Best Jeff Hwang Podcasts (2025)

1
Urban Classical Music with Jeff Scott 25:24

22h ago25:24

25:24

Since his band teacher went alphabetically by last name, Jeff Scott’s choices were limited when it came his turn to pick an instrument. The sixth grader pointed to the French horn—and the rest is history. Today, Scott is one of the nation’s premier French horn players and a Grammy-winning composer. Among other accomplishments, he’s played on Broadw…

1
Multispecies Design with Joyce Hwang 18:03

2M ago18:03

18:03

As a young girl growing up in suburban Los Angeles, Joyce Hwang loved seeing how urban animals would create little moments of disorder in the highly manicured landscape. Now the intersection between animals and the built environment is at the very heart of her work as a professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo and as director of the e…

1
Changing the Black East Side with Henry Louis Taylor Jr. 16:09

4M ago16:09

16:09

As a young clinical audiologist, Henry Louis Taylor Jr. found that the socioeconomic realities of many of his Black patients affected his ability to help them. To truly serve his community, he realized, he would need to understand the root causes of their circumstances. So he quit his job and went back to school to study urban history. Now, as the …

1
Bitemark Evidence with Mary Bush 14:42

5M ago14:42

14:42

Obsessed with true crime shows as a teen, Mary Bush naturally gravitated toward forensics as a young professor in the University at Buffalo’s School of Dental Medicine. Today, she is widely acclaimed for her efforts to banish bitemark evidence from the U.S. court system. She has won numerous research awards, served as an expert witness for high-pro…

1
Animal Genes and Human Health with Vincent Lynch 17:41

6M ago17:41

17:41

As a kid, all Vincent Lynch wanted to do was hang out by the river near his home, fishing and crabbing and playing in the muck. School, by contrast, was a bore. Then he discovered biology—and never looked back. Today, as an evolutionary biologist at the University at Buffalo, Lynch studies the genomic history of animals both living and extinct to u…

1
Narcissism in the Workplace with Emily Grijalva 21:17

7M ago21:17

21:17

Narcissists get a bad rap, but is it deserved? According to Emily Grijalva, an associate professor of organizational behavior at the University at Buffalo School of Management and a renowned expert on narcissism, it’s complicated. Grijalva has spent her career studying the trait—among leaders, across genders, over the lifetime and through the gener…

1
Medication Overload with David Jacobs 18:01

11M ago18:01

18:01

More than 750 older Americans are hospitalized every day due to severe side effects from their medications. Many of them will die prematurely as a result. In this episode of Driven to Discover, host Laurie Kaiser talks to David Jacobs, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University at Buffalo, about the systemic failures in our healt…

1
Nutrition and Cancer with Danielle Meyer 18:53

1y ago18:53

18:53

Food has become an increasingly fraught subject in America. Is paleo good for you? Keto? Should everyone be intermittent fasting? Meanwhile, an increasing number of Americans under 50 are being diagnosed with cancer, particularly colon cancer. Is our diet the problem? In this episode of Driven to Discover, Dave Hill talks to public health researche…

1
Preventing Gun Violence with Patricia Logan-Greene 18:31

1y ago18:31

18:31

When social work researcher Patricia Logan-Greene sought out introductory readings for her students on the topic of gun violence, she was shocked to find there weren’t any. Every day, social workers are in the homes of those most at risk of gun violence. Who better to prevent it? Now Logan-Greene, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo…

1
Episode 19 - Spaghetti Delivery by AI Agents 24:44

1y ago24:44

24:44

Jeff and Seymour kick off 2024 with a discussion of the three phases of generative AI. Phase 1: The launch of ChatGPT in November, 2022. Phase 2: The rise and fall of AI wrapper companies during early- to mid-2023. Phase 3: The current emergence of AI Agents that can automatically chain together multiple steps that drastically change the kinds of p…

1
Detecting Deception with Mark Frank 19:24

1y ago19:24

19:24

Working nights during college as a bouncer, Mark Frank discovered he could learn a lot about people by observing their facial expressions and body language. Now, as a professor of communication at the University at Buffalo, he’s an internationally recognized expert on nonverbal communication who advises the FBI and CIA on interviewing techniques an…

1
“We Defined Each Other:” MAP Celebrates 25 Years with Jeff Lozon, Stephen Hwang & Ahmed Bayoumi 28:17

1+ y ago28:17

28:17

In 1998, St. Michael’s Hospital’s past CEO Jeff Lozon founded MAP during a turbulent time. The hospital was facing a major financial crisis. A forced and highly controversial merger sparked fears and protest among incoming staff and physicians. Yet these two challenges ultimately defined MAP’s mission and unique value, and pushed St. Michael's to e…

