The Stack Overflow Podcast

Data is the new oil, and your database is the only way to extract it

Ryan sits down with Shireesh Thota, CVP of Azure Databases at Microsoft, to discuss the evolution of databases at Microsoft; Azure’s comprehensive portfolio that includes SQL Server, CosmosDB, and Postgres; and the challenges that come with database architecture, from the importance of cost governance and multi-cloud strategies to the future of databases when it comes to AI. Episode notes:  You can read all about the latest Azure database announcements from Microsoft Ignite—including updates for SQL Server, Postgres, DocumentDB, and Fabric—on their Azure blog [https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-at-microsoft-ignite-2025-all-the-intelligent-cloud-news-explained/].  Connect with Shireesh on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shireeshthota/]. Today’s shoutout goes to user Guffa [https://stackoverflow.com/users/69083/guffa] for winning a Populist badge on their answer to Virtual method tables [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2413483/virtual-method-tables].  TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/02/17/data-is-the-new-oil/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Even your voice is a data problem

Recorded last December at AWS re:Invent, Ryan welcomes CEO and co-founder of Deepgram, Scott Stephenson, for a conversation on advancing voice AI technology. They cover how Deepgram is improving speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities using deep learning to take on challenges posed by dialects and noisy environments and the moral and ethical considerations voice AI companies have to make when it comes to voice cloning and synthetic data training.  Episode notes:  Deepgram [https://deepgram.com/] builds accurate, scalable, and affordable large scale voice AI for speech recognition, generation, and AI Agents. Connect with Scott on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-stephenson-/], Twitter [https://x.com/deepgramscott], or email him at Scott@Deepgram.com TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/02/13/even-your-voice-is-a-data-problem/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The logos, ethos, and pathos of your LLMs

Ryan is joined by Professor Tom Griffiths, the head of Princeton University’s AI Lab, to dive into findings from his new book The Laws of Thought, which explores the history of the philosophy, mathematics, and logic that underlie artificial intelligence, and scientists' efforts to describe our minds using mathematics. They discuss the challenges of understanding human cognition, the implications of probabilistic AI “thinking,” and where Aristotle fits into the philosophical discussions we’re having on consciousness and sentience in AI.  Episode notes:  The Laws of Thought [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250358363/thelawsofthought/] details our quest to use mathematics to describe the ways we think, from its origins three hundred years ago to the ideas behind modern AI systems and how our human minds differ from the neural networks of AI.  Connect with Tom on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-griffiths-7b31a0364/] and find more of his work at the Princeton website [https://cocosci.princeton.edu/tom/tom.php].  Congrats to user Andreas Rayo Kniep [https://stackoverflow.com/users/2813227/andreas-rayo-kniep] for winning a Populist badge for their answer to Is there a difference between the UTC and Etc/UTC time zones? [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14128574/is-there-a-difference-between-the-utc-and-etc-utc-time-zones]. We want to know what you're using to upskill and learn in the age of AI. Take this five minute survey [https://stackoverflow.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_beHfwZ2k1tEx0PA?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=house-ads&utm_campaign=pulse-survey-learning&utm_content=take-survey] on learning and AI to have your voice heard in our next Stack Overflow Knows Pulse Survey.  TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/02/10/the-logos-ethos-and-pathos-of-your-llms/] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

AI attention span so good it shouldn’t be legal

We have another two-for-one special this week, with two more interviews from the floor of re:Invent. First, Ryan welcomes Pathway CEO Zuzanna Stamirowska and CCO Victor Szczerba to dive into their development of Baby Dragon Hatchling, the first post-transformer frontier model, from how continual learning and memory will transform AI to the real-world use cases for longer LLM attention span.  In the second part of this episode, Ryan is joined by Rowan McNamee, co-founder and COO of Mary Technology, to discuss bringing AI into the carefully governed world of litigation and how LLMs are helping lawyers manage and interpret the vast amounts of legal evidence that pass across their desks every day. Episode notes:  Pathway [https://pathway.com/] is building the first post-transformer frontier model that solves for attention span and continual learning. Mary Technology [https://www.marytechnology.com/] is an AI for attorneys that turns evidentiary documents into structured, easy-to-review facts. Connect with Zuzanna on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stamirowska/] and Twitter [https://x.com/zuzanna_pathway].  Reach out to Victor at his email: victor@pathway.com [victor@pathway.com]  Connect with Rowan on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowan-mcnamee-496046182/]. We want to know what you're using to upskill and learn in the age of AI. Take this five minute survey [https://stackoverflow.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_beHfwZ2k1tEx0PA?utm_medium=email&utm_source=house-ads&utm_campaign=pulse-survey-learning&utm_content=take-survey] on learning and AI to have your voice heard in our next Stack Overflow Knows Pulse Survey. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/02/06/ai-attention-span-so-good-it-shouldn-t-be-legal] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Generating text with diffusion (and ROI with LLMs)

Two guests for the price of one! This episode has two interviews recorded at AWS re:Invent back in December. In part 1, Ryan chats with the co-founder and CEO of Inception, Stefano Ermon, about diffusion language models and how their multiple token generation compares to traditional LLMs (spoiler: they’re faster and more accurate). In the second half of the episode, Ryan and the chairman of Roomie, Aldo Luevano, dive into Roomie’s purpose built models for both physical and software AI, and how their ROI-first approach helps companies track the impact of their robotics and AI implementation.  Episode notes:  Inception [https://www.inceptionlabs.ai/] researches and builds diffusion language models for faster and more efficient AI. Roomie [https://roomie-it.com/] is a robotics and enterprise AI company with an ROI-first platform that tracks how well their AI solutions are actually working.  Connect with Stefano on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ermon/]. Connect with Aldo on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aldoluevano-it/]. TRANSCRIPT [https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/02/03/generating-text-with-diffusion-and-roi-with-llms] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].