144: Explaining Features, Embeddings, and the Difference Between ML and AI with Simba Khadder of Featureform

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

• Simba’s background in the data space (3:05)
• Subscription intelligence (6:41)
• ML and Distributed Systems (9:09)
• The Brutal Subscription Industry (12:31)
• Serendipity in Recommender Systems (16:31)
• Subscription as a Strategy (20:47)
• Customizing Content for Subscribers (22:19)
• Creating User Embeddings (25:53)
• Building Featureform (28:01)
• Embedding Projections (32:47)
• Spaces and similarity (35:53)
• User embeddings and transformer models (38:22)
• Vector Databases for AI/ML (45:05)
• Orchestrating Transformations in Featureform (51:00)
• Impact of new technologies on feature stores (56:17)
• Embeddings and the future of ML (59:20)
• The gap between ML and business logic (1:02:26)
• Final thoughts and takeaways (1:06:37)

The Data Stack Show is a weekly podcast powered by RudderStack, the CDP for developers. Each week we’ll talk to data engineers, analysts, and data scientists about their experience around building and maintaining data infrastructure, delivering data and data products, and driving better outcomes across their businesses with data.

RudderStack helps businesses make the most out of their customer data while ensuring data privacy and security. To learn more about RudderStack visit rudderstack.com.