Alexa's Input (AI)

Alexa Griffith

Alexa’s Input is a podcast about how technology actually moves forward. Hosted by Alexa Griffith, it features conversations with engineers, founders, CEOs, and leaders shaping today’s tech landscape. Each episode digs into the decisions behind the systems — what’s being built, what’s being questioned, and why it matters now.

Opinions are my own

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput
Podcast Website: https://alexasinputai.com/
Website: https://alexagriffith.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/
X: @alexa_griffith_

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S5 · E14
July 27 · 50 min
Personal Security with Alex Zenla, Founder and CTO of Edera
In this episode of Alexa's Input (AI), I sit down with Alex Zenla, founder and CTO of Edera. Alex grew up in a small town in Alabama, found a computer young, and started building. Her story is unlike many in tech. She taught herself to program and got a job in tech at 14 years old. Since then, she's been actively building and involved in open source. She's currently the founder and CTO of Edera, a company whose product integrates security into the lowest layers of the platform without sacrificing performance or velocity. In this episode, we get into where that path started, what it costs to be different in founder and venture rooms, and what breaks when infrastructure still ships with security off by default. From the episode: Growing up in small-town Alabama without a path into tech Southern niceness as theory versus practice Full-time work at fourteen and presenting to executives as a teenager Being one of very few trans founders in venture rooms, and the tension between visibility and being treated as a token Elevator pitches that change with the audience Detection and response after a problem has already occurred Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures becoming untenable when tools like Mythos surface hundreds of findings per project per day Kubernetes and vendors selling yet another layer while the foundations underneath are misaligned Secure defaults as the path of least resistance for teams that just need a cluster that works Alex's mission is to make secure computing the default. Today you work hard to get a secure environment, and she's building Edera to invert that. What stays with you is how personal that work is for her. The path from a small Alabama town into those rooms is not separate from the product. It's why the default being broken bothers her enough to build a company around fixing it. GENERAL PODCAST LINKS Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput Read: https://alexasinput.substack.com/ Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/ More: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HOST Website: https://alexagriffith.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/ FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GUEST LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/azenla/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/alex.zenla.io Edera: https://edera.dev/ GitHub: https://github.com/edera-dev RESOURCES Edera docs: https://docs.edera.dev/
S5 · E13
July 20 · 1 hr 4 min
Paying Attention in the Age of Agents
AI agents have created more possibilities for engineers than ever before. But what does daily life actually look like for the builders who've gone all in? In my very first panel episode, I sit down with Adam Anzuoni from Cursor, Taylor Dolezal from Dosu, and Peter Bell from Gather.dev. Three builders running agents every day for real work, not demos. Peter runs nine API plans across three Mac Minis, with built-in adversarial review. Adam manages cloud agents from his phone. Taylor is building the context infrastructure that makes agent knowledge portable across teams. We get into deterministic pipelines, skill systems that become their own technical debt, and what all three kept coming back to: attention is now the bottleneck. When agents can do everything, deciding what deserves your focus is the actual hard problem. Three setups. One shared constraint. A conversation worth hearing. Topics discussed: Attention as the real bottleneck when agents can do everything Deterministic pipelines vs. agentic orchestration — when to use scripts and when to use agents Peter's system: nine API plans, three Mac Minis, adversarial review, self-improving context Adam on Cursor cloud agents and managing builds from his phone Taylor on context distribution — making accumulated knowledge available to ephemeral agents The skill maintenance problem and why agent systems become their own technical debt The ADHD-like productivity loop that agent-driven work creates Plans matter more than prompts — all three panelists converged on this Intermediate artifacts as the key to quality output Product mindset as the engineer's next high-value skill Sandboxes, governance, and why "approve, approve, approve" puts your hard drive at risk General podcast links Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput Read: https://alexasinput.substack.com/ Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/ More: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith Learn more about the host Website: https://alexagriffith.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/ X: https://x.com/alexa_griffith_ Find out more about the guests Adam Anzuoni LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamanz/ Website: https://www.adamanzuoni.com/ Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ Taylor Dolezal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/onlydole/ Website: https://onlydole.dev/ Dosu: https://dosu.dev/ Peter Bell LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterfbell/ Gather.dev: https://gather.dev/ O'Reilly Book: Scaling AI Adoption in Engineering Resources mentioned in this episode Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ Dosu: https://dosu.dev/ Gather.dev: https://gather.dev/ Anthropic Claude: https://www.anthropic.com/ The Phoenix Project (book reference by Taylor) Kelsey Hightower productivity survey (referenced by Taylor)
S5 · E12
June 29 · 57 min
Systems, Scale, and SRE with Vlad Leyberov