1
Episode 18 - OpenAI Over Board 27:28

1+ y ago27:28

27:28

We re-examine the swirl of events at OpenAI in November, starting with the Nov 6th Dev Day in San Francisco. Then the tumultuous firing and re-hiring of CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and related Board ups and downs. Links: History of OpenAI Board. Board as of Nov 1, 2023: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Helen Toner, Tasha McCa…

1
AI for Social Good with Jinjun Xiong 19:08

1+ y ago19:08

19:08

Jinjun Xiong was a young computer scientist working on AI technology at IBM when the company’s Watson computer famously beat the top human players on “Jeopardy!”. But while the rest of the world oohed and aahed, Xiong wondered if we should be using AI for a higher purpose—not to defeat humans, but to help them. Now a SUNY Empire Innovation Professo…

1
Episode 17 - Ten years from Her (2013) to Humane 28:55

1+ y ago28:55

28:55

Jeff and Seymour discuss interplay among sci-fi movies, speculative fiction, and 'real world AI' through the lens of Spike Jonze's 2013 movie Her. Also some conversation about the upcoming Humane Ai Pin. Links: Biden's Executive Order and related AP article quoting White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed on impact of Tom Cruise's recent Missio…

1
Cannabis Legalization with R. Lorraine Collins 19:16

1+ y ago19:16

19:16

There are few people more qualified to weigh in on the legalization of cannabis than psychologist R. Lorraine Collins, a renowned addictions expert who started researching the drug decades ago, long before the wave of legalization began sweeping the U.S. In this episode of Driven to Discover, David Hill talks to Collins, a SUNY Distinguished Profes…

1
Episode 16 - Midjourney vs Google SGE vs OpenAI DALL-E 3 23:45

1+ y ago23:45

23:45

Seymour and Jeff discuss the recently announced updates from OpenAI, especially regarding image generation in GPT-4 and DALL-E 3. Our ranking of image generation AI's from best to worst: (1) Midjourney, (2) Google Search Generative Experience (SGE), and finally (3) DALL-E. Jeff closes by talking about the recent LLM workshop he conducted for junior…

1
Episode 15 - The "Who Is Jeff Hwang?" Test 28:45

1+ y ago28:45

28:45

We discuss the September 2023 AI Conf in San Francisco, Anthropic AI and Claude, and how to test LLMs with "Who Is Jeff Hwang?". Links: 2023 Google Pixel Launch Event news from The Verge. 2023 Facebook Connect on Metaverse, Quest VR hardware, and AI. Schedule of speakers and talks at AI Conf in SF, September 2023. Amazon invests $1.25B in Anthropic…

1
Episode 14 - End of Microsoft PC, beginning of Microsoft CP (Co-Pilot) Era 27:10

1+ y ago27:10

27:10

(Episode originally recorded September 21, 2023) Jeff and Seymour discuss the Microsoft September 2023 Surface hardware event which was mostly about AI, Llama-2 and open-source LLMs, and Elad Gil's 4 Waves of AI adoption. Links: Round-up of news from Microsoft September 21st event from The Verge. Info about Panos Panay's departure from MS and some …

1
Free Speech and the Supreme Court with Samantha Barbas 19:57

1+ y ago19:57

19:57

Most Americans take free speech for granted. In her new book, “Actual Malice: Civil Rights and Freedom of the Press in New York Times v. Sullivan,” legal historian Samantha Barbas illustrates precisely why we shouldn’t. In this episode of Driven to Discover, host Laura Silverman talks to Barbas, a professor of law at the University at Buffalo and a…

1
Opioid-Free Pain Relief with Arin Bhattacharjee 17:27

1+ y ago17:27

17:27

Effective, long-lasting, non-addictive pain relief—it sounds too good to be true. But thanks to the imagination (and perseverance) of University at Buffalo neuroscientist/pharmacologist Arin Bhattacharjee, it may be just around the corner. Bhattacharjee, a self-proclaimed “dreamer,” has developed a novel approach to pain, both acute and chronic, th…

1
Episode 13 - Thoughts on MosaicML, Neeva, and InflectionAI. Plus Apple Vision Pro. 27:20

1+ y ago27:20

27:20

(Episode originally recorded June 30, 2023) We're back! Summertime is slow; Stepfunction episodes will appear more regularly again in the fall. Topics: Jeff and Seymour discuss the launch of the Apple Vision Pro in early June. Databricks bought MosaicML in June and comparison with earlier Snowflake acquisition of Neeva in late May. Profile of the N…

1
Teaching Black History with LaGarrett King 19:42

2y ago19:42

19:42

As a young boy, LaGarrett King loved history, but he couldn’t figure out where he fit in the narrative he was being taught at school, nor how enslaved people could possibly have been as content as his teachers portrayed. Now a renowned authority on the teaching of Black history, King directs UB’s Center for K-12 Black History and Racial Literacy Ed…

