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How Sierra AI Does Context Engineering
Zack Reneau-Wedeen is the Head of Product at Sierra, leading the development of enterprise-ready AI agents — from Agent Studio 2.0 to the Agent Data Platform — with a focus on richer workflows, persistent memory, and high-quality voice interactions.How Sierra Does Context Engineering, Zack Reneau-Wedeen // MLOps Podcast #350Join the Community: https://go.mlops.community/YTJoinInGet the newsletter: https://go.mlops.community/YTNewsletter// AbstractSierra’s Zack Reneau-Wedeen claims we’re building AI all wrong and that “context engineering,” not bigger models, is where the real breakthroughs will come from. In this episode, he and Demetrios Brinkmann unpack why AI behaves more like a moody coworker than traditional software, why testing it with real-world chaos (noise, accents, abuse, even bad mics) matters, and how Sierra’s simulations and model “constellations” aim to fix the industry’s reliability problems. They even argue that decision trees are dead, replaced by goals, guardrails, and speculative execution tricks that make voice AI actually usable. Plus: how Sierra trains grads to become product-engineering hybrids, and why obsessing over customers might be the only way AI agents stop disappointing everyone.// Related LinksWebsite: https://www.zackrw.com/~~~~~~~~ ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ~~~~~~~Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://go.mlops.community/TYExploreJoin our Slack community [https://go.mlops.community/slack]Follow us on X/Twitter [@mlopscommunity](https://x.com/mlopscommunity) or [LinkedIn](https://go.mlops.community/linkedin)] Sign up for the next meetup: [https://go.mlops.community/register]MLOps Swag/Merch: [https://shop.mlops.community/]Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: /dpbrinkmConnect with Zack on LinkedIn: /zackrw/Timestamps:[00:00] Electron cloud vs energy levels[03:47] Simulation vs red teaming[06:51] Access control in models[10:12] Voice vs text simulations[13:12] Speaker-adaptive turn-taking[18:26] Accents and model behavior[23:52] Outcome-based pricing risks[31:40] AI cross-pollination strategies[41:26] Ensemble of models explanation[46:47] Real-time agents vs decision trees[50:15] Code and no-code mix[54:04] Goals and guardrails explained[56:23] Wrap up[57:31] APX program!
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Overcoming Challenges in AI Agent Deployment: The Sweet Spot for Governance and Security // Spencer Reagan // #349
Spencer Reagan leads R&D at Airia, working on secure AI-agent orchestration, data governance systems, and real-time signal fusion technologies for regulated and defense environments.Overcoming Challenges in AI Agent Deployment: The Sweet Spot for Governance and Security // MLOps Podcast #349 with Spencer Reagan, R&D at Airia.Join the Community: https://go.mlops.community/YTJoinInGet the newsletter: https://go.mlops.community/YTNewsletterShoutout to Airia for powering this MLOps Podcast episode.// AbstractSpencer Reagan thinks it might be, and he’s not shy about saying so. In this episode, he and Demetrios Brinkmann get real about the messy, over-engineered state of agent systems, why LLMs still struggle in the wild, and how enterprises keep tripping over their own data chaos. They unpack red-teaming, security headaches, and the uncomfortable truth that most “AI platforms” still don’t scale. If you want a sharp, no-fluff take on where agents are actually headed, this one’s worth a listen.// BioPassionate about technology, software, and building products that improve people's lives.// Related LinksWebsite: https://airia.com/Machine Learning, AI Agents, and Autonomy // Egor Kraev // MLOps Podcast #282 - https://youtu.be/zte3QDbQSekRe-Platforming Your Tech Stack // Michelle Marie Conway & Andrew Baker // MLOps Podcast #281 - https://youtu.be/1ouSuBETkdA~~~~~~~~ ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ~~~~~~~Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://go.mlops.community/TYExploreJoin our Slack community [https://go.mlops.community/slack]Follow us on X/Twitter [@mlopscommunity](https://x.com/mlopscommunity) or [LinkedIn](https://go.mlops.community/linkedin)] Sign up for the next meetup: [https://go.mlops.community/register]MLOps Swag/Merch: [https://shop.mlops.community/]Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: /dpbrinkmConnect with Spencer on LinkedIn: /spencerreagan/Timestamps:[00:00] AI industry future[00:55] Use cases in software[05:44] LLMs for data normalization[11:02] ROI and overengineering[15:58] Street width history[20:58] High ROI examples[25:16] AI building challenges[33:37] Budget control challenges[39:30] Airia Orchestration platform[46:25] Agent evaluation breakdown[53:48] Wrap up
