Kush Varshney

Kaoutar El Maghraoui, a Principal Research Scientist, shares insights on model efficiency and why small models matter for enterprises. Kate Soule, Director of Technical Product Management for Granite, discusses the Granite 4.0 release and its roadmap, touching on governance certifications and future innovations. Kush Varshney, IBM Fellow in AI Governance, examines safety and transparency in AI models like Claude 4.5 and Sora 2, highlighting societal risks and the implications of AI-driven purchases. A lively discussion on the intersection of AI and cybersecurity wraps up the conversation.

Join Volkmar Uhlig, VP AI Infrastructure at IBM, Kaoutar El Maghraoui, Principal Research Scientist, Kush Varshney, IBM Fellow in AI Governance, and Suja Viswesan, VP of security products, as they delve into the new ChatGPT study mode intended to enhance education but raising questions about cognitive dependency. They explore the shift from user experience (UX) to agentic experience (AX) in AI design. Plus, Suja discusses alarming trends from the 2025 Cost of a Data Breach Report, shedding light on AI’s growing implications for cybersecurity.

In this discussion, Kate Soule, Director at Granite, and Kush Varshney, IBM Fellow in AI Governance, dive into the future of open-source AI models. They talk about the latest DeepSeek-V3-0324 release and its implications for model evaluation beyond traditional benchmarks. The conversation shifts to Google's innovative Gemini Canvas and 2.5 feature, enhancing real-time coding experiences. They also explore the rising trends in AI image generation with OpenAI's GPT-4o, analyzing its cultural impact and ethical considerations.

Shobhit Varshney, Head of Data and AI for the Americas, Chris Hay, CTO of Customer Transformation, and Kush Varshney, an IBM fellow on AI governance, come together for a thrilling discussion. They dive into the buzz from LlamaCon and the implications of new AI models like Qwen3 and the rumored DeepSeek-R2. The trio also examines J.P. Morgan's urgent open letter on AI security, raising concerns about the balance between innovation and safety. Join them as they reflect on the past year’s AI journey and key moments from their debut conversation!

Gabe Goodhart, Chief Architect at AI Open Innovation, Kush Varshney, an IBM Fellow for AI Governance, and Marina Danilevsky, Senior Research Scientist, dive into Anthropic’s Project Vend, where an AI tries to manage an office fridge. They discuss the future of AI in business and whether massive data centers are a thing of the past. The conversation shifts to the evolving landscape of computer science education, stressing the blend of technical and soft skills, and raises concerns over the ethical implications of AI in paper reviews.