Most engineers think reliability means avoiding outages. Vlad Leyberov learned the opposite lesson: sometimes you have to intentionally cause a 100% outage to fix the system faster. Vlad is a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) at Google, running systems that handle billions of requests per second. Before Google, he kept critical infrastructure running at Meta (billions of events a day) and Amazon (millions of Alexa devices). In this conversation, we dig into cascading failures, incident responses, why consistency beats speed, how AI changes reliability engineering, and the philosophy behind running systems where downtime doesn't feel like an option. Topics Discussed: How cascading failures propagate unpredictably in distributed systems (like nature, not machines) Incident responses: virtual panic rooms, on-call, paging procedures, and how to narrow down failure points The Alexa incident: why dropping an entire DynamoDB table was the right call Critical User Journeys (CUJ): measuring end-to-end customer experience vs individual SLOs Career journey from the USSR to maritime academy to business degree in Australia to SRE at Amazon, Meta, and Google Why consistency in API response times beats raw speed How AI makes it dangerously easy to create complex systems with poorly understood interactions Science fiction, the Borg as a distributed system, and the Three Body Problem trilogy Hot takes on reliability: all software development is maintenance, overrated 9s, underrated global failure modes General Podcast Links Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput Read: https://alexasinput.substack.com/ Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/ More: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith Learn more about the host Website: https://alexagriffith.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/ Find out more about Vlad Leyberov LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladleyberov/ Google SRE NYC Tech Talks Resources Google SRE Resources: Google SRE Book: https://sre.google/books/ Google Cloud Platform: https://cloud.google.com/ Google Cloud Build: https://cloud.google.com/build (service discussed in outage story) Google Cloud Pub/Sub: https://cloud.google.com/pubsub (Vlad's previous role, billions of requests/second) Sci-Fi Books Mentioned: Three Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin (Vlad's current favorite) Foundation series by Isaac Asimov Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Internal Google Systems Referenced: Borg: Google's internal cluster management system (Kubernetes predecessor), named after Star Trek Borg DynamoDB: AWS distributed key-value store (used in Alexa poison pill incident) Intro Music:PR1BVOV7R4F1ASZC
S5 · E11
June 15 · 1 hr 17 min
David Aronchick on Distributed Data Orchestration with Expanso
In this episode of Alexa's Input (AI), I sit down with David Aronchick, co-founder and CEO of Expanso and former product lead for Kubernetes at Google. Data is growing everywhere outside your data center. Solar panels in remote across a country. Security cameras at retail stores. IoT sensors across factory floors. And moving that data to the cloud for processing? It's expensive, slow, and often restricted by compliance. David is an expert when it comes to solving distribution problems. He led Kubernetes product at Google, co-founded Kubeflow to bring ML to production, and now he's building Expanso to tackle a difficult constraint: when your data can't move, how do you process it where it lives? We discuss: - The need for distributed data orchestration -Upstream data control: filtering and transforming at the source - Three forces making edge computing inevitable (physics, regulations, economics) - How to build successful open source infrastructure projects- Customer discovery and finding real pain points - His transition from Protocol Labs to founding Expanso - ETL pipelines: moving the first four steps closer to the data - Context loss and lineage in distributed systems - Processing 400,000 signals per second with 150MB agents - AI observability: attaching source metadata to training data - Running ML pipelines at the edge- Real-world deployment challenges (bandwidth, regulations, cost) Expanso is rethinking how we process data in an AI-native world—moving compute to data instead of data to compute. If you want to understand where distributed systems and edge computing are heading, this is a deep dive into the infrastructure layer beneath modern AI applications. General Podcast Links Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput Read: https://alexasinput.substack.com/ Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/ More: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith Learn more about the host at Website: https://alexagriffith.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/ Find out more about the guest at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aronchick/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/aronchick GitHub: https://github.com/aronchick Expanso Website: https://expanso.io/ Resources Expanso Website: https://expanso.io/ Kubernetes: https://kubernetes.io/ Kubeflow: https://www.kubeflow.org/ CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation): https://www.cncf.io/ Protocol Labs: https://protocol.ai/ Keywords David Aronchick, Expanso, Kubernetes, Kubeflow, distributed systems, edge computing, data pipelines, ETL, upstream data control, Google Kubernetes Engine, open source, CNCF, observability, log processing, data lineage, provenance, schema enforcement, IoT, edge AI, distributed data, machine learning infrastructure, Protocol Labs, IPFS, Filecoin, data governance, compliance, GDPR, bandwidth optimization, data aggregation, AI infrastructure, multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, real-time processing
S5 · E10
June 3 · 1 hr 42 min
How vLLM and llm-d Changed AI Inference with Rob Shaw
