Eric Ma

Eric Ma, who leads data science research at Moderna, dives into the challenges of aligning retrieval with user intent in LLM-powered systems. He argues that most features fail not at the model level but with context. Eric reveals how a simple YAML-based approach can outperform complex pipelines and discusses the pitfalls of vague user queries. He also emphasizes the importance of evolving retrieval workflows to meet user needs and when it's sufficient to rely on intuition versus formal evaluation in refining these systems.