197: Deep Dive: How to Build AI Features and Why it is So Dang Hard with Barry McCardle of Hex

This week on The Data Stack Show, Eric and John chat with Barry McCardel from Hex. They delve into the technical, business, and human challenges of data work, emphasizing AI and data collaboration. The discussion also covers Hex's product updates, the complexities of building AI features, and AI's impact on data teams. The group explores the unpredictability of AI, the need for extensive evaluation, and the iterative process of refining AI models. The conversation wraps up by touching on industry consolidation, vendor competition, the dynamics of cloud platforms and open source technology, and more. 

Highlights from this week’s conversation include:

• Overview of Hex and its Purpose (0:51)

• Discussion on AI and Data Collaboration (1:42)

• Product Updates in Hex (2:14)

• Challenges of Building AI Features (13:29)

• Magic Features and AI Context (15:22)

• Chatbots and UI (17:31)

• Benchmarking AI Models (19:06)

• AI as a Judge Pattern (23:32)

• Challenges in AI Development (25:31)

• AI in Production and Product Integration (28:43)

• Difficulties in AI Feature Prediction (33:38)

• Deterministic template selection and AI model uncertainty (36:21)

• Infrastructure for AI experimentation and evaluation (40:11)

• Consolidation and competition in the data stack industry (42:27)

• Data gravity, integration, and market dynamics (47:12)

• Enterprise adoption and the bundling and unbundling of platforms (51:03)

• The open source databases and the middle ground (53:18)

• Building successful open source businesses (57:00)

• The fun approach to product launch video (1:01:14)

• Final thoughts and takeaways (01:03:15)

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.