Category: 3-SometimeTechTalk

Topics covered in this episode:

• GitHub action security: zizmor
• Python is now the top language on GitHub
• Python 3.13, what didn't make the headlines
• PyCon US 2025
• Extras
• Joke

See the full show notes for this episode on the website at pythonbytes.fm/408

Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover 1) GPT-5 delayed till 2025? 2) Is focusing on products, not big models, a good move for OpenAI? 3) Is OpenAI trying to train the model again with a bigger GPU cluster? 4) Meta trains Llama 4 on more than 100,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs 5) OpenAI puts search in ChatGPT 6) Meta also has a search engine 7) Search engines everywhere, but Google still leads 8) Google's Halloween employee meeting 9) Amazon Alexa disappoints 10) Do Alexa's shortcomings reflect Amazon culture? 11) Election week preview 12) Ranjan on Big Tech earnings 13) Big Tech companies are spending big on AI 14) Is that AI replacing people? 15) Microsoft copilot adoption 16) Meta likes AI slop? 17) Do we like the Costco family 18) In praise of the Rizzler 19) Apple's initial Apple Intelligence results 20) The polymarket election.

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Want to learn more about the early days of React? React.js: The Documentary gives you the full story from the perspective of the developers who created it.

Vercel is a native Next.js platform.

v0 aims to democratize software development for non-technical users. Check it out here.

Listen to our recent conversation with Vercel’s VP of AI.

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn or X.

Kudos to Stack Overflow user Sodruldeen Mustapha, who earned a Lifeboat badge by answering How to remove the environment variables from Laravel Debug?. 

Kim Sutherland, Vice President of Fraud and Identity Strategy at LexisNexis® Risk Solutions joins the show to share her vision for the future of government services when it comes to closing the digital divide while ensuring security & transparency. We also discuss how AI and machine learning can help defeat both mass scale fraudsters and more advanced criminal enterprises effectively and how that translates into strategic value in support of the underserved populations needing to be verified.

In a rapidly evolving financial services landscape, traditional African insurers are racing to modernise their operations and product offerings to meet changing consumer needs. This episode explores how one of East Africa's largest insurance providers is navigating this transformation. Episode overview: In this first instalment of a special two-part miniseries on digital transformation across Africa's insurance and healthcare sectors, Andile Masuku, sits down with Evah Kimani, director of partnerships and digital at Britam. With over 18 years' experience spanning telecommunications, ICT and financial services, Evah provides unique insights into how legacy insurers are embedding their products into everyday consumer touchpoints. Key topics: • Digital transformation strategies in traditional insurance • Embedding insurance in daily consumer moments • The influence of cultural practices on financial innovation • Product development in the digital age • Partnership strategies for insurance providers • The role of telco in modern insurance • Innovation in East African insurance markets • Traditional vs digital distribution channels • Consumer behaviour and insurance adoption • The future of African insurtech Notable points: 1) Kimani shares how Britam is modernising its product development approach to meet evolving consumer needs 2) The discussion explores how cultural practices like 'chamas' and 'harambees' are shaping financial services innovation 3) Insights into embedding insurance products within everyday activities like buying airtime or hailing rides 4) Analysis of how traditional insurers can compete in an increasingly digital marketplace 5) Perspectives on the intersection of telecommunications and insurance services Listen in for valuable insights into how Kenya's market-leading insurer is adapting to serve the next generation of African consumers whilst maintaining its commercial dominance. Editorial Note: This episode is part of a special two-part miniseries made possible through the support of the International Federation of Health Plans (iFHP). It was recorded at the fringes of the iFHP Big Ideas Workshop 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Whilst supported by iFHP, African Tech Roundup maintains complete editorial independence, and the views expressed by the host and guests are entirely their own. Image credit: Nappy / Unsplash

The Haunted House of API's

Today, we are releasing another episode for Cybersecurity Awareness month, in our series entitled the Haunted House of API’s, sponsored by our friends at Traceable AI. In this series, we are building awareness around API’s, their security risks – and what you can do about it. Traceable AI is building One Platform to secure every API, so you can discover, protect, and test all your API's with contextual API security, enabling organizations to minimize risk and maximize the value API's bring to their customers.

A Portal to the Beyond: Securing Gen AI and other Third-Party APIs in Your Applications

Today’s episode is titled A Portal to the Beyond: Securing Gen AI and other Third-Party APIs in Your Applications, with Allison Averill. Developers are building exciting new features with Gen AI, often leveraging 3^rd party APIs. Doing this isn’t new, but are these integrations secure? These APIs open a portal to the beyond – and introduce supply chain risk to your applications. Allison is a Generative AI and product management expert at Traceable, and she will explore the risks lurking in generative AI and other 3^rd party APIs, sharing best practices for securing these integrations, so you can ensure they don’t become the stuff of security horror stories.

1. How are application developers leveraging 3rd party APIs today, and how is the landscape changing?
2. How do third-party APIs introduce risks to applications and what are some common mistakes organizations make when integrating with third party APIs?
3. How are generative AI APIs different from other third party APIs? What unique risks do they introduce?
4. Have you encountered any 'nightmare' scenarios where an insecure third-party API caused a security incident?
5. What best practices should organizations follow to ensure secure integrations?
6. How can organizations balance the need for innovation with the necessity of maintaining strict security controls when working with external partners?

Sponsors

• Traceable

Links

• https://www.traceable.ai/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonaverill/

 

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Aidan Gomez is the co-author of the "Attention Is All You Need" paper that launched the AI revolution and CEO of Cohere, an enterprise AI company. Gomez joins Big Technology to discuss the myths, facts, and realities of today's AI landscape. Tune in to hear why the real value of AI isn't in flashy consumer apps but in automating crucial back-office processes that could save businesses billions. We also cover the truth about AI capabilities, the likelihood of AGI, synthetic data training, and whether an intelligence explosion is possible. Hit play for a refreshingly grounded discussion about where AI is actually making an impact, from one of the field's pioneering voices.

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Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.

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Questions? Feedback? Write to: bigtechnologypodcast@gmail.com

 

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You can find Sunny Patel on LinkedIn and on GitHub.

Find Kyle Prinsloo on X and on LinkedIn.

Congrats to Lifeboat badge winner M.M who provided an answer to What does the "Expected '(' for function-style cast or type construction" error mean?