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
45 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.
271 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.
73 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.
186 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.
257 snips
Aug 26, 2025 • 1h 4min
Ep 73: General Partner of Felicis Peter Deng on on AI Pricing Tactics, Reaction to GPT-5 & Why Voice is Underrated
Peter Deng, General Partner at Felicis and former Product Leader at OpenAI, shares his profound insights on AI pricing strategies, advocating for innovative approaches over traditional models. He discusses the fragmented future of consumer AI and the potential of voice technology to redefine human-computer interactions. Peter reflects on the importance of unique data in building competitive AI startups and highlights the changing dynamics as foundation models evolve. His insider perspective on ChatGPT’s rapid development makes for an enlightening conversation.
62 snips
Aug 13, 2025 • 57min
Ep 72: Co-Founder of Chai Discovery Joshua Meier on 99% Faster Drug Discovery, BioTech’s AlphaGo Moment, Building Photoshop for Molecules
Joshua Meier, co-founder of Chai Discovery and ex-Chief AI Officer at Absci, shares insights on the groundbreaking role of AI in drug discovery. He discusses how the field has evolved, achieving unprecedented success rates. The conversation reveals how AI models differ from human chemists and the strategic choices behind open-sourcing foundational models. Meier also highlights Chai 2's innovative capabilities in testing biological hypotheses and the promising future of AI in revolutionizing therapeutic development and enhancing pharmaceutical innovation.
165 snips
Jul 22, 2025 • 51min
Ep 71: CEO of TurboPuffer Simon Eskildsen on Building Smarter Retrieval, AI App Must-Have Features & Current State of Vector DBs
In this discussion, Simon Eskildsen, the co-founder and CEO of TurboPuffer, shares his insights on the challenges and advancements in AI infrastructure. Drawing from his decade at Shopify, he highlights the limitations of traditional databases for AI applications. Simon introduces the SCRAP framework, emphasizing scale, cost, recall, and performance. He delves into the rise of object storage and the complexities of vector search technology, advocating for smarter retrieval systems to enhance data efficiency and performance.
