Unsupervised Learning with Jacob Effron
by Redpoint Ventures
We probe the sharpest minds in AI in search for the truth about what’s real today, what will be real in the future and what it all means for businesses and the world. If you’re a builder, researcher or investor navigating the AI world, this podcast will help you deconstruct and understand the most important breakthroughs and see a clearer picture of reality. Follow this show and consider enabling notifications to stay up to date on our latest episodes.
Unsupervised Learning is a podcast by Redpoint Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund that has invested in companies like Snowflake, Stripe, and Mistral.
Hosted by Redpoint investor Jacob Effron alongside Patrick Chase, Jordan Segall and Erica Brescia.
Unsupervised Learning is a podcast by Redpoint Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund that has invested in companies like Snowflake, Stripe, and Mistral.
Hosted by Redpoint investor Jacob Effron alongside Patrick Chase, Jordan Segall and Erica Brescia.
Episodes
Mentioned books
251 snips
Dec 18, 2025 • 1h 18min
AI Vibe Check: The Actual Bottleneck In Research, SSI’s Mystique, & Spicy 2026 Predictions
Ari Morcos, a research scientist focused on model interpretability, and Rob Toews, a tech investor, dive into the AI landscape post-NeurIPS. They discuss whether AI models are plateauing, the constraints of infinite lab capital on innovation, and the paradox of U.S. chip restrictions potentially speeding up China's self-sufficiency. Ari reveals the real bottleneck in AI is compute power, not ideas, while Rob predicts major shifts for OpenAI's leadership by 2026, and both foresee a Chinese open-source model taking center stage.
121 snips
Dec 15, 2025 • 48min
Ep 80: CEO of Surge AI Edwin Chen on Why Frontier Labs Are Diverging, RL Environments & Developing Model Taste
Edwin Chen, Founder and CEO of Surge AI, shares insights from his data infrastructure company supporting major AI labs like OpenAI and Meta. He discusses the pitfalls of optimizing for clickbait benchmarks, revealing how these practices mislead model quality. Chen emphasizes the importance of rigorous human evaluations over gaming benchmarks, and he critiques Silicon Valley's pivot culture. The conversation delves into the diversity of AI training approaches, advocating for multiple opinionated models tailored to specific needs in future AI development.
159 snips
Dec 10, 2025 • 56min
Ep 79: OpenAI's Head of Product on How the Best Teams Build, Ship and Scale AI Products
Join Olivier Godement, OpenAI's Head of Product for Business Products, as he dives into the future of AI in enterprise settings. Discover how GPT-5.1 and Codex are transforming industries like life sciences, enabling companies to cut drug development timelines significantly. Olivier shares insights on the challenges of job automation, the importance of cost reduction in AI adoption, and the critical role of reinforcement fine-tuning. He also discusses the potential of AI in coding and suggests that seamless integration could revolutionize how engineers work.
78 snips
Dec 5, 2025 • 1h 13min
Ep 78: Jordan Schneider, Host of China Talk, on AI Race, Key Policy Decisions & Unpacking Geopolitical Chip Tension
Jordan Schneider, host of China Talk and an expert on Chinese tech and AI, explores the market-driven dynamics of China's AI landscape, revealing how private capital shapes its growth. He discusses the impact of US export controls on China's computing capabilities and challenges the notion of government control over AI development. With a focus on robotics manufacturing, he highlights China's emerging advantages. Jordan also critiques the Goldilocks strategy, addresses US policies, and assesses Taiwan's geopolitical risks.
278 snips
Dec 2, 2025 • 42min
Ep 77: Anthropic’s Dianne Na Penn on Opus 4.5, Rethinking Model Scaffolding & Safety as a Competitive Advantage
Dianne Na Penn, a senior product leader at Anthropic, dives into the intriguing launch of Opus 4.5, highlighting its capabilities and strategic focus. She discusses the shift from traditional AI benchmarks to more open-ended evaluations. Dianne shares how Anthropic balances user feedback with ambitious development plans, enhancing enterprise applications. She emphasizes the importance of model alignment and authenticity in fostering independent thinking. The conversation also touches on the evolution of AI scaffolding and the potential for transformative long-running intelligence in the near future.
74 snips
Nov 3, 2025 • 1h 3min
Ep 76: Sora Creators Bill Peebles, Rohan Sahai & Thomas Dimson on Their Unexpected Viral Success
Join Bill Peebles, research lead at OpenAI, Rohan Sahai, product lead, and Thomas Dimson, engineering lead with an Instagram background, as they dive into the viral success of the Sora app. They discuss the innovative cameo feature that lets users embed themselves in AI-generated videos. The team shares insights on building a creator-first social network, tackling content moderation challenges, and their ambitious vision for video models as scientific tools by 2028. Expect surprising user creativity and strategies that prioritize human engagement over mere consumption.
187 snips
Oct 24, 2025 • 1h 17min
AI Round Up: Ari Morcos from Datalogy AI and Rob Toews from Radical VC on Karpathy Reactions, OpenAI’s Dealmaking, & Bubble Reality Check
Ari Morcos, Head of Research at Datalogy AI and a neuroscientist turned AI researcher, joins Rob Toews of Radical VC, an AI investor, to discuss AI's current state and future. They dissect Andrej Karpathy's claim that AGI is over a decade away, debating the sustainability of AI investments amid fears of an industry bubble. Topics include the impact of data quality versus sheer computational power, the ethical implications of deepfakes, and the potential of brain-computer interfaces. The duo also highlight the ongoing relevance of traditional industries like healthcare and coding.
94 snips
Sep 24, 2025 • 1h 3min
AI Round Up: Ari Morcos from Datalogy AI and Rob Toews from Radical VC on AI Talent Wars, xAI’s $200B Valuation, & Google’s Comeback
In this discussion, Ari Marcos, CEO of Datalogy AI and former DeepMind researcher, teams up with Rob Toews, a partner at Radical Ventures. They explore whether AI model progress is truly slowing or merely shifting focus, and debate the economics of reinforcement learning environments. The duo also analyzes Google's rejuvenation with its Gemini project, the turbulent job market for AI talent, and the inflated valuations surrounding major players like OpenAI and Anthropic. Finally, they ponder the future of AI's integration with robotics and brain-computer interfaces.
221 snips
Sep 17, 2025 • 41min
Ep 75: Nano Banana’s Oliver Wang and Nicole Brichtova - Behind the Breakthrough as Gemini Tops the Charts
Nicole Brichtova and Oliver Wang, innovative Google researchers, delve into the groundbreaking AI image model, Nano Banana. They discuss its superior character consistency and notable user engagement, revealing how it enhances creative workflows. The duo explores the convergence of image and video generation, the challenges of personalization, and the actual limitations of current AI expectations. They also highlight the need for intuitive design in user interfaces and share insights on future developments in AI for visual media.
211 snips
Sep 10, 2025 • 59min
Ep 74: Chief Scientist of Together.AI Tri Dao On The End of Nvidia's Dominance, Why Inference Costs Fell & The Next 10X in Speed
Tri Dao, Chief Scientist at Together AI and a professor at Princeton, is a pioneer behind Flash Attention and Mamba. He discusses the dramatic 100x drop in inference costs since ChatGPT, driven by hardware-software co-design and memory optimization. Dao predicts Nvidia's dominance will wane in 2-3 years as specialized chips emerge. He also shares insights on AI models improving expert-level productivity and the challenges of generating quality training data for various domains, while envisioning another 10x cost reduction ahead.
