Lubna Ben-Alau, an AI researcher at Hugging Face, dives into the dynamic world of synthetic data and small language models. She discusses how 2024 saw a remarkable surge in synthetic data applications, with notable contributions like Apple's Rephrasing the Web and Hugging Face's Cosmopedia. Lubna emphasizes the transformative impact of synthetic data on model performance and diversity. The conversation also touches on the evolution of small models, highlighting their efficiency, improved privacy, and specialized applications for on-device use.