835: AI Systems as Productivity Engines, with You.com’s Bryan McCann

AI systems are evolving rapidly, and in this episode, Bryan McCann, CTO of You.com, explains You.com’s unique approach to search, the impact of AI-driven research, and the game-changing potential of AI agents. With a background in natural language processing and philosophy, Bryan joins Jon Krohn to share a fresh perspective on where AI is headed and what it means for the future of work and scientific discovery.

Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information.

In this episode you will learn:

• (03:55) How You.com’s “do engine” approach connects users to multiple language models
• (11:34) How AI systems at You.com generate optimized, intent-driven queries for better results
• (28:39) You.com’s focus on automated workflows sets it apart from other platforms
• (31:31) AI agents in You.com, with Bryan predicting they’ll outnumber people by 2025
• (41:49) Bryan’s path to unified AI models that can perform diverse tasks
• (50:40) Early experiments with alignment in AI that influenced modern transformers
• (01:04:45) Bryan’s research on controllable text generation
• (01:11:27) Language models applied to protein generation, linking text and biology sequences

Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/835