The Data Exchange with Ben Lorica

Evangelos Simoudis, an entrepreneur and investor in technology strategy, joins to discuss breakthroughs from CES 2026. He highlights the proliferation of humanoid robots, noting their current impracticality despite investor excitement. The conversation shifts to software-defined vehicles and the growing push for autonomous capabilities. They also analyze recent U.S. export control changes on AI chips and China's aggressive response in chip self-sufficiency, raising concerns about tech competition. Simoudis warns about potential risks of open-source models in this evolving landscape.

Matthew Glickman, Co-founder and CEO of Genesis Computing, shares his insights on the rise of AI data agents tailored for data engineers. He discusses the challenges of transitioning from demo to production, emphasizing the importance of reliability. Glickman highlights the potential of automation to alleviate the burdens of data engineers rather than replace them. He also explores capturing institutional knowledge and using AI to document legacy systems. Finally, he examines the implications of job shifts and the need for new AI-related skills in the workforce.

Join Samuel Colvin, founder of Pydantic, Aparna Dhinakaran from Arize AI, Adam Jones at Anthropic, and Jerry Liu of LlamaIndex in a fascinating conversation about Agentic AI. They explore impressive agent architectures, the advantages and challenges of multi-agent systems, and innovative memory and state management strategies. Aparna emphasizes the importance of observability with evals, while the group shares thoughts on bridging technical and non-technical users through no-code solutions. They also discuss future capabilities and realistic expectations for agent technology.

Discover intriguing non-fiction reads perfect for the holiday season! Explore NVIDIA's ascent in AI, the evolution of Masayoshi Son's career, and Apple's intricate manufacturing ecosystem in China. Dive into Huawei's unique culture, TikTok's rapid growth strategies, and China's engineering focus. Learn about the historical context of the 1929 crash, challenge the genius myth in tech, and unpack Patagonia's complex founder. Plus, insights into Lennon and McCartney’s legendary partnership make this a must-listen!

Steve Wilson, Chief AI and Product Officer at Exabeam, dives into the complexities of securing Large Language Models and agent workflows. He highlights the unique risks of prompt injection and supply chain vulnerabilities that arise with democratized AI tools. Wilson discusses the importance of guardrails, the dangers of excessive agent authority, and lessons learned from web security mishaps. He also explores the concept of citizen developers and advocates for the OWASP GenAI Security Project to provide rapid community-driven guidance for safer AI practices.

Evangelos Simoudis, a venture investor and corporate innovation expert at Synapse Partners, joins to discuss the dual-edged sword of AI in the workforce. They examine AI-driven layoffs, emphasizing the importance of investment in upskilling and R&D. The conversation highlights how trust in AI outputs can be fragile due to unpredictable behaviors and the need for better government coordination on AI access. They also delve into legal complexities surrounding platform liability as AI systems take on more editorial roles in content creation.

Stefania Druga, an independent researcher and former Google DeepMind scientist, delves into creating AI tools for young learners. She shares insights on how children's natural curiosity informs better AI design. Stefania champions the Socratic method for teaching, highlighting her work on Cognimates as a supportive learning copilot. They discuss the importance of multimodal interfaces and the challenges of current AI education tools. Listen in as she reveals how real-time apps like MathMind address misconceptions in math, pushing for innovative solutions in AI education.

Jure Leskovec, a Stanford professor and co-founder of Kumo.ai, dives into the transformative power of relational foundation models for structured enterprise data. He challenges the current limitations of AI in handling relational data, emphasizing the shortcomings of treating tabular data as text. Jure outlines Kumo’s rapid predictive SQL-like language, innovative graph representations, and the model's ability to handle messy data effectively. He also discusses real-world successes like DoorDash's significant improvements and the potential applications of these models across various industries.

Philip Rathle, CTO of Neo4j and a leading expert in graph technologies, explores the integration of knowledge graphs in enterprise AI. He discusses the real-world application of GraphRAG, detailing how it enhances context for AI agents. Rathle highlights successful enterprises using this technology and warns against overly complex projects. He also showcases tools like the LLM Graph Builder for building starter knowledge graphs and emphasizes the need for clear governance and determinism in AI systems, ultimately illustrating how graphs can significantly improve AI reasoning.

Emmanuel Ameisen, an interpretability researcher at Anthropic and author, dives into the workings of large language models. He explains how these models can resemble biological systems and reveals surprising problem-solving patterns, like predicting multiple tokens at once. Emmanuel also addresses the misleading nature of reasoning outputs and the neural mechanics behind hallucinations. He emphasizes the importance of model calibration, debugging tools, and even shares practical advice for developers. It's a fascinating look at the complexity of AI behavior!