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Hardening Agents for E-commerce Scale: From RL Alignment to Reliability // Panel 2
Thanks to Prosus Group for collaborating on the Agents in Production Virtual Conference 2025.Abstract //The discussion centers on highly technical yet practical themes, such as the use of advanced post-training techniques like Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) and Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning (PEFT) to ensure LLMs maintain stability while specializing for e-commerce domains. We compare the implementation challenges of Computer-Using Agents in automating legacy enterprise systems versus the stability issues faced by conversational agents when inputs become unpredictable in production. We will analyze the role of cloud infrastructure in supporting the continuous, iterative training loops required by Reinforcement Learning-based agents for e-commerce!Bio // Paul van der Boor (Panel Host) //Paul van der Boor is a Senior Director of Data Science at Prosus and a member of its internal AI group.Arushi Jain (Panelist) // Arushi is a Senior Applied Scientist at Microsoft, working on LLM post-training for Computer-Using Agent (CUA) through Reinforcement Learning. She previously completed Microsoft’s competitive 2-year AI Rotational Program (MAIDAP), building and shipping AI-powered features across four product teams.She holds a Master’s in Machine Learning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Dual Degree in Economics from IIT Kanpur. At Michigan, she led the NLG efforts for the Alexa Prize Team, securing a $250K research grant to develop a personalized, active-listening socialbot. Her research spans collaborations with Rutgers School of Information, Virginia Tech’s Economics Department, and UCLA’s Center for Digital Behavior.Beyond her technical work, Arushi is a passionate advocate for gender equity in AI. She leads the Women in Data Science (WiDS) Cambridge community, scaling participation in her ML workshops from 25 women in 2020 to 100+ in 2025—empowering women and non-binary technologists through education and mentorship.Swati Bhatia //Passionate about building and investing in cutting-edge technology to drive positive impact.Currently shaping the future of AI/ML at Google Cloud.10+ years of global experience across the U.S, EMEA, and India in product, strategy & venture capital (Google, Uber, BCG, Morpheus Ventures).Audi Liu //I’m passionate about making AI more useful and safe.Why? Because AI will be ubiquitous in every workflow, powering our lives just like how electricity revolutionized our society - It’s pivotal we get it right.At Inworld AI, we believe all future software will be powered by voice. As a Sr Product Manager at Inworld, I'm focused on building a real-time voice API that empowers developers to create engaging, human-like experiences. Inworld offers state-of-the-art voice AI at a radically accessible price - No. 1 on Hugging Face and Artificial Analysis, instant voice cloning, rich multilingual support, real-time streaming, and emotion plus non-verbal control, all for just $5 per million characters.Isabella Piratininga //Experienced Product Leader with over 10 years in the tech industry, shaping impactful solutions across micro-mobility, e-commerce, and leading organizations in the new economy, such as OLX, iFood, and now Nubank. I began my journey as a Product Owner during the early days of modern product management, contributing to pivotal moments like scaling startups, mergers of major tech companies, and driving innovation in digital banking.My passion lies in solving complex challenges through user-centered product strategies. I believe in creating products that serve as a bridge between user needs and business goals, fostering value and driving growth. At Nubank, I focus on redefining financial experiences and empowering users with accessible and innovative solutions.
