Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) continues to be a foundational approach in AI despite claims of its demise. While some marketing narratives suggest RAG is being replaced by fine-tuning or long context windows, these technologies are actually complementary rather than competitive. But how do you build a truly effective RAG system that delivers accurate results in high-stakes environments? What separates a basic RAG implementation from an enterprise-grade solution that can handle complex queries across disparate data sources? And with the rise of AI agents, how will RAG evolve to support more dynamic reasoning capabilities? Douwe Kiela is the CEO and co-founder of Contextual AI, a company at the forefront of next-generation language model development. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in Symbolic Systems at Stanford University, where he contributes to advancing the theoretical and practical understanding of AI systems. Before founding Contextual AI, Douwe was the Head of Research at Hugging Face, where he led groundbreaking efforts in natural language processing and machine learning. Prior to that, he was a Research Scientist and Research Lead at Meta’s FAIR (Fundamental AI Research) team, where he played a pivotal role in developing Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)—a paradigm-shifting innovation in AI that combines retrieval systems with generative models for more grounded and contextually aware responses. In the episode, Richie and Douwe explore the misconceptions around the death of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), the evolution to RAG 2.0, its applications in high-stakes industries, the importance of metadata and entitlements in data governance, the potential of agentic systems in enterprise settings, and much more. Links Mentioned in the Show: Contextual AIConnect with DouweCourse: Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) with LangChainRelated Episode: High Performance Generative AI Applications with Ram Sriharsha, CTO at PineconeRegister for RADAR AI - June 26 New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

Misconceptions about AI's capabilities and the role of data are everywhere. Many believe AI is a singular, all-knowing entity, when in reality, it's a collection of algorithms producing intelligence-like outputs. Navigating and understanding the history and evolution of AI, from its origins to today's advanced language models is crucial. How do these developments, and misconceptions, impact your daily work? Are you leveraging the right tools for your needs, or are you caught up in the allure of cutting-edge technology without considering its practical application? Andriy Burkov is the author of three widely recognized books, The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book, The Machine Learning Engineering Book, and recently The Hundred-Page Language Models book. His books have been translated into a dozen languages and are used as textbooks in many universities worldwide. His work has impacted millions of machine learning practitioners and researchers. He holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence and is a recognized expert in machine learning and natural language processing. As a machine learning expert and leader, Andriy has successfully led dozens of production-grade AI projects in different business domains at Fujitsu and Gartner. Andriy is currently Machine Learning Lead at TalentNeuron. In the episode, Richie and Andriy explore misconceptions about AI, the evolution of AI from the 1950s, the relevance of 20th-century AI research, the role of linear algebra in AI, the resurgence of recurrent neural networks, advancements in large language model architectures, the significance of reinforcement learning, the reality of AI agents, and much more. Links Mentioned in the Show: Andriy’s books: The Hundred-page Machine Learning Book, The Hundred-page Language Models BookTalentNeuronConnect with AndriySkill Track: AI FundamentalsRelated Episode: Unlocking Humanity in the Age of AI with Faisal Hoque, Founder and CEO of SHADOKARewatch sessions from RADAR: Skills Edition New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

As AI continues to advance, natural language processing (NLP) is at the forefront, transforming how businesses interact with data. From chatbots to document analysis, NLP offers numerous applications. But with the advent of generative AI, professionals face new challenges: When is it appropriate to use traditional NLP techniques versus more advanced models? How do you balance the costs and benefits of these technologies? Explore the strategic decisions and practical applications of NLP in the modern business world. Meri Nova is the founder of Break Into Data, a data careers company. Her work focuses on helping people switch to a career in data, and using machine learning to improve community engagement. Previously, she was a data scientist and machine learning engineer at Hyloc. Meri is the instructor of DataCamp's 'Retrieval Augmented Generation with LangChain' course. In the episode, Richie and Meri explore the evolution of natural language processing, the impact of generative AI on business applications, the balance between traditional NLP techniques and modern LLMs, the role of vector stores and knowledge graphs, and the exciting potential of AI in automating tasks and decision-making, and much more. Links Mentioned in the Show: Meri’s Breaking Into Data Handbook on GitHubBreak Into Data Discord GroupConnect with MeriSkill Track: Artificial Intelligence (AI) LeadershipRelated Episode: Industry Roundup #2: AI Agents for Data Work, The Return of the Full-Stack Data Scientist and Old languages Make a ComebackRewatch sessions from RADAR: Forward Edition New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

