Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) The DeepSeek impact on Silicon Valley 2) The four areas of margin in AI 3) How OpenAI is positioned after this week 4) Whether OpenAI can be fine losing the lead on model building 5) DeepSeek's impact on Anthropic 6) Why Amazon is happy about DeepSeek 7) Should NVIDIA be taking the worst of it? 8) Okay, let's discuss Jevon's Paradox 9) We have a discord now 10) Apple made Siri even dumber
Listen to Bill Tarr from AWS and Brian Rinaldi (then at LaunchDarkly and now at Localstack) talk about the opportunity to extend feature flags beyond deployment and rollout and into entitlement management and monetization.
Torrey Leonard lived in Maryland prior to moving to New York City. In 7th grade, his claim to fame was building the world's largest Minecraft server in the world. In early high school, he had over a million users, made 6 figures, and was fueled by open source software that still runs on most Minecraft servers today. Outside of tech and gaming, he loves to play pickleball and really enjoys skiing - though he confesses that in New York, it's harder to do these hobbies, financially and logistically.
Last summer, Torrey built a platform that allowed you to build out voice agents. After doing so, he realized that there wasn't a good way to do this through a UI, and he realized this was an obvious thing that needed to be built. He decided to leave his prior company to pursue this vision - which headed towards the Zapier for call center agents.
Join me as I chat with Rich Iannone and Michael Chow from Posit where we explore the transformative power of data tables with the Great Tables library. We'll cover practical applications of Great Tables, showcasing how thoughtful design and advanced formatting can elevate your data presentations. And you'll learn about innovative features like nano plots and interactive elements and the importance of structure, format, and style in crafting tables that both inform and inspire. Whether you're a seasoned data scientist or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable tips and inspiring examples to enhance your data storytelling.
Today, we are releasing another episode in our series entitled Minting Unicorns - Blockchain, AI and Dubai, sponsored by the City of Dubai.
Dubai is the new global center of gravity, connecting the world in a way few places can. As a hub for trade, tourism, innovation, and finance, Dubai offers the ideal environment for startups and scale-ups to thrive. Entrepreneurs find a home here, whether in health-tech, fintech, AI, or renewable energy, supported by SME-focused programs that empower high-potential companies to scale globally. From flexible regulations to tax incentives, world-class infrastructure to access to global investors managing $1 trillion, Dubai understands what businesses need to scale fast.
Today, we are speaking with Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni, CEO of AI for the Dubai Department of Economy & Tourism. Dr. Marwan. He is going to help walk us through how Dubai is creating a foundational hub for AI, Blockchain, and the intersection of both.
Questions:
Tell me and my audience a little bit about you.
You are CEO of AI for the DET. What does that entail? What are you driving in this position, leading your department?
It feels like blockchain is still trying to find its place in the mainstream, i.e., utility, security or currency, while AI is settling in some - where are both of these areas going?
While AI is a major focus, Dubai has also exceedingly been adopting blockchain. How do you see these two technologies interacting in various sectors, especially since you're also the CEO of Dubai Blockchain Centre.
How is Dubai addressing ethical challenges in AI adoption, especially in areas like data privacy and transparency?
AI is rapidly evolving globally, but how do you see Dubai positioning itself as a leader in the AI space?What’s your outlook for the city’s AI ecosystem in the next 5-10 years, and how are you working towards it today?
What is Dubai doing to attract promising and leading AI and blockchain companies to Dubai? What does the city offer companies in this space from a competitive advantage standpoint?
Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, a legendary Silicon Valley investor, and author of the new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future. Hoffman joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss his optimistic case for AI, the massive investments flooding into the field, and whether they can possibly pay off. Tune in to hear Hoffman's insider perspective on OpenAI's $6.6 billion raise, the emergence of Chinese AI competitor DeepSeek, and why he believes these unprecedented investments will seem small in retrospect. We also cover the evolving Microsoft-OpenAI relationship, tech CEOs gravitating toward Trump, and Hoffman's views on AI regulation and TikTok's future. Hit play for a deep dive into AI's trajectory from one of the industry's most influential voices.
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Joni Klippert has spent many years in startups. Post getting her MBA, she built her early career in Boulder, CO, and became very technical learning new technologies throughout the businesses she worked for, liked VictorOps and Splunk. Outside of tech, she is married with 2 dogs. Her favorite thing to do is travel with her husband to visit Michelin star restaurants. One of her favorites was called Azuermendi in Spain, as it was not only delicious, but an immersive experience.
Joni had been building software for engineers for a long time, as a product person. At one point, she started researching the last mile of DevOps, and was surprised how far this particular group was behind, in regard to tooling. She dreamt of automating the pen-testing remediation process, and stumbled upon an opportunity as it relates to DAST - dynamic application security testing.
M.G. Siegler is a writer and investor and the author of Spyglass. Siegler joins Big Technology for a bonus depisode to discuss DeepSeek R1, the Chinese open-source AI model and its impact on the tech industry. Tune in to hear why DeepSeek's ability to match OpenAI's performance at just 3-5% of the cost could upend the AI industry's economic model. We also cover the immediate market fallout, why Silicon Valley's scaling hypothesis might be invalidated, and what this means for companies like Microsoft, Google, and NVIDIA. Hit play for a timely analysis of one of the most significant developments in AI that could reshape the technology landscape.
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