Best Hugo Bowne Anderson Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 20: Incentives, Accountability, and the Data Leader’s Dilemma 1:03:13

8d ago1:03:13

1:03:13

Daragh Sibley, Chief Algorithms Officer at Literati and former Director of Data Science at Stitch Fix, joins High Signal to unpack how machine-learning moves from slide-deck promise to bottom-line impact. He walks through his shift from academic research on how kids learn to read to owning inventory and personalization algorithms that decide which …

1
Episode 54: Scaling AI: From Colab to Clusters — A Practitioner’s Guide to Distributed Training and Inference 41:17

12d ago41:17

41:17

Colab is cozy. But production won’t fit on a single GPU. Zach Mueller leads Accelerate at Hugging Face and spends his days helping people go from solo scripts to scalable systems. In this episode, he joins me to demystify distributed training and inference — not just for research labs, but for any ML engineer trying to ship real software. We talk t…

1
Episode 53: Human-Seeded Evals & Self-Tuning Agents: Samuel Colvin on Shipping Reliable LLMs 44:49

23d ago44:49

44:49

Demos are easy; durability is hard. Samuel Colvin has spent a decade building guardrails in Python (first with Pydantic, now with Logfire), and he’s convinced most LLM failures have nothing to do with the model itself. They appear where the data is fuzzy, the prompts drift, or no one bothered to measure real-world behavior. Samuel joins me to show …

1
Episode 19: Defaults, Decisions, and Dynamic Systems: Behavioral Science Meets AI 54:08

27d ago54:08

54:08

Lis Costa, Chief of Innovation and Partnerships at the Behavioural Insights Team, joins High Signal to explore how behavioral science is reshaping public policy, digital platforms, and machine learning. She explains how defaults influence behavior at scale, why personalization and chatbots are unlocking new kinds of interventions, and what happens …

1
Episode 52: Why Most LLM Products Break at Retrieval (And How to Fix Them) 28:38

28d ago28:38

28:38

Most LLM-powered features do not break at the model. They break at the context. So how do you retrieve the right information to get useful results, even under vague or messy user queries? In this episode, we hear from Eric Ma, who leads data science research in the Data Science and AI group at Moderna. He shares what it takes to move beyond toy dem…

1
Episode 51: Why We Built an MCP Server and What Broke First 47:41

1M ago47:41

47:41

What does it take to actually ship LLM-powered features, and what breaks when you connect them to real production data? In this episode, we hear from Philip Carter — then a Principal PM at Honeycomb and now a Product Management Director at Salesforce. In early 2023, he helped build one of the first LLM-powered SaaS features to ship to real users. M…

1
Episode 18: High-Stakes AI Systems and the Cost of Getting It Wrong 58:45

1M ago58:45

58:45

Sudarshan Seshadri—VP of AI, Data Science, and Foundations Engineering at Alto Pharmacy—joins us to explore what it takes to build high-stakes AI systems that people can actually trust. He shares lessons from deploying machine learning and LLMs in healthcare, where speed, safety, and uncertainty must be carefully balanced. We talk about designing A…

1
Episode 50: A Field Guide to Rapidly Improving AI Products -- With Hamel Husain 27:42

1M ago27:42

27:42

If we want AI systems that actually work, we need to get much better at evaluating them, not just building more pipelines, agents, and frameworks. In this episode, Hugo talks with Hamel Hussain (ex-Airbnb, GitHub, DataRobot) about how teams can improve AI products by focusing on error analysis, data inspection, and systematic iteration. The convers…

1
Episode 49: Why Data and AI Still Break at Scale (and What to Do About It) 1:21:45

2M ago1:21:45

1:21:45

If we want AI systems that actually work in production, we need better infrastructure—not just better models. In this episode, Hugo talks with Akshay Agrawal (Marimo, ex-Google Brain, Netflix, Stanford) about why data and AI pipelines still break down at scale, and how we can fix the fundamentals: reproducibility, composability, and reliable execut…

1
Season 9 Finale with Tim Gasper and Juan Sequeda 52:50

2M ago52:50

52:50

As Season 9 of Catalog & Cocktails comes to a close, Tim and Juan reflect on the conversations, breakthroughs, and trends that shaped the past episodes. From rethinking data governance to building trust in your data, this recap dives into the standout moments, key lessons, and recurring themes from our incredible guests. Tune in for an honest, no-B…

1
Episode 17: The Incentive Problem in Shipping AI Products — and How to Change It 53:52

2M ago53:52

53:52

Roberto Medri, VP of Data Science at Instagram, explains why most experiments fail, how misaligned incentives warp product development, and what it takes to drive real impact with data science. He shares what teams get wrong about launches, why ego gets in the way of learning, and how Instagram turned Reels from a struggling product into a global s…

