Alex Strick van Linschoten

Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Machine Learning Engineer at ZenML with a PhD in History, delves into practical applications of large language models (LLMs). He shares insights from his comprehensive database on LLM use cases, emphasizing both common and innovative applications. The discussion covers the technical challenges of deploying LLMs, the significance of engineering practices, and the evolution of support bots using user behavior insights. Alex also calls for community contributions to enhance collective knowledge in this rapidly changing field.

Hugo chats with Alex Strick van Linschoten, a Machine Learning Engineer at ZenML, who has documented over 400 real-world LLM deployments. They discuss the challenges in deploying AI agents, like hallucinations and cascading failures. Alex reveals practical lessons from corporate giants like Anthropic and Klarna, focusing on structured workflows that enhance reliability. He highlights the evolution of LLM capabilities and shares case studies that underscore the importance of prompt engineering and effective error handling in building robust AI systems.

In this insightful discussion, Anne Helen Peterson, a culture writer known for her focus on burnout, joins Ideas producer Nahid Mustafa, researcher Alex Strick-Van Linschoten, journalist Bridget Schulte, and philosopher Alex Sager. They tackle the societal constraints that hinder leisure time, drawing contrasts between childhood freedom and adult responsibilities. The conversation highlights the burden of productivity, the unique struggles of working mothers, and the importance of redefining leisure as an essential aspect of well-being. It's a call to reclaim time for personal fulfillment.