Alyssa Simpson Rochwerger — Responsible ML in the Real World

Alyssa Simpson Rochwerger — Responsible ML in the Real World

Author: Lukas Biewald May 20, 2021 Duration: 45:29
From working on COVID-19 vaccine rollout to writing a book on responsible ML, Alyssa shares her thoughts on meaningful projects and the importance of teamwork. --- Alyssa Simpson Rochwerger is as a Director of Product at Blue Shield of California, pursuing her dream of using technology to improve healthcare. She has over a decade of experience in building technical data-driven products and has held numerous leadership roles for machine learning organizations, including VP of AI and Data at Appen and Director of Product at IBM Watson. Connect with Sean: Personal website: https://seanjtaylor.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanjtaylor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanjtaylor/ --- Topics Discussed: 0:00 Sneak peak, intro 1:17 Working on COVID-19 vaccine rollout in California 6:50 Real World AI 12:26 Diagnosing bias in models 17:43 Common challenges in ML 21:56 Finding meaningful projects 24:28 ML applications in health insurance 31:21 Longitudinal health records and data cleaning 38:24 Following your interests 40:21 Why teamwork is crucial Transcript: http://wandb.me/gd-alyssa-s-rochwerger Links Discussed: My Turn: https://myturn.ca.gov/ "Turn the Ship Around!": https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/314163/turn-the-ship-around-by-l-david-marquet/ --- Get our podcast on these platforms: Apple Podcasts: http://wandb.me/apple-podcasts​​ Spotify: http://wandb.me/spotify​ Google Podcasts: http://wandb.me/google-podcasts​​ YouTube: http://wandb.me/youtube​​ Soundcloud: http://wandb.me/soundcloud​ Join our community of ML practitioners where we host AMAs, share interesting projects and meet other people working in Deep Learning: http://wandb.me/slack​​ Check out Fully Connected, which features curated machine learning reports by researchers exploring deep learning techniques, Kagglers showcasing winning models, industry leaders sharing best practices, and more: https://wandb.ai/fully-connected

Lukas Biewald hosts Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI, a series that moves beyond theoretical discussions to examine how artificial intelligence is actually built and deployed. Each episode features a direct, unscripted talk with a leading practitioner-you’ll hear from engineers and researchers at places like NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Lyft, and OpenAI. The focus is on the tangible challenges and breakthroughs they encounter, from initial research to the complex reality of putting models into production. This isn't about abstract futures; it's a grounded look at the decisions shaping the field right now. Biewald, bringing his perspective from Weights & Biases, steers conversations toward the practical trade-offs and collaborative efforts that define modern AI work. For anyone in technology or business who wants to understand the mechanics behind the headlines, this podcast offers a rare, candid window into the process. You’ll come away with a clearer sense of how ideas become functional systems and what it really takes to operate at the cutting edge.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI
Podcast Episodes
Evaluating LLMs with Chatbot Arena and Joseph E. Gonzalez [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:32
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Joseph E. Gonzalez, EECS Professor at UC Berkeley and Co-Founder at RunLLM, joins host Lukas Biewald to explore innovative approaches to evaluating LLMs.They discuss the concept of vi…
Snowflake’s CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy on 700+ LLM enterprise use cases [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:42
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins host Lukas Biewald to explore how AI is transforming enterprise data strategies.They discuss Sridhar's journey from Google to Snowflake, diving i…
Elevating ML Infrastructure with Modal Labs CEO Erik Bernhardsson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:39
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Erik Bernhardsson, CEO & Founder of Modal Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the future of machine learning infrastructure. They explore how Modal is enhancing the developer ex…
From No-Code to AI-Powered Apps with Airtable’s Howie Liu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:57
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Howie Lou, CEO of Airtable, joins host Lukas Biewald to dive into Airtable's transformation from a no-code app builder to a platform capable of supporting complex AI-driven workflows.…
Reinventing AI Agents with Imbue CEO Kanjun Qiu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:37
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Kanjun Qiu, CEO and Co-founder of Imbue, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI agents are transforming code generation and software development. Discover the potential impact and…
From startup to $1.2B with Lambda’s Stephen Balaban [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:56
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Stephen Balaban, CEO of Lambda Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the journey of scaling Lambda Labs to an impressive $400M in revenue. They explore the pivotal moments that sh…