1
Episode 48: HOW TO BENCHMARK AGI WITH GREG KAMRADT 1:04:25

2M ago1:04:25

1:04:25

If we want to make progress toward AGI, we need a clear definition of intelligence—and a way to measure it. In this episode, Hugo talks with Greg Kamradt, President of the ARC Prize Foundation, about ARC-AGI: a benchmark built on Francois Chollet’s definition of intelligence as “the efficiency at which you learn new things.” Unlike most evals that …

1
Gartner Data & Analytics Summit UK 2025 Takeaways with Rebecca O'Kill 56:08

3M ago56:08

56:08

Join Juan and Tim as they welcome special guest Rebecca O’Kill (CDAO of AXIS Capital) fresh from their panel at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2025 in London. They'll have an Honest, No-BS discussion on making data catalog and governance work in the real world while sharing key themes and actionable insights from one of the year's most influen…

1
TAKEAWAYS - Gartner Data & Analytics Summit UK 2025 Takeaways with Rebecca O'Kill 5:37

3M ago5:37

5:37

Join Juan and Tim as they welcome special guest Rebecca O’Kill (CDAO of AXIS Capital) fresh from their panel at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit 2025 in London. They'll have an Honest, No-BS discussion on making data catalog and governance work in the real world while sharing key themes and actionable insights from one of the year's most influen…

1
Episode 16: How Human-Centered AI Actually Gets Built 47:22

3M ago47:22

47:22

Fei-Fei Li—co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute and one of the most respected voices in the field—reflects on AI’s evolution from the early days of ImageNet to the rise of foundation models. She explains why spatial intelligence may be the next major shift, how human-centered design applies in practice, and why AI should be underst…

1
Tim & Juan are on the Road (Again!): Rants About Their Latest Observations in the Data World 9:48

3M ago9:48

9:48

This week Tim and Juan are on the road. Instead of taking a break, they will be commenting and ranting about their latest observations in the data world: data products, semantics, AI, knowledge graphs, governance, and so much more.By data.world

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What is Data + AI Observability and Why It's Part of Your Competitive Moat with Barr Moses 53:09

3M ago53:09

53:09

Barr Moses, CEO & Co-Founder of Monte Carlo, challenges the notion that models alone create competitive advantage, arguing instead that the real moat lies in how organizations manage their proprietary data and ensure end-to-end reliability. Tim and Juan chat with Barr to get the Honest, No-BS scoop of what AI observability is (hint, it’s really dat…

1
TAKEAWAYS - What is Data + AI Observability and Why It's Part of Your Competitive Moat with Barr Moses 4:10

3M ago4:10

4:10

Barr Moses, CEO & Co-Founder of Monte Carlo, challenges the notion that models alone create competitive advantage, arguing instead that the real moat lies in how organizations manage their proprietary data and ensure end-to-end reliability. Tim and Juan chat with Barr to get the Honest, No-BS scoop of what AI observability is (hint, it’s really dat…

1
Tim & Juan Rant About AI and TED2025 Insights 35:10

3M ago35:10

35:10

Fresh from the TED conference, Tim Gasper and Juan Sequeda share the most thought-provoking ideas that caught their attention: What are you most excited about in the world of AI? What are you concerned about? How do you find a balance?By data.world

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Episode 15: Why Good Metrics Still Lead to Bad Decisions — and How to Fix It 54:17

3M ago54:17

54:17

Eoin O'Mahony—data science partner at Lightspeed, former Uber science lead, and one of the early architects of the system that kept NYC’s Citi Bikes available across the city—argues that positive metrics are meaningless if you don’t understand the mechanism behind them. At Uber, he was careful to make sure his launches both looked good on paper and…

1
(Most) Data Teams Are a Waste of Resources with Blake Burch 1:03:08

3M ago1:03:08

1:03:08

Data teams often emerge from executive FOMO – chasing AI trends or vague "data-driven" aspirations, but Blake Burch, AI & Data Leader, reveals most remain stuck in setup mode, creating dashboards nobody uses. Team members rarely understand how their work impacts business outcomes, leading to data graveyards instead of value, with success measured b…

1
TAKEAWAYS - (Most) Data Teams Are a Waste of Resources with Blake Burch 6:10

3M ago6:10

6:10

Data teams often emerge from executive FOMO – chasing AI trends or vague "data-driven" aspirations, but Blake Burch, AI & Data Leader, reveals most remain stuck in setup mode, creating dashboards nobody uses. Team members rarely understand how their work impacts business outcomes, leading to data graveyards instead of value, with success measured b…

1
How to Get Out of AI Proof-of-Concept Purgatory with Hugo Bowne-Anderson 59:19

4M ago59:19

59:19

Hugo Bowne-Anderson, Independent Data & AI Scientist, joins us to tackle why most AI applications fail to make it past the demo stage. We'll explore his concept of Evaluation-Driven Development (EDD) and how treating evaluation as a continuous process—not just a final step—can help teams escape "Proof-of-Concept Purgatory." How can we build AI appl…