In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), I sat down with Rob Shaw from Red Hat to talk about how AI inference evolved from a simple model serving problem into a large-scale distributed systems problem. We explored the infrastructure shifts behind modern LLM serving, including how vLLM and PagedAttention changed the economics and efficiency of inference, why KV cache management became one of the most important bottlenecks in production AI systems, and how orchestration layers like llm-d are emerging to coordinate distributed inference. We also discuss: how LLM inference differs from traditional model serving runtimes KV cache, prefix caching, and cache-aware routing why throughput and latency became major infrastructure challenges long-context agents and repeated inference calls distributed inference on Kubernetes intelligent routing, flow control, and load balancing prefill/decode disaggregation enterprise AI deployment realities vLLM has become one of the most important open-source projects in AI infrastructure, and llm-d represents a newer shift toward treating inference as a coordinated distributed system rather than just a single runtime problem. If you want to better understand the systems layer beneath modern AI applications, this episode is a deep dive into where inference infrastructure is heading next. General Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about the host at Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-shaw-1a01399a/ Red Hat Articles: https://developers.redhat.com/author/robert-shaw Github: https://github.com/robertgshaw2-redhat Resources vLLM Website: https://vllm.ai/ vLLM GitHub Repository: https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm llm-d Website: https://llm-d.ai/ llm-d GitHub Repository - https://github.com/llm-d/llm-d Keywords AI inference, VLLM, LMD, distributed inference, GPU optimization, open source AI, Kubernetes, multi-cluster deployment, AI infrastructure, enterprise AI AI infrastructure, Kubernetes, model optimization, speculative decoding, mixture of experts, AI deployment, performance tuning, AI systems, neural network scaling Key Topics Evolution of vLLM and llm-d Distributed inference and routing GPU utilization and performance optimization Open source AI infrastructure Enterprise deployment challenges and solutions Standardization in Kubernetes for NIC exposure Performance optimizations: quantization and speculative decoding Mixture of experts architecture and parallelism strategies Flow control and request scheduling in AI systems Emerging hardware for AI inference, Cerebras processor Reinforcement learning and AI system support Modular architecture of vLLM and ecosystem projects
S5 · E10
May 24 · 1 hr 13 min
Intelligence Per Watt with Emilio Andere
On this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), I sit down with Emilio Andere, co-founder and CEO of Wafer, to talk about the future of AI infrastructure, inference optimization, and the economics driving the AI compute race. We discuss: why “intelligence per watt” may become one of the defining metrics of the AI era the current GPU and accelerator landscape across NVIDIA, AMD, TPUs, and emerging hardware startups why software optimization is becoming just as important as hardware itself inference optimization strategies why AI infrastructure companies are racing up the stack what it’s actually like building an AI infrastructure startup today and more! Emilio also shares lessons from founding Wafer, thoughts on the future of open-source AI infrastructure, and why he believes optimizing intelligence itself could become one of the most important engineering problems. General Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about the host at Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emi-andere/ Wafer Website: https://www.wafer.ai/ Wafer AI / Y Combinator Article: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/wafer Chapters 00:00 Exploring AI Conversations and Recent Podcasts 02:14 Intelligence per Watt: A New Metric for AI 07:35 The Manifesto: Efficiency in Civilization 12:40 Founding Wafer: The Journey Begins 18:08 The GPU Hardware Landscape and Market Dynamics 23:07 AMD's Growing Presence in the GPU Market 24:07 Emerging Competitors in the AI Hardware Space 26:04 Comparing TPUs and GPUs 27:21 Acquisition and Availability of TPUs 28:33 Navigating the GPU Marketplace 30:05 Understanding Neo Cloud Economics 33:30 The AI Bubble Debate 36:25 Optimizing AI Models for Performance 44:46 Bottlenecks in AI Model Performance 48:08 Future Directions in AI Hardware Optimization 54:39 Balancing Speed and Cost in AI Performance 56:54 Kernel Arena: Benchmarking AI Performance 01:03:45 Lessons from Founding: Sales and Emotional Resilience 01:07:38 The Future of AI: Trends and Predictions 01:13:03 Outro Keywords AI hardware, inference optimization, intelligence per watt, GPU market, AI infrastructure, Wafer, AI bubble, TPU, GPU bottleneck, AI efficiency AI optimization, large language models, AI hardware, quantization, speculative decoding, benchmarking, AI infrastructure, model training, AI startups
S5 · E9
May 17 · 54 min
Building Reliable Systems at Bloomberg with Sal Furino
In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), I sit down with Sal Furino to explore the hidden engineering work that keeps modern systems reliable. We break down what Service Level Objectives, Indicators (SLOs/SLIs), and error budgets actually mean in practice, why reliability is as much a cultural problem as a technical one, and how teams can better measure real user experience instead of just infrastructure health. Sal also explains reliability engineering and the challenges of reliability at scale, like: Why latency and correctness become harder to measure with GenAI The difference between a bad incident and a fundamentally bad system How observability and telemetry shape modern engineering organizations Why most teams focus too much on infrastructure metrics and not enough on user happiness Why “the best systems are the ones nobody notices.” If you work in AI infrastructure, distributed systems, platform engineering, observability, or SRE, this episode is a must listen! SRECon Talk Dashboards & Dragons: Reliability Magic for AI Platforms by Alexa Griffith and Sal Furino: https://youtu.be/aWMB_7ksbkc?si=S49nPyAl_hCUIH7y General Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ ⁠https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about the host at Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvatore-furino/ Rootly Interview: https://rootly.com/humans-of-reliability/salvatore-furino Reliability at Scale Talk: https://youtu.be/J-VrU5JHPlk?si=8aV8acy57NWX30KA Bloomberg Careers: https://bloomberg.avature.net/careers/SearchJobs Chapters 00:00 - Introduction: Reliability in a world reshaped by generative AI 02:22 - The importance of seamless, background system design 04:41 - Becoming a Customer Reliability Engineer at Bloomberg 05:17 - Clarifying the CRE role and its customer focus 08:02 - The importance of observability and high-scale performance in finance 09:00 - Balancing technical and cultural aspects of reliability 10:19 - Coaching teams to be proactive using error budgets and SLIs 12:21 - The social-technical system: People, processes, and tools 13:06 - Mediation of differing opinions on reliability practices 15:06 - The nuanced approach to alerting and incident response 17:08 - The significance of tiered SLOs and the concept of error budgets 21:08 - Using signals like latency, correctness, availability, saturation in system measurement 22:53 - The impact of service level "nines" on system design and resilience 28:00 - Handling non-determinism and trust in AI responses 33:01 - Error budgets and their role in managing deployments 34:10 - The challenge of achieving five nines and data durability considerations 40:03 - Adapting SLOs for GenAI systems: core principles remain intact 42:23 - Measuring non-deterministic AI responses and quality proxies 44:41 - The ongoing importance of reliability even in AI/ML contexts 47:25 - Reacting to error budget exhaustion and proactive mitigation 50:42 - The significance of involving cross-functional teams during outages 55:36 - Advocating reliability investment to leadership 56:24 - The customer perspective: reliability as a fundamental feature 58:42 - Connecting with Sal Furino: where to follow his work and learn more about Bloomberg's engineering culture 59:20 - Final advice: Focus on user happiness to avoid common pitfalls in adopting SLOs
S5 · E8
May 10 · 54 min
Laila: Reinventing Dating as a Social Marketplace with Kaan Divitoğlu
In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), I sit down with Kaan Divitoğlu, founder of Laila — a New York based startup rethinking online dating as a social marketplace centered around real plans instead of endless swiping. We talk about why traditional dating apps struggle to create real-world connection, how marketplace dynamics shape modern dating behavior, and why Kaan believes the future of dating products is less about “matching soulmates” and more about helping people actually get out on first dates. Kaan shares what he’s learned building a product around something emotional, unpredictable, and deeply human: connection. We also get into: • The metrics behind dating products and user behavior • Why most matches never turn into real dates • Designing around human psychology and social incentives • AI in dating apps — where it helps and where it shouldn’t • The process of building Laila • Social media growth, creator strategies, and startup distribution • Why Kaan thinks apps themselves may eventually disappear Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about the host at Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaan-divitoglu-152779105/ Laila Website: https://laila.nyc Laila Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laila.social Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Layla and Its Concept 04:10 The Journey of Building Layla 08:43 User Feedback and Validation 13:35 Metrics of Success in Dating Apps 18:23 Differentiation in the Dating App Market 22:54 Understanding User Behavior and Expectations 27:37 Challenges in the Dating Landscape 29:50 Loneliness and Social Skills in Modern Dating 30:51 AI's Role in Dating Apps 34:20 The Future of Dating Apps and User Experience 38:19 Building Community Through Events and Social Media 42:54 Navigating Social Media Marketing 46:00 Rapid Fire Insights on Dating and Relationships 53:33 Outro Keywords dating app, AI, product design, real-world connections, marketplace, user engagement, social media, social tech, startup, innovation
S5 · E7
March 19 · 58 min
The Creative Founder Mindset with Brady Jordan
In this episode, Alexa Griffith interviews Brady Jordan, a creative director and entrepreneur, who shares his journey from aspiring software engineer to the founder of Clip Play Media and the photo app Y2Cam. Brady discusses the intersection of creativity and technology, the importance of storytelling in video production, and the challenges of self-employment. He emphasizes the need for resilience, adaptability, and a consumer-first approach in product development, while also exploring the significance of networking and community building in achieving success. Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ More Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the host, Alexa Griffith, at: Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: Website: https://www.bradyjordan.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Brady Jordan and His Journey 06:45 The Birth of Clip Play Media 14:58 Quality vs. Consistency in Content Creation 24:51 Y2Cam: A Solution to Frustration 30:51 Cost and Infrastructure of App Development 35:30 Navigating the Challenges of Self-Employment 42:51 Marketing Strategies for App Success 49:04 The Value-Based Approach to Creation
S5 · E6
February 17 · 48 min
Securing the Software Supply Chain with Justin Cappos
Modern software is built on layers and layers of code. So how do we know we can trust it? In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa Griffith sits down with Justin Cappos, professor of computer science at NYU and a leading expert in software supply chain security, to unpack what trust really means in today’s digital infrastructure. From package managers and dependency chains to large-scale outages and AI systems built on inherited code, Justin explains why many security failures aren’t random accidents, they’re predictable consequences of weak process, misaligned incentives, and insecure design. They discuss: Why security only becomes visible when something breaks The difference between unavoidable failure and negligence How modern software supply chains amplify small mistakes The role of leadership and culture in preventing breaches Why verification systems like TUF and in-toto matter more than ever As AI accelerates development and increases system complexity, the need for verifiable trust only grows. This episode is a practical look at the invisible infrastructure that keeps modern software, and increasingly, modern AI, from collapsing under its own complexity. Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: Website: https://engineering.nyu.edu/faculty/justin-cappos NYU page: https://ssl.engineering.nyu.edu/personalpages/jcappos/ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Cappos Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Justin Cappos and His Work 01:17 The Importance of Security in Software Systems 03:50 Understanding Security Breaches: Mistakes vs. System Design Problems 06:34 Cultural Factors in Security Failures 09:25 Justin's Journey in Software Security 12:03 The Role of Academia in Enterprise Security 14:10 Evaluating Enterprise Security Systems 16:58 Foundational Projects in Software Security 19:21 AI Security Concerns and Future Directions 24:59 The Need for MCP 2.0 28:57 Security Challenges with LLMs 32:33 Designing Secure AI Systems 37:14 Ethical Dilemmas in AI Decision-Making 40:17 The Role of AI in Open Source 43:44 Trust and Mindset in AI Security