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Building Cursor: A Fireside Chat with VP Solutions with Ricky Doar
Ricky Doar is the VP of Solutions at Cursor, where he leads forward-deployed engineers. A seasoned product and technical leader with over a decade of experience in developer tools and data platforms, Ricky previously served as VP of Field Engineering at Vercel, where he led global technical solutions for the company's next-generation frontend platform.Prior to Vercel, Ricky held multiple leadership roles at Segment (acquired by Twilio), including Director of Product Management for Twilio Engage, Group Product Manager for Personas, and RVP of Solutions Engineering for the West and APAC regions. He also worked as a Product Engineer and Senior Sales Engineer at Mixpanel, bringing deep technical expertise to customer-facing roles.Thanks to Prosus Group for collaborating on the Agents in Production Virtual Conference 2025.In this session, Ricky Doar, VP of Solutions at Cursor, shares actionable insights from leading large-scale AI developer tool implementations at the world’s top enterprises. Drawing on field experience with organizations at the forefront of transformation, Ricky highlights key best practices, observed power-user patterns, and deployment strategies that maximize value and ensure smooth rollout. Learn what distinguishes high-performing teams, how tailored onboarding accelerates adoption, and which support resources matter most for driving enterprise-wide success.A Prosus | MLOps Community Production
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Relational Foundation Models: Unlocking the Next Frontier of Enterprise AI // Jure Leskovec // #348
Dr. Jure Leskovec is the Chief Scientist at Kumo.AI and a Stanford professor, working on relational foundation models and graph-transformer systems that bring enterprise databases into the foundation-model era.Relational Foundation Models: Unlocking the Next Frontier of Enterprise AI // MLOps Podcast #348 with Jure Leskovec, Professor and Chief Scientist, Stanford University and Kumo.AI.Join the Community: https://go.mlops.community/YTJoinInGet the newsletter: https://go.mlops.community/YTNewsletter// AbstractToday’s foundation models excel at text and images—but they miss the relationships that define how the world works. In every enterprise, value emerges from connections: customers to products, suppliers to shipments, molecules to targets. This talk introduces Relational Foundation Models (RFMs)—a new class of models that reason over interactions, not just data points. Drawing on advances in graph neural networks and large-scale ML systems, I’ll show how RFMs capture structure, enable richer reasoning, and deliver measurable business impact. Audience will learn where relational modeling drives the biggest wins, how to build the data backbone for it, and how to operationalize these models responsibly and at scale.// BioJure Leskovec is the co-founder of Kumo.AI, an enterprise AI company pioneering AI foundation models that can reason over structured business data. He is also a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and a leading researcher in artificial intelligence, best known for pioneering Graph Neural Networks and creating PyG, the most widely used graph learning toolkit. Previously, Jure served as Chief Scientist at Pinterest and as an investigator at the Chan Zuckerberg BioHub. His research has been widely adopted in industry and government, powering applications at companies such as Meta, Uber, YouTube, Amazon, and more. He has received top awards in AI and data science, including the ACM KDD Innovation Award.// Related LinksWebsite: https://cs.stanford.edu/people/jure/https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jure+leskovecPlease watch Jure's keynote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcfhh-V7x2U~~~~~~~~ ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ~~~~~~~Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://go.mlops.community/TYExploreJoin our Slack community [https://go.mlops.community/slack]Follow us on X/Twitter [@mlopscommunity](https://x.com/mlopscommunity) or [LinkedIn](https://go.mlops.community/linkedin)] Sign up for the next meetup: [https://go.mlops.community/register]MLOps Swag/Merch: [https://shop.mlops.community/]Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: /dpbrinkmConnect with Jure on LinkedIn: /leskovecTimestamps:[00:00] Structured data value[00:26] Breakdown of ML Claims[05:04] LLMs vs recommender systems[10:09] Building a relational model[15:47] Feature engineering impact[20:42] Knowledge graph inference[26:45] Advertising models scale[32:57] Feature stores evolution[38:00] Training model compute needs[42:34] Predictive AI for agents[45:32] Leveraging faster predictive models[48:00] Wrap up
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