GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on Copilot and the Future of Software Development
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Lukas Biewald sits down with Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, to talk about the future of software engineering in the age of AI. They discuss how GitHub Copilot was built, why agents are reshaping developer workflows, and what it takes to make tools that are not only powerful but also fun.Thomas shares his experience leading GitHub through its $7.5B acquisition by Microsoft, the unexpected ways it accelerated innovation, and why developer happiness is crucial to productivity. They explore what still makes human engineers irreplaceable and how the next generation of developers might grow up coding alongside AI.Follow Thomas Dohmke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtom/Follow Weights & Biases:https://twitter.com/weights_biases https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb
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1:09:44
From Pharma to AGI Hype, and Developing AI in Finance: Martin Shkreli’s Journey
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Lukas Biewald talks with Martin Shkreli — the infamous "pharma bro" turned founder — about his path from hedge fund manager and pharma CEO to convicted felon and now software entrepreneur. Shkreli shares his side of the drug pricing controversy, reflects on his prison experience, and explains how he rebuilt his life and business after being "canceled."They dive deep into AI and drug discovery, where Shkreli delivers a strong critique of mainstream approaches. He also talks about his latest venture in finance software, building Godel Terminal “a Vim for traders", and why he thinks the AI hype cycle is just beginning. It's a wide-ranging and candid conversation with one of the most controversial figures in tech and biotech.Follow Martin Shkreli on TwitterGodel Terminal: https://godelterminal.com/Follow Weights & Biases on Twitterhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb Join the Weights & Biases Discord Server:https://discord.gg/CkZKRNnaf3
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1:30:19
Inside Cursor: The future of AI coding with Co-founder Sualeh Asif
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, host Lukas Biewald talks with Sualeh Asif, the CPO and co-founder of Cursor, one of the fastest-growing and most loved AI-powered coding platforms. Sualeh shares the story behind Cursor’s creation, the technical and design decisions that set it apart, and how AI models are changing the way we build software. They dive deep into infrastructure challenges, the importance of speed and user experience, and how emerging trends in agents and reasoning models are reshaping the developer workflow.Sualeh also discusses scaling AI inference to support hundreds of millions of requests per day, building trust through product quality, and his vision for how programming will evolve in the next few years.⏳Timestamps:00:00 How Cursor got started and why it took off04:50 Switching from Vim to VS Code and the rise of CoPilot08:10 Why Cursor won among competitors: product philosophy and execution10:30 How user data and feedback loops drive Cursor’s improvements12:20 Iterating on AI agents: what made Cursor hold back and wait13:30 Competitive coding background: advantage or challenge?16:30 Making coding fun again: latency, flow, and model choices19:10 Building Cursor’s infrastructure: from GPUs to indexing billions of files26:00 How Cursor prioritizes compute allocation for indexing30:00 Running massive ML infrastructure: surprises and scaling lessons34:50 Why Cursor chose DeepSeek models early36:00 Where AI agents are heading next40:07 Debugging and evaluating complex AI agents42:00 How coding workflows will change over the next 2–3 years46:20 Dream future projects: AI for reading codebases and papers🎙 Get our podcasts on these platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://wandb.me/apple-podcastsSpotify: https://wandb.me/spotifyYouTube: https://wandb.me/youtubeFollow Weights & Biases:https://x.com/weights_biaseshttps://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb
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49:36
Inside the Dark Web, AI and Cybersecurity with Christopher Ahlberg CEO of Recorded Future
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, host Lukas Biewald talks with Christopher Ahlberg, CEO of Recorded Future, a pioneering cybersecurity company leveraging AI to provide intelligence insights. Christopher shares his fascinating journey from founding data visualization startup Spotfire to building Recorded Future into an industry leader, eventually leading to its acquisition by Mastercard.They dive into gripping stories of cyber espionage, including how Recorded Future intercepted a hacker selling access to the U.S. Electoral Assistance Commission. Christopher also explains why the criminal underworld has shifted to platforms like Telegram, how AI is transforming both cyber threats and defenses, and the real-world implications of becoming an "undesirable enemy" of the Russian state.This episode offers unique insights into cybersecurity, AI-driven intelligence, entrepreneurship lessons from a two-time founder, and what happens when geopolitical tensions intersect with cutting-edge technology. A must-listen for anyone interested in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, or the complex dynamics shaping global security.🎙 Get our podcasts on these platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://wandb.me/apple-podcastsSpotify: https://wandb.me/spotifyYouTube: https://wandb.me/youtubeFollow Weights & Biases:https://twitter.com/weights_biases https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb
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50:15
AI, autonomy, and the future of naval warfare with Captain Jon Haase, United States Navy
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, host Lukas Biewald speaks with Captain Jon Haase, United States Navy about real-world applications of AI and autonomy in defense. From underwater mine detection with autonomous vehicles to the ethics of lethal AI systems, this conversation dives into how the U.S. military is integrating AI into mission-critical operations — and why humans will always be at the center of warfighting.They explore the challenges of underwater autonomy, multi-agent collaboration, cybersecurity, and the growing role of large language models like Gemini and Claude in the defense space. Essential listening for anyone curious about military AI, defense tech, and the future of autonomous systems.✅ *Subscribe to Weights & Biases* → https://bit.ly/45BCkYz🎙 Get our podcasts on these platforms:Apple Podcasts: http://wandb.me/apple-podcastsSpotify: http://wandb.me/spotifyGoogle: http://wandb.me/gd_googleYouTube: http://wandb.me/youtubeFollow Weights & Biases:https://twitter.com/weights_biases https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb Join the Weights & Biases Discord Server:https://discord.gg/CkZKRNnaf3
Join Lukas Biewald on Gradient Dissent, an AI-focused podcast brought to you by Weights & Biases. Dive into fascinating conversations with industry giants from NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Lyft, OpenAI, and more. Explore the cutting-edge of AI and learn the intricacies of bringing models into production.
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