S5 · E5
February 16 · 1 hr 6 min
The Artificial Immune System with Wendy Chin, PureCipher CEO
As AI systems grow more autonomous, the question is no longer just what they can do, but whether we can trust the data and models behind their decisions. In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa Griffith talks with Wendy Chin, CEO of PureCipher, about building what she calls an artificial immune system for AI, a framework designed to make data, models, and inference tamper-evident across the AI lifecycle. They unpack what data poisoning really means (training data, weights and biases, inference inputs), why small amounts of targeted poison can create outsized model misbehavior, and how generative AI lowers the barrier to sophisticated malware. The conversation expands into the security implications of agent-to-agent communication via MCP, digital twins, and why we don’t have the luxury of “shipping now and securing later.” It’s a wide-ranging discussion that moves from practical threat models to the philosophical frontier of what happens as AI becomes more human-like, and more autonomous. Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-chin-ctg/ Website: https://www.purecipher.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI Security 01:16 Understanding Data Poisoning 04:38 The Dangers of Malware in AI 07:46 AI's Moral Dilemmas and Decision Making 08:45 Building Empathy in AI 13:07 The Role of Good Data in AI Training 17:02 PureCypher's Artificial Immune System 22:34 Digital Twins and Their Implications 25:22 Nurturing AI Like a Child 30:53 Data Therapy for AI 36:13 The Future of AI and Human Interaction 38:45 The Dark Side of AI: Hacking and Security 45:03 Global Perspectives on AI Security 48:11 MCP Agents and Security Concerns 51:41 Philosophical Implications of AI and Human Connection 01:00:04 The Sci-Fi Future of AI and Humanity
S5 · E4
February 16 · 45 min
Shipping Agents, Not Vulnerabilities with Ian Webster, PromptFoo CEO
As LLM apps evolve from simple chatbots to tool-using agents, the attack surface explodes, and the old security playbooks don’t hold. In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa Griffith sits down with Ian Webster, co-founder and CEO of PromptFoo, to break down what AI security actually looks like in practice: automated red teaming, prompt injection and jailbreak testing, evaluation workflows that scale, and why “guardrails alone” is not a security strategy. Ian shares how PromptFoo grew from a side project into a widely adopted open-source standard, what it means to raise multi-millions in a fast-moving market, and how enterprises are approaching the full vulnerability lifecycle, from finding issues to triage, remediation, and validation. Ian also discusses the “lethal trifecta” that makes agents fundamentally risky (untrusted input + sensitive data + exfil path), and why MCP security isn’t just about users and tools, it’s about dangerous tool combinations and rogue servers. Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: PromptFoo Website: https://www.promptfoo.dev/ Github: https://github.com/promptfoo/promptfoo Ian’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianww/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI Security Challenges 02:06 Funding and Growth of PromptFu 06:16 The Genesis of PromptFu 11:05 Career Journey and Lessons Learned 12:53 Understanding AI Red Teaming 17:36 Recent AI Security Vulnerabilities 19:46 The Dual Nature of AI in Security 21:47 Understanding the Lethal Trifecta in AI Security 24:22 Exploring Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Its Security Implications 26:22 Common Security Issues in MCP Systems 28:17 The Role of Identity and Permissions in AI Security 30:00 Practical Implications of Using PromptFoo for Developers 31:33 Evaluating Language Models: Challenges and Techniques 36:34 The Limitations of Guardrails in AI Security 38:25 Best Practices for Engineers in AI Development 39:58 Future Trends in AI and Security 42:28 Everyday Applications of AI and Language Models
S5 · E3
February 6 · 45 min
Inside the Future of AI Infrastructure with Marc Austin
Most AI infrastructure today is hitting a breaking point. Marc Austin, CEO of Hedgehog, reveals how open source networking and cloud-native solutions are revolutionizing how enterprises build and operate AI at scale. This episode addresses issues many building AI infrastructure today are facing — expensive proprietary systems, overwhelming complex network configurations, and ways to make on-prem AI infrastructure feel just like the public cloud. We discuss how networking is the hidden bottleneck in scaling GPU clusters and the surprising physics and hardware innovations enabling higher throughput. Marc shares the journey of building Hedgehog, an open source, cloud-native platform designed for AI workloads that bridges the gap between complex hardware and seamless, user-friendly cloud experiences. Marc explains how Hedgehog's software abstracts and automates the networking complexity, making AI infrastructure accessible to enterprises without dedicated networking teams. We break down the future of AI networks, from multi-cloud and hybrid environments to the rise of Neo Clouds and the open source movement transforming enterprise AI infrastructure. If you're a CTO, data scientist, or AI innovator, understanding these network innovations can be your moat. Listen to this episode to see how open source, cloud-native networking, and physical innovation are shaping the AI infrastructure of tomorrow. Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinmarc/ Website: https://hedgehog.cloud/ Github: https://github.com/githedgehog Chapters 00:00 Rethinking AI Infrastructure 02:49 The Role of Networking in AI 05:54 Marc's Journey to Hedgehog 08:46 Lessons from Big Companies 11:38 Requirements for AI Networks 14:48 Advancements in AI Networking 17:33 Future Challenges in AI Infrastructure 20:46 Creating a Cloud Experience On-Prem 23:32 The Shift to Hybrid Multi-Cloud 28:10 Evolving AI Infrastructure and Efficiency 30:57 AI Workloads and Network Configurations 32:41 Zero Touch Lifecycle Management 35:12 Support for Hardware Devices 35:45 Networking Paradigms and Vendor Lock-in 38:42 The Rise of Neo Clouds 41:31 Demand for AI Infrastructure 43:57 Open Source and Cloud-Native Networking 47:27 Challenges of Building a Networking Startup 50:46 Proud Accomplishments at Hedgehog 52:41 Future Excitement in AI Inference
