Future of Data and AI

This episode features  Amr Awadallah, Founder and CEO of Vectara —the trusted GenAI Platform. With over 25 years of experience in scalable systems, big data, and AI, Amr leads a team of super-talented AI engineers who are building a trusted GenAI platform for business data with the benefits of mitigating hallucinations, bias, copyright infringement, and data privacy. This episode features an engaging discussion between Raja Iqbal, Founder and CEO of Data Science Dojo, and Amr Awadallah, Founder and CEO of Vectara, the trusted GenAI Platform for All Builders. From his early days at Microsoft to his leadership roles at VMware and Vectara, Awadallah has been a driving force behind groundbreaking innovations in data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.

This episode features Bob van Luijt, Co-founder and CEO of Weaviate—a prominent open-source vector database in the industry. Raja and Bob trace the evolution of AI over the years, the current LLM landscape, and its outlook for the future. They further dive deep into various LLM concepts such as RAG, fine-tuning, challenges in enterprise adoption, vector search, context windows, the potential of SLMs, generative feedback loop, and more. Lastly, Raja and Bob explore Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and whether it could be a reality in the near future.

This episode features Bob van Lujit, Co-founder and CEO of Weaviate. Bob shares his journey, from early childhood and a fascination for tech to launching his own entrepreneurial venture at a very young age. They also discuss the importance of standing out and continuously evolving and adapting in a highly competitive landscape, and the potential of vector embeddings. Bob and Raja also discuss the triumphs and tribulations of leading their own start-ups and how to foster a healthy culture. They also explore how to impress investors and build their trust so that funding isn’t a constant worry.

To make LLMs actually useful for enterprises, it is important for them to retrieve company’s data effectively. LlamaIndex has been at the forefront of providing such solutions to augment LLMs. In this episode, Jerry Liu, Co-founder and CEO of LlamaIndex, walks us through how it is reshaping the generative AI landscape.

He explores RAG and fine-tuning, discussing their benefits, trade-offs, use cases, and enterprise adoption. He also shares valuable insights from his entrepreneurial journey, navigating corporate career at tech giants like Apple, Quora, Two Sigma, and Uber, to starting as a founder. Amidst the excitement of innovation, Raja and Jerry also address the potential risks, considerations and impact of generative AI.

In this episode, we unpack Luis’s fascinating journey, from his childhood and maths fears to a deep-seated passion for it. We explore his career path, uncovering the pivotal moments and learnings, as he navigated through big tech players, changing gears from Maths to AI and Quantum AI, and how he ultimately found his true calling. We further venture into the world of AI, exploring its profound impact on and society—both positive and the challenges it presents, and how they are reshaping the world. And of course, we touch upon the human side of it all—exploring the themes of humanity and empathy and implications for the future.