Topic
In Context Learning
10 episodes
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Introducing TabFM: A zero Shot foundation model for tabular data
Justy and Cody examine TabFM, Google Research’s zero-shot foundation model for tabular classification and regression. They unpack its hybrid row-column attention design, synthetic-data training, TabArena evidence, the trade-off between out-of-the-box convenience and tuned ensembles, and whether BigQuery integration could make this genuinely useful in everyday data workflows.
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Overview: Supervised Fine Tuning
We finally slow down and make supervised fine-tuning click, because we keep leaning on S F T like everyone already has the whole shape of it. We build it from the apprentice-and-worked-examples picture into the actual training loop, the examples, and the trade-offs.
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EvolvingWorld: An Open Schema Framework for Co Evolving Role Play Agents and World Model in Interactive Literary World
Masonry and Eyre dig into EvolvingWorld, a new framework that lets fictional characters and their world co-evolve across long stories. Eyre walks through the open-schema architecture and seven supervised tasks; Masonry sizes up who would actually build with this and where product pain lives. The hosts end up excited about the open-schema premise but skeptical of the benchmark’s generality.
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Overview: Task Decomposition
We finally slow down on task decomposition, the quiet trick underneath agents, code review workflows, web tasks, and a lot of the stuff we keep arguing about. We use one mental model, a messy project board becoming manageable tickets, and build from intuition to mechanism to where it still matters now.
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Overview: In Context Learning
We finally slow down and explain in-context learning, the thing we keep leaning on whenever prompts, agents, examples, and adaptation come up. We make the core idea concrete: the model is learning from the temporary packet you hand it, without changing itself permanently.
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How to Implement a Unified Memory From Scratch
Jessica and Cathy dig into a new post that walks through building a unified agent memory from scratch using knowledge graphs and MongoDB, unpacking what it actually takes to wire memory into a real agent harness. They tease apart where the post’s blueprint shines, where it overreaches, and who on earth should actually roll their own instead of reaching for an off-the-shelf tool.
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Overview: Prompt Engineering
We’re finally doing the overdue deep dive on prompt engineering, the weirdly practical skill of getting language models to do the thing you actually meant. We keep coming back to it because the difference between a flimsy prompt and a good one is often the difference between nonsense and a usable product.
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Large language models often prioritize Western moral values, overlooking other cultures
A research paper finds LLMs tend to mirror Western moral priorities when asked to roleplay citizens of 48 countries, and two hosts discuss what this actually means for users, products, and culture.
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Agentic Testing: Where Agents Fit in the E2E Testing Stack
Slack's Sergii Gorbachov ran 200+ agentic E2E tests to measure where agent-driven testing fits alongside traditional deterministic tests. Core finding: agents verify goals (adaptable paths to the same outcome), while traditional tests enforce journeys (single deterministic sequence). MCP-based agents were most reliable (0% on simple flows, ~12% on complex); generated tests were fastest (~3 min) but fragile on complexity (~48% failure rate on harder flows); cost was the real constraint ($15–30 per run). The insight is not replacement—it's complementary layers. Agents excel at exploratory validation and catching UI state variability; deterministic tests handle regression and CI speed.
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Overview: Tool use and function calling
We finally sit down and make tool use and function calling click from the ground up. We keep coming back to the same idea: a model can draft the request, but something outside it has to actually do the thing.