S5 · E2
January 19 · 1 hr 6 min
Beyond the Clouds with Kelsey Hightower
Five years ago, Kelsey Hightower helped me find my voice in tech as the guest for my fifth podcast episode. Today, the man who taught the world Kubernetes and became a legend for his live demos returns for a conversation that goes far beyond infrastructure and code. Now retired-ish, Kelsey has transitioned into a new chapter. In this episode, we explore what it means to be not only a senior engineer, but also a "senior human" in an industry obsessed with speed. Kelsey shares his unique perspective on: Real vs. Artificial Intelligence: Why we must stop ignoring real intelligence and focus on providing humans with the same context and clarity we give to AI. The Future of Engineering: Why your value will shift from writing code to making stylistic, high-impact decisions as AI levels the technical playing field. Impact Over Activity: How to stop being a "busybot" and start asking the difficult questions about why we are building in the first place. The Senior Human Unit Test: Building communities with integrity, leading with empathy, and staying balanced in a world that always wants more. Whether you are just getting into your career or a seasoned veteran, this episode is a masterclass in curiosity, craft, and the art of staying grounded while building the future. Podcast Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kelseyhightower.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-hightower-849b342b1 GitHub Profile: https://github.com/kelseyhightower Kubernetes the Hard Way: https://github.com/kelseyhightower/kubernetes-the-hard-way No Code (The minimalist project): https://github.com/kelseyhightower/nocode Kubernetes: Up and Running (Book): https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/kubernetes-up-and/9781492046523/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:10 Transitioning from Engineer to Tech Philosopher 04:00 The Importance of Being a Senior Human 07:23 AI's Impact on People Skills 10:12 The Future of Engineering in an AI World 15:04 Navigating the AI Shift 21:21 Finding Impact Over Activity 25:47 Creating Meaningful Products 29:57 The Power of Listening and Connection 35:21 The Importance of Listening in Discussions 35:55 Embracing the Learning Journey 36:58 Understanding Imposter Syndrome 39:33 Creating Supportive Learning Environments 40:31 Learning in Public and Sharing Experiences 41:31 Finding Your Own Voice 43:26 The Power of Emotion in Presentations 47:29 Crafting Engaging Stories 48:40 Improvisation in Public Speaking 55:10 The Evolution of Presentation Styles 01:03:28 Legacy and Impact in the Tech Community
S5 · E1
January 12 · 1 hr 19 min
Building with Purpose: Joe Beda on Systems and Self
In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa sits down with Joe Beda, co-creator of Kubernetes and one of the key figures behind modern cloud computing. Joe talks through his journey from big tech to founding a startup and back again, and what it actually takes to build systems that scale technically, organizationally, and emotionally. Joe shares the origin story of Kubernetes, what people often misunderstand about open source, and why infrastructure success sometimes comes with unexpected personal costs. They also discuss tradeoffs between shipping fast and getting it right, how incentives shape engineering culture, and why identity standards like SPIFFE/SPIRE is just now getting more attention. Joe gives a wide-ranging, honest look at infrastructure, innovation, and the people behind it. Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbeda/ SPIFFE: https://spiffe.io/Kubernetes: https://kubernetes.io/ Joe Beda Interview – Increment Magazine https://increment.com/containers/joe-beda-interview/ Joe Beda on The Podlets Podcast https://thepodlets.io/episodes/006-joe-beda/ GitLab Blog: Kubernetes & Community (Joe Beda) https://about.gitlab.com/blog/kubernetes-chat-with-joe-beda/ Keywords Kubernetes, Joe Beda, cloud-native, open source, technology, Google, VMware, Heptio, AI, security standards Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Joe Beda and Kubernetes 02:50 Understanding Kubernetes: The Foundation of Modern Computing 04:36 The Birth of Kubernetes: From Idea to Reality 07:38 Internal Debates: Navigating Challenges at Google 10:14 Key Innovations: What Sets Kubernetes Apart 13:30 The Role of Community: Collaborating with Red Hat 15:26 Design Challenges: Networking and Configuration Pain Points 19:28 Joe's Journey: Transitioning from Microsoft to Google 23:02 Navigating Corporate Politics: Influence and Success 25:24 Career Growth: Balancing Company Success and Personal Development 30:44 Navigating Industry Trends and Career Durability 35:46 The Balance of Work and Life 40:40 Understanding Burnout and Personal Ownership 47:49 The Journey of Founding Heptio 54:31 The Acquisition by VMware and Its Implications 01:00:15 Authenticity in Sales and Motivation 01:01:23 Career Transitions: From Engineer to Founder 01:02:11 The Evolution of Perspective in Tech Careers 01:04:26 Navigating the Challenges of Startup Life 01:06:12 Post-Acquisition Dynamics at VMware 01:09:52 Finding Purpose in Corporate Structures 01:11:32 Philanthropy and Personal Values 01:13:02 Open Source Contributions: Spiffy and Spire 01:16:51 The State of Security Standards in AI 01:22:12 Advising Principles and Green Flags in Startups
S4 · E17
Dec 15, 2025 · 56 min
The Hyperadaptive Model for AI with Melissa Reeve