With AI tools constantly evolving, the potential for innovation seems limitless. But with great potential comes significant costs, and the question of efficiency and scalability becomes crucial. How can you ensure that your AI models are not only pushing boundaries but also delivering results in a cost-effective way? What strategies can help reduce the financial burden of training and deploying models, while still driving meaningful business outcomes?  Natalia Vassilieva is the VP & Field CTO of ML at Cerebras Systems. Natalia has a wealth of experience in research and development in natural language processing, computer vision, machine learning, and information retrieval. As Field CTO, she helps drive product adoption and customer engagement for Cerebras Systems' wafer-scale AI chips. Previously, Natalia was a Senior Research Manager at Hewlett Packard Labs, leading the Software and AI group. She also served as the head of HP Labs Russia leading research teams focused on developing algorithms and applications for text, image, and time-series analysis and modeling. Natalia has an academic background, having been a part-time Associate Professor at St. Petersburg State University and a lecturer at the Computer Science Center in St. Petersburg, Russia. She holds a PhD in Computer Science from St. Petersburg State University. Andy Hock is the Senior VP, Product & Strategy at Cerebras Systems. Andy runs the product strategy and roadmap for Cerebras Systems, focusing on integrating AI research, hardware, and software to accelerate the development and deployment of AI models. He has 15 years of experience in product management, technical program management, and enterprise business development; over 20 years of experience in research, algorithm development, and data analysis for image processing; and  9 years of experience in applied machine learning and AI. Previously he was Product Management lead for Data and Analytics for Terra Bella at Google, where he led the development of machine learning-powered data products from satellite imagery. Earlier, he was Senior Director for Advanced Technology Programs at Skybox Imaging (which became Terra Bella following its acquisition by Google in 2014), and before that was a Senior Program Manager and Senior Scientist at Arete Associates. He has a Ph.D. in Geophysics and Space Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. In the episode, Richie, Natalia and Andy explore the dramatic recent progress in generative AI, cost and infrastructure challenges in AI, Cerebras’ custom AI chips and other hardware innovations, quantization in AI models, mixture of experts, RLHF, relevant AI use-cases, centralized vs decentralized AI compute, the future of AI and much more.  Links Mentioned in the Show: CerebrasCerebras Launches the World’s Fastest AI InferenceConnect with Natalia and AndyCourse: Implementing AI Solutions in BusinessRewatch sessions from RADAR: AI Edition New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills witha...

As AI becomes more accessible, a growing question is: should machine learning experts always be the ones training models, or is there a better way to leverage other subject matter experts in the business who know the use-case best? What if getting started building AI apps required no coding skills? As businesses look to implement AI at scale, what part can no-code AI apps play in getting projects off the ground, and how feasible are smaller, tailored solutions for  department specific use-cases? Birago Jones is the CEO at Pienso. Pienso is an AI platform that empowers subject matter experts in various enterprises, such as business analysts, to create and fine-tune AI models without coding skills. Prior to Pienso, Birago was a Venture Partner at Indicator Ventures and a Research Assistant at MIT Media Lab where he also founded the Media Lab Alumni Association. Karthik Dinakar is a computer scientist specializing in machine learning, natural language processing, and human-computer interaction. He is the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder at Pienso. Prior to founding Pienso, Karthik held positions at Microsoft and Deutsche Bank. Karthik holds a doctoral degree from MIT in Machine Learning. In the episode, Richie, Birago and Karthik explore why no-code AI apps are becoming more prominent, uses-cases of no-code AI apps, the steps involved in creating an LLM, the benefits of small tailored models, how no-code can impact workflows, cost in AI projects, AI interfaces and the rise of the chat interface, privacy and customization, excitement about the future of AI, and much more.  Links Mentioned in the Show: PiensoGoogle Gemini for BusinessConnect with Birago and KarthikAndreesen Horowitz Report: Navigating the High Cost of AI ComputeCourse: Artificial Intelligence (AI) StrategyRelated Episode: Designing AI Applications with Robb Wilson, Co-Founder & CEO at Onereach.aiRewatch sessions from RADAR: AI Edition New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile appEmpower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

