DataTopics Unplugged: All Things Data, AI & Tech

• #83 Who’s Minding the Metadata? Why Data Quality Matters in GenAI (Quality Time With Paolo)

  Send us a textWelcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don't), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!In this episode, host Murilo is joined by returning guest Paolo, Data Management Team Lead at dataroots, for a deep dive into the often-overlooked but rapidly evolving domain of unstructured data quality. Tune in for a field guide to navigating documents, images, and embeddings without losing your sanity.What we unpack:Data management basics: Metadata, ownership, and why Excel isn’t everything.Structured vs unstructured data: How the wild west of PDFs, images, and audio is redefining quality.Data quality challenges for LLMs: From apples and pears to rogue chatbots with “legally binding” hallucinations.Practical checks for document hygiene: Versioning, ownership, embedding similarity, and tagging strategies.Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): When ChatGPT meets your HR policies and things get weird.Monitoring and governance: Building systems that flag rot before your chatbot gives out 2017 vacation rules.Tooling and gaps: Where open source is doing well—and where we’re still duct-taping workflows.Real-world inspirations: A look at how QuantumBlack (McKinsey) is tackling similar issues with their AI for DQ framework.

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• #82 AI Cracked a Decades-Old Science Problem & Europe’s Push for Digital Sovereignty, The Secret Behind MCP, and The Cloud Hack That Slashes Costs By 62%.

  Send us a textWelcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. DataTopics Unpluggedis your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don’t), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data—unplugged style!In this episode:OpenAI asks White House for AI regulation relief: OpenAI seeks federal-level AI policy exceptions in exchange for transparency. But is this a sign they’re losing momentum?Hot take: GPT-4.5 is a ‘nothing burger’: Is GPT-4.5 actually an upgrade, or just a well-marketed rerun?Claude 3.7 & Blowing €100 in Two Days: One of the hosts tests Claude extensively—and racks up a pricey bill. Was it worth it?OpenAI’s Deep Research: How does OpenAI’s new research tool compare to Perplexity?AI cracks superbug problem in two days: AI speeds up decades of scientific research—should we be impressed or concerned?European tech coalition demands ‘radical action’ on digital sovereignty: Big names like Airbus and Proton push for homegrown European tech.Migrating from AWS to a European cloud: A real-world case study on cutting costs by 62%—is it worth the trade-offs?Docs by the French government: A Notion alternative for open-source government collaboration.Why people hate note-taking apps: A deep dive into the frustrations with Notion, Obsidian, and alternatives.Model Context Protocol (MCP): How MCP is changing AI tool integrations—and why OpenAI isn’t on board (yet).OpenRouter.ai: The one-stop API for switching between AI models. Does it live up to the hype?OTDiamond.ai: A multi-LLM approach that picks the best model for your queries to balance cost and performance.Are you polite to AI?: Study finds most people say "please" to ChatGPT—good manners or fear of the AI uprising?AI refusing to do your work?: A hilarious case of an AI refusing to generate code because it "wants you to learn."And finally, a big announcement—DataTopics Unplugged is evolving! Stay tuned for an updated format and a fresh take on tech discussions. 

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• #81 AI Code Assistants: The Good, The Bad & The Overhyped, plus Python’s UV Glow-Up & Postman’s Existential Crisis

  Send us a textWelcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. Datatopics Unplugged is your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.This week, we dive into the latest in AI-assisted coding, software quality, and the ongoing debate on whether LLMs will replace developers—or just make their lives easier:My LLM Codegen workflow atm: A deep dive into using LLMs for coding, including structured workflows, tool recommendations, and the fine line between automation and chaos.Cline & Cursor: Exploring VSCode extensions and AI-powered coding tools that aim to supercharge development—but are they game-changers or just fancy autocomplete?To avoid being replaced by LLMs, do what they can’t: A thought-provoking take on the future of programming, the value of human intuition, and how to stay ahead in an AI-driven world.The wired brain: Why we should stop using glowing-brain stock images to talk about AI—and what that says about how we understand machine intelligence.A year of uv: Reflecting on a year of UV, the rising star of Python package managers. Should you switch? Maybe. Probably.Posting: A look at a fun GitHub project that makes sharing online a little more structured.Software Quality: AI may generate code, but does it generate good code? A discussion on testing, maintainability, and avoiding spaghetti.movingWithTheTimes: A bit of programmer humor to lighten the mood—because tech discussions need memes too.