Why do so many AI rollouts stall right after the tools ship? In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa talks with Melissa Reeve, author of the book Hyper Adaptive: Rewiring the Enterprise to Become AI Native, about what it actually takes to get AI adopted in large organizations. Melissa shares how her background in lean, Agile, and DevOps transformation shaped her view that AI adoption is less about “buying the tool” and more about rewiring how work happens. Together, they break down why many AI initiatives fail (and why ROI is slow), the FOCUS framework, the “AI time paradox,” and how support structures like AI activation hubs, social learning, and better success metrics can raise quality and accelerate impact. A must-listen for engineering leaders, product teams, and executives trying to move beyond pilots and turn AI into real operational leverage. Learn more about Melissa and Hyper Adaptive below. Links Watch: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen:⁠ https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/⁠ More: ⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissamreeve/ Book: https://itrevolution.com/product/hyperadaptive/ Keywords AI adoption, enterprise transformation, Hyper Adaptive model, organizational change, DevOps, Lean, Agile, AI integration, customer-centricity, innovation accounting, social learning Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI Adoption in Enterprises 03:00 Melissa's Journey and the Foundation of AI Thinking 06:06 The Analogy of DevOps and AI Implementation 08:47 Cultural Shifts vs. Tooling in AI Adoption 11:49 The Hyper Adaptive Model for AI Integration 14:48 Sociology of Workflows and Organizational Change 17:49 Understanding AI Initiative Failures 21:00 Customer Centricity in AI Solutions 23:58 The AI Time Paradox and Learning 26:58 AI Activation Hubs and Their Role 30:54 The Role of Human Oversight in AI Automation 34:03 Incentivizing AI Engagement in Organizations 35:59 Social Learning and AI: The Power of Collaboration 40:57 Practical Applications of AI in Daily Life 44:44 Quality vs. Productivity: The AI Dilemma 46:13 The Focus Framework: Prioritizing AI Use Cases 48:23 Influencing AI Adoption in Organizations 51:07 The Future of Hyper Adaptive Organizations 55:08 Decision-Making in the Age of AI 57:37 Key Takeaways for Leaders in the AI Revolution
S4 · E16
Dec 14, 2025 · 44 min
Making MLOps Marvelous with Maria Vechtomova
What does it actually take to move machine learning from experiments into production reliably, responsibly, and at scale? In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa talks with Maria Vechtomova, co-founder of Marvelous MLOps and an O’Reilly author-in-progress on MLOps with Databricks. Maria shares how her background in data science led her into MLOps, and why most teams struggle not because of tools, but because of missing processes, traceability, and shared understanding across teams. Alexa and Maria dive into what separates good MLOps from fragile deployments, why shipping notebooks as “production” creates long-term pain, and how traceability across code, data, and environment forms the foundation for reliable ML systems. They also explore how LLM applications are reshaping MLOps tooling, and where the biggest skill gaps still exist between platform, data, and AI engineers. A must-listen for anyone building, operating, or scaling machine learning systems and for teams trying to make MLOps less magical and more marvelous. Learn more about Marvelous MLOps and Maria’s work below. Links Watch: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput⁠⁠ Read: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Listen: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/alexagriffith/ More: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠https://alexagriffith.com/⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/⁠⁠ Find out more about the guest at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-vechtomova/ Takeaways Maria started as a data analyst and transitioned into MLOps. She emphasizes the importance of tracking data, code, and environment in MLOps. MLOps is a practice to bring machine learning models to production reliably. Good deployment processes require modular code and proper tracking. MLOps differs from DevOps due to the complexities of data and model drift. Education is crucial for bridging gaps between teams in AI. Small steps can lead to better MLOps practices. Scaling MLOps requires understanding the unique data of different brands. The rise of LLMs is changing the MLOps landscape. Effective teaching methods involve step-by-step guidance. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to MLOps and Maria's Journey 02:11 Maria's Path to MLOps and Knowledge Sharing 04:41 The Importance of MLOps in AI Deployments 10:12 Defining MLOps and Its Challenges 11:38 MLOps vs. DevOps: Key Differences 13:00 Overcoming Stagnation in MLOps 16:04 Small Steps Towards Better MLOps Practices 19:29 Scaling MLOps in Large Organizations 21:58 The Impact of LLMs on MLOps 23:58 The Shift from Traditional ML to AI Applications 26:51 Evolving Roles in AI Engineering 28:33 Databricks: A Comprehensive AI Platform 31:45 Future of AI Platforms and Regulations 34:26 Bridging Skill Gaps in AI Teams 38:42 The Importance of Context in AI Development 40:40 Foundational Skills for MLOps Professionals 45:43 Integrating Personal Passions with Professional Growth 47:30 Building Impactful AI Communities
S4 · E15
Dec 7, 2025 · 31 min
The AI Operating System for Smart Buildings: Inside B-Line with Aaron Short