1
Episode 12 - Leaked Google Strategy Memo, Open Source, AI Value Chains 33:59

2y ago33:59

33:59

Jeff and Seymour briefly discuss Google I/O which happened last week including the release of PaLM 2. Most of the episode is spent on the strategic and ecosystem implications of an internal Google strategy memo and the impact of open source. They also discuss AI Supply Chains in the context of a series of MIT blog posts from April. Finally, they dr…

1
Episode 11 - Google vs. Apple vs. Meta AI: Who has the right approach? 26:32

2y ago26:32

26:32

Jeff and Seymour look briefly at earnings and layoffs from 2023 Q1 for the Big 5 Tech giants which leads to further pessimism about Google BARD. This sparks a larger conversation about how best to organize internal research groups. Which extreme works best–Google or Apple? Links: The Information published a detailed article on April 27th about Appl…

1
Forever Chemicals with Diana Aga 17:14

2y ago17:14

17:14

Diana Aga decided to become an environmental chemist after witnessing the dire effects of industrialization and population growth on the idyllic village where she grew up. Today, she is a worldwide authority on everything from industrial pollution and wastewater treatment to PFAS chemicals—the subject of this episode. Aga, SUNY Distinguished Profes…

1
Episode 10 - BARD Just Blorps It Out 26:43

2y ago26:43

26:43

Jeff and Seymour mention a framework of 3 personas: (1) end-users; (2) technical builders like EPD teams, i.e., Engineering-Product-Design; and (3) business leaders. Topics discussed: End-user experience: what it's like to use the free and paid versions of ChatGPT, compared with other LLM user experiences like Google's Bard, Microsoft's Bing Chat, …

1
Episode 9 - Have You Ever Questioned the Nature of Your Reality? 24:19

2y ago24:19

24:19

Jeff and Seymour mention audio generation technology which leads to a larger conversation about how we can tell if audio, text, images, and other media is a Deepfake. They end with questions about media gatekeepers, social polarization, and how do we know what's real? Links: Vim is Jeff's favorite text editor and 10 reasons you should learn it. And…

1
Episode 8 - Moore's Law, Exponential Improvements, AI Chips, Emergent Behavior 29:13

2y ago29:13

29:13

The news that Gordon Moore passed away broke last Friday just as we were recording the previous episode. Today, Jeff and Seymour discuss Moore's legacy, the past and future of Moore's Law, and how advancements in microchips have been the foundation of deep learning for more than a decade. Links: NY Times obituary for Gordon Moore and a remembrance …

1
Climate Resiliency with Nick Rajkovich 14:47

2y ago14:47

14:47

Nicholas Rajkovich, associate professor of architecture and director of the Resilient Buildings Lab at UB, studies how we can adapt our built environment to withstand extreme weather and other impacts of a changing climate. In this episode, Rajkovich tells host David Hill about his early passion for building (resulting, among other things, in the c…

1
Episode 7 - Bigger than Prometheus? 23:28

2y ago23:28

23:28

Jeff and Seymour debate the significance of the generative AI revolution relative to the invention of the WIMP interface, the web, and even the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions. Prometheus refers to the humans learning how to control fire; is gen AI bigger than that?! Articles referenced: Bill Gates "The Age of AI Has Begun" Thomas Friedman …

1
Episode 6 - Where Will Generative AI Startups Win and Lose? 26:39

2y ago26:39

26:39

Jeff and Seymour start with another major week of news, including GPT-4, Microsoft and Google adding generative AI to their office suites, and LLaMA breaking out into the wild and onto Raspbery Pi and smartphones. Simon Willison's 3-day history of LLaMA developments this past weekend. Potentially bigger news than the dramatic collapse of Silicon Va…

1
Episode 5 - Lightbulbs or Lava Lamps? DALL-E in The New Yorker 21:35

2y ago21:35

21:35

Jeff and Seymour dig further into image generators like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion. What is the role of the visual artist as generative AI tools continue to evolve? How might it replicate the relationship between a great writer and a trusted magazine editor? Additional links: Adam Gopnik's piece on DALL-E 2 in a recent issue of The Ne…

1
Episode 4 - Typeface and Cezanne's Card Players 23:15

2y ago23:15

23:15

Jeff and Seymour discuss the launch of a new marketing company using generative AI called Typeface. This leads to a conversation about copyright consent, compensation, and credit. We discuss how the history of photography, Napster, and Paul Cézanne's The Card Players might help us understand the future of image generators like DALL-E, Midjourney, a…