One of the prerequisites for being able to do great data analyses is that the data is well structured and clean and high quality. For individual projects, this is often annoying to get right. On a corporate level, it’s often a huge blocker to productivity. And then there’s healthcare data. When you consider all the healthcare records across the USA, or any other country for that matter, there are so many data formats created by so many different organizations, it’s frankly a horrendous mess. This is a big problem because there’s a treasure trove of data that researchers and analysts can’t make use of to answer questions about which medical interventions work or not. Bad data is holding back progress on improving everyone’s health. Terry Myerson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Truveta. Truveta enables scientifically rigorous research on more than 18% of the clinical care in the U.S. from a growing collective of more than 30 health systems. Previously, Terry enjoyed a 21-year career at Microsoft. As Executive Vice President, he led the development of Windows, Surface, Xbox, and the early days of Office 365, while serving on the Senior Leadership Team of the company. Prior to Microsoft, he co-founded Intersé, one of the earliest Internet companies, which Microsoft acquired in 1997.​ In the episode, Richie and Terry explore the current state of health records, challenges when working with health records, data challenges including privacy and accessibility, data silos and fragmentation, AI and NLP for fragmented data, regulatory grade AI, ongoing data integration efforts in healthcare, the future of healthcare and much more.  Links Mentioned in the Show: TruvetaConnect with TerryHIPAACourse - Introduction to Data PrivacyRelated Episode: Using AI to Improve Data Quality in HealthcareRewatch sessions from RADAR: AI Edition New to DataCamp? Learn on the go using the DataCamp mobile app Empower your business with world-class data and AI skills with DataCamp for business

Snowflake has been foundational in the data space for years. In the mid-2010s, the platform was a major driver of moving data to the cloud. More recently, it's become apparent that combining data and AI in the cloud is key to accelerating innovation. Snowflake has been rapidly adding AI features to provide value to the modern data stack, but what’s really been going on under the hood? At the time of recording, Sridhar Ramaswamy was the SVP of AI at Snowflake, being appointed CEO at Snowflake in February 2024. Sridhar was formerly Co-Founder of Neeva, acquired in 2023 by Snowflake. Before founding Neeva, Ramaswamy oversaw Google's advertising products, including search, display, video advertising, analytics, shopping, payments, and travel. He joined Google in 2003 and was part of the growth of AdWords and Google's overall advertising business. He spent more than 15 years at Google, where he started as a software engineer and rose to SVP of Ads & Commerce.  In the episode, Richie and Sridhar explore Snowflake and its uses, how generative AI is changing the attitudes of leaders towards data, how NLP and AI have impacted enterprise business operations as well as new applications of AI in an enterprise environment, the challenges of enterprise search, the importance of data quality, management and the role of semantic layers in the effective use of AI, a look into Snowflakes products including Snowpilot and Cortex, the collaboration required for successful data and AI projects, advice for organizations looking to improve their data management and much more.     About the AI and the Modern Data Stack DataFramed Series This week we’re releasing 4 episodes focused on how AI is changing the modern data stack and the analytics profession at large. The modern data stack is often an ambiguous and all-encompassing term, so we intentionally wanted to cover the impact of AI on the modern data stack from different angles. Here’s what you can expect: Why the Future of AI in Data will be Weird with Benn Stancil, CTO at Mode & Field CTO at ThoughtSpot — Covering how AI will change analytics workflows and tools How Databricks is Transforming Data Warehousing and AI with Ari Kaplan, Head Evangelist & Robin Sutara, Field CTO at Databricks — Covering Databricks, data intelligence and how AI tools are changing data democratizationAdding AI to the Data Warehouse with Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO at Snowflake — Covering Snowflake and its uses, how generative AI is changing the attitudes of leaders towards data, and how to improve your data managementAccelerating AI Workflows with Nuri Cankaya, VP of AI Marketing & La Tiffaney Santucci, AI Marketing Director at Intel — Covering AI’s impact on marketing analytics, how AI is being integrated into existing products, and the democratization of AI Links Mentioned in the Show: SnowflakeSnowflake acquires Neeva to accelerate search in the Data Cloud through generative AIUse AI in Seconds with Snowflake Cortex[Course] Introduction to SnowflakeRelated Episode: Why AI will Change Everything—with Former Snowflake CEO, Bob MugliaSign up to a...