1
Episode 14: Why Most Companies Aren’t Actually AI Ready (and What to Do About It) 51:58

4M ago51:58

51:58

Barr Moses—co-founder and CEO of Monte Carlo—thinks we’re headed for an AI reckoning. Companies are building fast, but most are still managing data like it’s 2015. In this episode, she shares high-stakes failure stories (like a $100M schema change), explains why full-stack observability is becoming essential, and breaks down how LLM agents are alre…

1
TAKEAWAYS - How to Get Out of AI Proof-of-Concept Purgatory with Hugo Bowne-Anderson 5:14

4M ago5:14

5:14

Hugo Bowne-Anderson, Independent Data & AI Scientist, joins us to tackle why most AI applications fail to make it past the demo stage. We'll explore his concept of Evaluation-Driven Development (EDD) and how treating evaluation as a continuous process—not just a final step—can help teams escape "Proof-of-Concept Purgatory." How can we build AI appl…

1
Episode 47: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch of Code Slop with Joe Reis 1:19:12

4M ago1:19:12

1:19:12

What if the cost of writing code dropped to zero — but the cost of understanding it skyrocketed? In this episode, Hugo sits down with Joe Reis to unpack how AI tooling is reshaping the software development lifecycle — from experimentation and prototyping to deployment, maintainability, and everything in between. Joe is the co-author of Fundamentals…

1
Digital Twins and AI with Hala Nelson 1:09:29

4M ago1:09:29

1:09:29

Hala Nelson, Professor of Mathematics and Author of "Essential Math for AI", explores how digital twin technology and AI deployments are reshaping organizational systems while challenging conventional wisdom. We will also discuss establishing a new "standard of care" in human-centered engineering and examine how these technological shifts are trans…

1
Episode 46: Software Composition Is the New Vibe Coding 1:08:57

4M ago1:08:57

1:08:57

What if building software felt more like composing than coding? In this episode, Hugo and Greg explore how LLMs are reshaping the way we think about software development—from deterministic programming to a more flexible, prompt-driven, and collaborative style of building. It’s not just hype or grift—it’s a real shift in how we express intent, reaso…

1
TAKEAWAYS - Digital Twins and AI with Hala Nelson 6:09

4M ago6:09

6:09

Hala Nelson, Professor of Mathematics and Author of "Essential Math for AI", explores how digital twin technology and AI deployments are reshaping organizational systems while challenging conventional wisdom. We will also discuss establishing a new "standard of care" in human-centered engineering and examine how these technological shifts are trans…

1
What Do Data Modeling, Data Vault and Knowledge Graphs Have in Common? with Patrick Cuba 1:10:55

4M ago1:10:55

1:10:55

Patrick Cuba, Snowflake Architect, explores the fundamental connections between Data Modeling, Data Vault, and Knowledge Graphs—revealing how these approaches all center on the same core elements: business entities, their relationships, and their historical states. Patrick unpacks why, despite the AI revolution, human expertise remains irreplaceabl…

1
TAKEAWAYS - What Do Data Modeling, Data Vault and Knowledge Graphs Have in Common? with Patrick Cuba 6:33

4M ago6:33

6:33

Patrick Cuba, Snowflake Architect, explores the fundamental connections between Data Modeling, Data Vault, and Knowledge Graphs—revealing how these approaches all center on the same core elements: business entities, their relationships, and their historical states. Patrick unpacks why, despite the AI revolution, human expertise remains irreplaceabl…

1
Episode 13: The End of Programming As We Know It 1:23:09

4M ago1:23:09

1:23:09

Tim O’Reilly—founder of O’Reilly Media and one of the most influential voices in tech—argues we’re not witnessing the end of programming, but the beginning of something far bigger. He draws on past computing revolutions to explore how AI is reshaping what it means to build software, why real breakthroughs come from the edge—not incumbents—and what …

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Data Contracts, Data Products, Data Mesh with Jean-Georges Perrin 1:31:46

4M ago1:31:46

1:31:46

Tim and Juan meet in person with Jean-Georges Perrin for a longer-than-usual episode. Together, they unpack the real meaning behind data contracts, explaining how these agreements serve as the backbone for successful data products and the practical framework for data mesh implementation. If you want to cut through all the jargon and buzzwords and g…

1
TAKEAWAYS - Data Contracts, Data Products, Data Mesh with Jean-Georges Perrin 6:09

4M ago6:09

6:09

Tim and Juan meet in person with Jean-Georges Perrin for a longer-than-usual episode. Together, they unpack the real meaning behind data contracts, explaining how these agreements serve as the backbone for successful data products and the practical framework for data mesh implementation. If you want to cut through all the jargon and buzzwords and g…

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