How ActiveLoop Is Building the Back End for Generative AI

Generative AI is going to change how we do things across the entire economy, including the fields Harry covers on the show, namely healthcare delivery, drug discovery, and drug development. But we’re still just starting to figure out exactly how it’s going to change things. For example, AI is already speeding up the process of discovering new biological targets for drugs and designing molecules to hit those targets—but whether that will actually lead to better medicines, or create a new generation of AI-driven pharmaceutical companies, are still unanswered questions.  One thing that’s for sure is that generative AI isn’t magic. You can’t just  sprinkle it like pixie dust over an existing project or dataset and expect wonderful things to happen automatically. In fact, just to use the data you already have, you have to you may have to invest a lot in the new infrastructure and tools needed to train a generative model. And that’s the part of the puzzle Harry focuses on in today's interview with David Buniatyan. He’s the founder of a company called ActiveLoop, which is trying to address the need for infrastructure capable of handling large-scale data for AI applications. He has a background in neuroscience from Princeton University, where he was part of a team working on reconstructing neural connectivity in mouse brains using petabyte-scale imaging data. At ActiveLoop, David has led the development of Deep Lake, a database optimized for AI and deep learning models trained on equally large datasets. Deep Lake manages data in a tensor-native format, allowing for faster iterations when training generative models. David says the company’s goal is to take over the boring stuff. That means removing the burden of data management from scientists and engineers, so they can focus on the bigger questions—like making sure their models are training on the right data—and ultimately innovate faster. For a full transcript of this episode, please visit our episode page at http://www.glorikian.com/podcast  Please rate and review The Harry Glorikian Show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!  Here's how to do that on Apple Podcasts: 1. Open the Podcasts app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.  2. Navigate to The Harry Glorikian Show podcast. You can find it by searching for it or selecting it from your library. Just note that you'll have to go to the series page which shows all the episodes, not just the page for a single episode. 3. Scroll down to find the subhead titled "Ratings & Reviews." 4. Under one of the highlighted reviews, select "Write a Review." 5. Next, select a star rating at the top — you have the option of choosing between one and five stars.  6. Using the text box at the top, write a title for your review. Then, in the lower text box, write your review. Your review can be up to 300 words long. 7. Once you've finished, select "Send" or "Save" in the top-right corner.  8. If you've never left a podcast review before, enter a nickname. Your nickname will be displayed next to any reviews you leave from here on out.  9. After selecting a nickname, tap OK. Your review may not be immediately visible. On Spotify, the process is similar. Open the Spotify app, navigate to The Harry Glorikian Show, tap the three dots, then tap "Rate Show." Thanks!