* (48:56) Performance for AI assistant, batching and pipelining

* (55:10) Prompt length

* (57:00) On shipping fast

* (1:00:15) AI improvements that Andrew is following

* (1:03:10) Outro

Links:

* Andrew’s blog and Twitter

* Shortwave

* Introducing Ghostwriter

* Everything we shipped for AI Launch Week

* A deep dive into the world’s smartest email AI

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The Gradient: Perspectives on AI

Andrew Lee: How AI will Shape the Future of Email

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

Pioneering Email Client with AI Integration

From Failed Ventures to Firebase Success

Challenges and Innovations in Scaling Systems

Decentralization and Email Enhancements

Empowering Email Communication through AI Integration

Email Product Features and Data Sources

Iterative Development and Optimizations

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts