High Agency: The Podcast for AI Builders

Russ d'Sa, CEO of LiveKit, dives into the vital role of real-time communication in the AI landscape. He discusses the evolution of AI, highlighting breakthroughs that expand capabilities in audio, video, and text. The conversation touches on the intricacies of real-time streaming and data transmission, revealing challenges and innovations in building a robust global infrastructure. With insights on LiveKit's applications in sectors like healthcare and emergency services, Russ emphasizes the transformative potential of AI and the need for alignment with human values.

Lin Qiao, former PyTorch lead at Meta and current CEO of Fireworks AI, dives into the evolution of AI frameworks and the intricacies of generative AI optimization. He discusses the design philosophy of PyTorch and shares techniques for achieving low latency in AI models. Lin also explores the challenges in AI application development, the competitive landscape of AI hardware, and the potential for AI to become as integral to our lives as electricity. His insights on open-source versus proprietary models provide a thought-provoking look at the future of AI.

Paras Jain, CEO of Genmo, shares his journey from working on autonomous vehicles to leading innovations in AI video generation. He discusses the unique challenges faced in training diffusion models and the importance of maximizing realistic motion in video outputs. The conversation also covers the ethical implications of AI technology, the potential for tailored content creation, and the necessity of robust guidelines for future developments. Paras's insights reveal a promising yet complex landscape for AI's role in everyday video production.

Eddie Kim, co-founder and Head of Technology at Gusto, alongside guest host Ali Rowghani, dives into Gusto's transformative journey in the AI landscape. They discuss how AI is revolutionizing payroll and HR processes, emphasizing the importance of building in-house tech solutions rather than buying. The duo reveals strategies for prioritizing AI implementations, balancing operational efficiency with user trust. They also tackle the risks and ethical considerations of AI integration while remaining optimistic about its potential to streamline complexities in the business world.

Michael Royzen, CEO and co-founder of Phind, dives into his experience building a groundbreaking LLM-based search engine tailored for developers. He discusses the evolution of AI in coding, including how innovative IDEs aim to enhance creativity. The conversation covers the challenges of developing advanced language models and the competition between startups and giants like Google. Michael also shares insights on generating synthetic datasets and predicts a future where AI seamlessly integrates into our everyday tasks, changing how we interact with technology.

Jason Liu, a Renaissance Man in AI, discusses strategies for building valuable AI products. Topics include structuring LLM outputs, automating research, aligning metrics with outcomes, improving recommendation systems, and the future of AI. They explore challenges in building recommender systems, data validation, fine-tuning Python functions, and enhancing AI systems performance and interpretability.

Logan Kilpatrick discusses joining OpenAI, GPT5 expectations, Google's innovations, staying ahead in AI, future form factors, and challenges in building AI startups. Topics include the evolution of AI in product development, fine-tuning AI models, context length implications, model performance, achieving AGI, and AI startup feasibility.

Max Rumpf, Founder of Sid.AI, discusses challenges in building RAG systems, document processing, retrieval techniques, knowledge graphs, and the future of RAG. Also covers reranking, impact of longer context windows, recent research on AI, value-augmented sampling, SEO optimization for LLMs, and future trends in AI.

Wade Foster, CEO of Zapier, discusses the company's AI journey, including an internal hackathon. Topics cover GPT technology integration, assessing AI model capabilities, chat interaction UX, and the potential of multimodal models in communication and AI augmentation. Also explores project recognition, prioritization, and AI's impact on work.

Shawn Wang discusses the essence of an AI engineer post his viral essay 'Rise of the AI Engineer', emphasizing skills, team structures, and trends in AI research. Topics include vertical vs. horizontal AI startups, advice for AI product creators, tools for AI products, and key AI trends. The conversation explores the evolution of roles in AI engineering, the AI Engineering World Fair, vertical AI startups, trends in AI capabilities and costs, and the creativity in AI models.