1
The Slow Loris with Stephanie Poindexter 16:03

2y ago16:03

16:03

Stephanie Poindexter, a biological anthropologist in UB's College of Arts and Sciences, specializes in how primates utilize and navigate their habitats. For the past 10 years, she has focused her research on the slow loris, an adorable yet venomous primate that inhabits Southeast Asia and surrounding areas. In this episode, Poindexter tells host Vi…

1
Episode 3 - Elevators Up, Stairways Down 20:30

2y ago20:30

20:30

Jeff and Seymour use stories and analogies to explain the two main approaches to AI: Bottom-Up and Top-Down. The recent wave of AI success is mostly based on the bottom up path which includes machine learning, neural networks, and deep learning. Related links: The case of the construction worker with a nail in his boot Murray Shanahan's excellent D…

1
Episode 2 - Who Opened The Floodgates? 22:17

2y ago22:17

22:17

Jeff and Seymour discuss the unexpected impact of ChatGPT and how Bing Chat may not be ready for prime time. Did OpenAI unintentionally open Pandora's Box because they were worried someone else would beat them to it? Plus some reassurances that Sydney is definitely not sentient or emotional. Kevin Roose's article in The New York Times and transcrip…

1
Episode 1 - What is ChatGPT? 25:38

2y ago25:38

25:38

Jeff and Seymour kick off the podcast with an exploration of ChatGPT. What is it and how might it impact our careers and lives? They use ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs) as an entry point to the larger topic of generative AI. Questions and comments? Talk to us.By Jeff Hwang and Seymour Duncker

1
Space Junk with John Crassidis 12:36

2y ago12:36

12:36

John Crassidis, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Moog Professor of Innovation at UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, works with NASA, the U.S. Air Force and other agencies to monitor space debris, also known as space junk. In this episode, Cory Nealon talks to Crassidis about his journey from aspiring astronaut to academia, why space j…

1
Searching for Home with Naomi Thulien & Catie Lamer 26:09

2+ y ago26:09

26:09

The short documentary 'Searching for Home' follows three young people as they transition out of homelessness. An intimate portrayal of young people on the margins, the 26-minute film is a companion to the MAP Transitioning Youth Out of Homelessness study, led by MAP scientist Naomi Thulien. In this special episode of MAPmaking, we spoke with Naomi …

1
Pharmacare and Access to Benefits with Linda Silas & Nav Persaud 22:52

2+ y ago22:52

22:52

Despite ongoing political promises for pharmacare in Canada, the status quo persists: Canada remains the only high-income country where health-care services are publicly insured but medications are not. The pandemic propelled temporary sick leave protections, however many of these protections are now coming to an end. In this episode, Nav Persaud (…

1
Evictions and Access to Justice with Douglas Kwan & Nav Persaud 26:22

3y ago26:22

26:22

In 2020, the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board switched from in-person to online-only hearings. This has had grave consequences for tenants, many of whom do not have access to the necessary technology, resources or privacy to participate meaningfully – or sometimes participate at all – in remote hearings. In this episode, Nav Persaud (MAP scientist…

1
The Right to Housing with Gautam Mukherjee & Stephen Hwang 28:36

3y ago28:36

28:36

Gautam Mukherjee is the Executive Director of Houselink and Mainstay Community Housing, the largest supportive housing provider in Ontario. Gautam has worked in the housing and homelessness sector for 20 years and is a passionate advocate for social justice, inclusion and housing for all. In this episode, Gautam and MAP Director Stephen Hwang discu…

1
#12 - How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups? - Jeff Bussgang and Michael Seibel 33:52

5y ago33:52

33:52

Jeff Bussgang is a lecturer at Harvard Business School and General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners.Michael Seibel is CEO of YC.By ycombinator

1
#11 - At The Intersection of AI, Governments, and Google - Tim Hwang 39:14

5y ago39:14

39:14

Tim Hwang is the Global Public Policy Lead on AI and Machine Learning for Google.Read the transcript on our blog.By ycombinator

1
#10 - Office Hours with Ali Rowghani 24:28

5y ago24:28

24:28

Ali Rowghani is CEO of Y Combinator Continuity, where he invests in and advises growth-stage startups. Ali directly contributed to the growth of two great companies -- at Twitter, as CFO then COO, and at Pixar as CFO and SVP of Strategic Planning.Read the transcript on our blog.By ycombinator

1
#9 - Sam Altman and Reid Hoffman - From Startup to Scaleup 40:56

5y ago40:56

40:56

Sam Altman and Reid Hoffman discuss the key changes founders should think about as they scale their company. The conversation was recorded at The Scaleup Offsite, a private event hosted by Y Combinator Continuity and Greylock Partners in April 2017.By ycombinator

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Jeff Hwang Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide

zproxy.org