S6:E6 - TikTok’s Algorithm, JetBrain’s Fleet IDE, Timnit Gebru’s New Research Institution, and More

In this episode, we talk about Timnit Gebru’s new research institute, researcher’s contentious relationship with Facebook, and a company that has been secretly helping governments track people’s mobile phones. Then we chat with Dennis Ushakov, Fleet Developer at JetBrains, about Fleet, the company’s new IDE. Finally, we speak with Julian McAuley, computer science professor at the University of California San Diego, about an internal TikTok document the New York Times obtained titled, TikTok Algo 101.

Show Notes

• DevDiscuss (sponsor)
• CodeNewbie (sponsor)
• Avalanche (sponsor)
• Cyberpunk 2077, Timnit Gebru’s Firing, GitHub’s ‘State of the Octoverse,’ and Google’s New Chip
• Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)
• Investigating Facebook: a fractious relationship with academia
• Swiss Firm Executive Operates Secret Surveillance Operation, Sources Say
• Fleet
• How TikTok Reads Your Mind

Dennis Ushakov

Dennis started his career at Intel, working on the Apache Harmony project. Then he moved to JetBrains to work on productivity tooling for Ruby and Web technologies, driving the RubyMine and WebStorm projects as a team lead. Now he's focused on Fleet – an IDE of the future, built on a distributed architecture. When he's not working, he enjoys driving cars and open-water swimming.

Julian McAuley

Julian McAuley is a Professor at UC San Diego, where he works on applications of machine learning to problems involving personalization, and teaches classes on personalized recommendation. He likes bicycling and baroque keyboard.