What if your building was smarter and optimized energy, security, and tenant experience in the background? In this episode of Alexa’s Input (AI), Alexa talks with Aaron Short, founder and CEO of B-Line, an all-in-one facility management platform that uses AI to automate building operations. Aaron shares how his early work in urban planning and green building led him to build an “operating system for buildings” that connects siloed systems like access control, visitor management, emergency response, work orders, smart controls, and tenant support, without ripping and replacing legacy infrastructure. Alexa and Aaron dive into how AI agents power 24/7 customer service for property managers, reduce the need for on-site security through biometric access and digital IDs, and use occupancy and sensor data to drive real energy savings and predictive maintenance. They also explore why real estate has been historically slow to digitize, how to win in a legacy-heavy space, and where AI is having the biggest impact across proptech and climate tech. A must listen for anyone interested in the intersection of tech, real estate, urban planning, and building management! Learn more about BLine at b-line.io. Links Aaron’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-short-66213641/ B-Line’s Website: https://www.b-line.io Listen, watch, and read more about this podcast at Alexa’s Input YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith Website: https://alexagriffith.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/ Substack: ⁠https://alexasinput.substack.com/⁠ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Smart Buildings and AI 02:58 Aaron Short's Journey to Founding Beeline 05:18 The Role of Data in Urban Planning and Green Building 06:22 Transitioning from Employee to Founder 08:52 Overview of Beeline and Its Solutions 11:41 AI Integration in Building Management 13:42 The Smart Building Tech Landscape 16:07 Differentiators in the Smart Building Space 18:18 AI's Impact on Energy Management and Security 20:37 The Future of Smart Buildings and Design 22:52 Advice for Founders in Slow-Moving Industries 23:45 Resilience and Learning from Setbacks 26:10 Personal Reflections on Founding Beeline 30:08 general_outro.wav
S4 · E14
Nov 17, 2025 · 1 hr 4 min
Shift Left Your AI Security with SonnyLabs Founder Liana Tomescu
In this episode of Alexa's Input (AI) Podcast, host Alexa Griffith sits down with Liana Tomescu, founder of Sonny Labs and host of the AI Hacks podcast. Dive into the world of AI security and compliance as Liana shares her journey from Microsoft to founding her own company. Discover the challenges and opportunities in making AI applications secure and compliant, and learn about the latest in AI regulations, including the EU AI Act. Whether you're an AI enthusiast or a tech professional, this episode offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI technology. Links SonnyLabs Website: https://sonnylabs.ai/ SonnyLabs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sonnylabs-ai/ Liana’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liana-anca-tomescu/ Alexa's Links LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/alexagriffith Alexa’s Input YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput Website: https://alexagriffith.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexa-griffith/ Substack: https://alexasinput.substack.com/ Keywords AI security, compliance, female founder, Sunny Labs, EU AI Act, cybersecurity, prompt injection, AI agents, technology innovation, startup journey Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Liana Tomescu and Sunny Labs 02:53 The Journey of a Female Founder in Tech 05:49 From Microsoft to Startup: The Transition 09:04 Exploring AI Security and Compliance 11:41 The Role of Curiosity in Entrepreneurship 14:52 Understanding Sunny Labs and Its Mission 17:52 The Importance of Community and Networking 20:42 MCP: Model Context Protocol Explained 23:54 Security Risks in AI and MCP Servers 27:03 The Future of AI Security and Compliance 38:25 Understanding Prompt Injection Risks 45:34 The Shadow AI Phenomenon 45:48 Navigating the EU AI Act 52:28 Banned and High-Risk AI Practices 01:00:43 Implementing AI Security Measures 01:17:28 Exploring AI Security Training
S4 · E13
Oct 12, 2025 · 57 min
Architecting Agentic AI for the Enterprise with Swagat Kulkarni
In this episode, Alexa welcomes Swagat Kulkarni, a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services, to discuss the intersection of AI, cloud innovation, and enterprise reality. Swagat shares his experience guiding large-scale digital transformations, emphasizing that success often hinges on people and culture, not just technology. They explore the rise of agentic AI, the challenges of moving from proof-of-concept to production , and the surprisingly crucial skill every tech leader needs: storytelling. Tune in to find out more about how to architect resilient systems that balance innovation with reality and why the future of tech depends on our ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn. You can also watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexasinput And listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1tnV8Qk6SEw1Dr9Tqikr0H?si=ecU279HXTSa9issXm1jVmQ Links Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swagat-kulkarni/ Blog: https://builder.aws.com/content/2eYN4c5L59qvGZY65RBcdoVtN4t/envoy-ai-gateway-with-amazon-bedrock-getting-started-guide Keywords AI, digital transformation, cloud computing, agentic AI, storytelling, solutions architect, AWS, technology adoption, open source, innovation Takeaways Digital transformation is about creating agility in organizations. Storytelling is crucial for conveying technical concepts to customers. AI adoption requires a clear understanding of the problems to solve. Simplicity in architecture leads to better outcomes. Cultural shifts are essential for successful digital transformation. Open source technologies can accelerate innovation. Customer feedback drives AWS's service development. Continuous learning is vital in the tech industry. Data readiness is critical for AI success. Leadership buy-in is necessary for transformation projects. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI and Digital Transformation 02:26 Swagat Kulkarni's Journey in Tech 05:24 Role of a Solutions Architect at AWS 08:13 The Importance of Storytelling in Tech 11:10 Understanding Digital Transformation 15:05 Successful Transformation Projects 17:09 Agentic AI and Its Real-World Applications 20:13 Challenges in Adopting Agentic AI 24:05 Customer Feedback and AWS's Approach 29:59 Success Factors in Digital Transformation 32:53 Embracing a Technology Mindset 34:31 The Role of Leadership in Innovation 35:40 Surprises in Customer Awareness 37:52 Knowledge Sharing Dynamics in Organizations 39:26 Cultural Shifts in Knowledge Sharing 40:33 Exciting Tools for Developer Efficiency 42:48 Misconceptions in AI Adoption 44:33 Designing Resilient Architectures 47:27 Feedback Loops and Continuous Improvement 49:03 The Value of Open Source 51:11 The Importance of Documentation in Open Source 52:37 The Power of Storytelling in Tech 57:12 Quickfire Questions and Final Thoughts 01:00:21 general_outro.wav

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