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• #80 AI Agents Run Wild, DeepSeek Breaks Records, Polars Cloud Expands, and Perplexity Reinvents Search

  Send us a textWelcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. DataTopics Unpluggedis your go-to spot for relaxed discussions on tech, news, data, and society.This week, we’re unpacking everything from AI-powered vacations (or the lack thereof) to corporate drama, and even a deep dive into the quirks of COBOL. Join Morillo, Bart, and Alex as they navigate the latest happenings in data and tech, including:Airbnb AI: The CEO of Airbnb thinks AI trip planning is still a pipe dream. Is he right?Anthropic’s next AI model: A new Claude model could be just weeks away, promising a hybrid of deep reasoning and speed.OpenAI’s roadmap: Sam Altman lays out vague but ambitious plans, blurring the lines between AI models.Elon vs. OpenAI: Musk offers $97B for OpenAI, Altman claps back. Just another day in AI power struggles.RIP Viktor Antonov: The legendary art lead behind Half-Life 2 and Dishonored passes away at 52.Project Sid AI agents: 1,000 AI agents left to their own devices in Minecraft… What could go wrong?DeepSeek R1 breaks speed records: The latest AI model boasts a staggering 198 tokens per second.Perplexity’s Deep Research is now free: A game-changer for AI-powered search? We discuss.COBOL and the mystery of 1875-05-20: Why do old systems default to weird dates?Polars Cloud: A new distributed architecture to run Polars anywhere.Pickle AI avatars: Deepfake yourself into meetings. Ethical? Useful? Just plain weird?Vim after Bram: How the legendary text editor is surviving after its creator’s passing.Working Fast and Slow: A take on productivity, deep focus, and why some days just don’t work.We were wrong about GPUs: Fly.io admits they misjudged the demand for GPU-powered workloads.

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  1:07:27
• #79 The $6 AI Model? France’s $85B Bet, DeepSeek's Censorship & The Python Upgrades You Need

  Send us a textWelcome to the cozy corner of the tech world where ones and zeros mingle with casual chit-chat. DataTopics Unpluggedis your go-to spot for relaxed discussions around tech, news, data, and society.Dive into conversations that should flow as smoothly as your morning coffee (but don’t), where industry insights meet laid-back banter. Whether you're a data aficionado or just someone curious about the digital age, pull up a chair, relax, and let's get into the heart of data, unplugged style!This week, we break down some of the biggest developments in AI, investments, and automation:France’s AI Boom: $85 billion in investments – A look at how a mix of international and domestic funds is fueling France’s AI ecosystem, and why Mistral AI might be Europe's best shot at competing with OpenAI.Anthropic’s AI Job Index: Who’s using AI at work? – A deep dive into the latest report on how AI is being used in different industries, from software development to education, and the surprising ways automation is creeping into unexpected jobs.The $6 AI Model: How low can costs go? – Researchers have managed to create a reasoning model for just $6. We unpack how they pulled it off and what this means for the AI landscape.AI Censorship & Model Distillation: What’s really going on? – A discussion on recent claims that certain AI models come with baked-in censorship, and whether fine-tuning is playing a bigger role than we think.PromptLayer’s No-Code AI Tools – Are no-code AI development platforms the next big thing?Predicted Outputs: OpenAI’s approach to efficient code editing – A look at how OpenAI’s "Predicted Outputs" feature could make AI-assisted coding more efficient.MacOS System Monitoring & Dev Tooling: The geeky stuff – A breakdown of system monitoring tools for Mac users who love to keep an eye on every process running in the background.Snapshot Testing with Birdie – Exploring the concept of snapshot testing beyond UI testing and into function outputs.BeeWare & the Python Ecosystem – A look at how BeeWare is helping Python developers build cross-platform applications.Astral, Ruff, and UV: Python’s performance evolution – The latest from Charlie Marsh on the tools shaping Python development.

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