Andrew Lee: How AI will Shape the Future of Email

Andrew Lee: How AI will Shape the Future of Email

Author: Daniel Bashir April 4, 2024 Duration: 1:03:40

In episode 118 of The Gradient Podcast, Daniel Bashir speaks to Andrew Lee.

Andrew is co-founder and CEO of Shortwave, a company dedicated to building a better product experience for email, particularly by leveraging AI. He previously co-founded and was CTO at Firebase.

Have suggestions for future podcast guests (or other feedback)? Let us know here or reach Daniel at editor@thegradient.pub

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Outline:

* (00:00) Intro

* (01:43) Andrew’s previous work, Firebase

* (04:48) Benefits of lacking experience in building Firebase

* (08:55) On “abstract reasoning” vs empirical capabilities

* (10:30) Shortwave’s AI system as a black box

* (11:55) Motivations for Shortwave

* (17:10) Why is Google not innovating on email?

* (21:53) Shortwave’s overarching product vision and pivots

* (27:40) Shortwave AI features

* (33:20) AI features for email and security concerns

* (35:45) Shortwave’s AI Email Assistant + architecture

* (43:40) Issues with chaining LLM calls together

* (45:25) Understanding implicit context in utterances, modularization without loss of context

* (48:56) Performance for AI assistant, batching and pipelining

* (55:10) Prompt length

* (57:00) On shipping fast

* (1:00:15) AI improvements that Andrew is following

* (1:03:10) Outro

Links:

* Andrew’s blog and Twitter

* Shortwave

* Introducing Ghostwriter

* Everything we shipped for AI Launch Week

* A deep dive into the world’s smartest email AI



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Hosted by Daniel Bashir, The Gradient: Perspectives on AI moves beyond surface-level headlines to explore the intricate machinery and human ideas shaping artificial intelligence. Each episode is built on a foundation of deep research, leading to conversations that are both technically substantive and broadly accessible. You'll hear from researchers, engineers, and philosophers who are actively building and critiquing our technological future, discussing not just how AI systems work, but the larger implications of their integration into society. This isn't about speculative hype; it's a grounded examination of real progress, persistent challenges, and ethical considerations from those on the front lines. The discussions peel back layers on topics like model architecture, policy, and the fundamental science behind the algorithms becoming part of our daily lives. For anyone curious about the substance behind the buzz-whether you have a technical background or are simply keen to understand a defining technology of our age-this podcast offers a crucial and thoughtful resource. Tune in for a consistently detailed and nuanced take that treats artificial intelligence with the complexity it deserves.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Gradient: Perspectives on AI
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