AI Articles
If You Can’t Wait 5 Years: Start Experimenting with AI for Robotics Today
In my last post, I discussed why the ChatGPT moment for robotics is likely still 5 years away. But if you can’t wait that long, this post has practical advice on how to start experimenting today. Be warned: the ecosystem is fragmented, the learning curve is steep, and (AI + hardware) == quirky. If you thought LLMs […]
SEP Appoints Jason LaJeunesse as Director of Data
Westfield, IN — SEP is pleased to announce the creation of a new leadership role, Director of Data, and the appointment of Jason LaJeunesse to the position. This role was created to support client needs as organizations modernize their data platforms, prepare for AI adoption, and build durable, long-term data foundations. “Data has gone from a step […]
Robot Foundation Models Are Not What I Was Expecting (I’m 5 Years Too Early)
When Physical Intelligence announced the π0 foundation model, I thought a ChatGPT moment in robotics was near. Here was a model that could control different kinds of robots to perform a variety of dexterous tasks. It could fold clothes, make coffee, assemble cardboard boxes, and more. I thought we’d get another post like swyx’s signaling robotics as an emerging capability of the […]
AI at the Table
I sit at a really weird saddle point currently. Professionally, I’m obliged to engage with generative AI technologies. I’m an AI technologist. I’ve been doing this for nearly twenty years at this point, and over ten past the doctorate. I can’t just ignore a new technology because I personally find it ethically dubious. Conversely, I’m […]
Planning-First AI Methodology: The Foundation of Successful AI Collaboration
Why starting with understanding, not code, is the key to unlocking AI’s full potential in software development Picture this: You’re 7 hours into your work day, you’re on your third cup of coffee, and the AI just generated 200 lines of code that compile perfectly… and do absolutely nothing you wanted. Sound familiar? If you’ve […]
The AI Coding Revolution: Why Your Development Team Needs to Invest Now or Risk Being Left Behind
A developer’s perspective on mastering AI coding tools for competitive advantage The software development landscape has undergone more transformation in the past year than in the previous decade combined. As AI coding tools evolve from novelty to necessity, development teams face a critical decision: invest heavily in learning these tools now, or watch competitors pull […]
From PDF Chaos to AI-Powered Organization: An Engineer’s Journey into Document Processing
How I built an intelligent document processing system using OCR (Optical Character Recognition), local LLMs, and Python – leveraging my code generation AI experience The Problem: Drowning in a Digital Morass Like many people, I had accumulated a large collection of PDF documents over the years—medical records, invoices, receipts, tax documents, insurance papers—they were scattered […]
Generality in Generative AI is an Illusion
Large language models are often described as general-purpose problem solvers. That’s fair; given a prompt, they can write SQL queries, summarize academic papers, troubleshoot YAML files, produce a mediocre chili recipe, and draft HR emails, all in the same breath. That breadth of capability is a big driver of the current enthusiasm. Here’s the thing […]
Learning AI Optimization w/ Factorio 1/x
Who am I? My name is Keith Hanson, I graduated from Rose-Hulman with a degree in Software Engineering in 2021. In my time since graduation I worked extensively with infrastructure as code and on backend systems. Notably what you won’t find in my project background is anything to do with AI. I took 1 course […]
Navigating AI + Team Effectiveness with Llewellyn Falco: Highlights from SEPTalks
At a recent SEP Talks event—“AI, Team Effectiveness & the Future of Software Development”—we hosted a live fireside chat with industry expert Llewellyn Falco. We invited Llewellyn to help us think more deeply about the impact of AI on how we build software, collaborate, and grow as teams. What followed was a series of sharp […]
Basics of Retrieval Augmented Generative (RAG) Systems
Lately, we’ve been fielding a lot of interest in custom Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems. And honestly, it’s easy to see why. RAG systems are incredibly flexible tools for injecting up-to-date, domain-specific knowledge into AI responses for answering questions, generating content, analyzing internal data, or any other task that’s primarily completed by producing an artifact. […]
Intentional AI: Choosing the Right Tool for the Job
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere these days: headlines, investor decks, your last team meeting, and dinner conversations. Just because AI is hot doesn’t mean it’s well understood. Too often, people reach for AI like it’s duct tape: a fix-all solution for any digital dilemma. But like duct tape, AI has its limits. Some problems need glue, […]