In this episode of Lead with data, we have Aleksa Gordić with us. He is a self-taught enthusiast who rose from electrical engineering to be a key player at tech giants Microsoft and DeepMind. Aleksa shares invaluable insights about perseverance, personalized learning, and the transformative power of internships. Explore his strategic approach to content creation on YouTube and his current company, Ortus ai, which aims to bring multilingual ai systems to the forefront. Join us as we delve into the rapidly evolving ai landscape, tackling hardware, software, metaverse integration, and the unpredictable nature of this innovative field.
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Key insights from our conversation with Aleksa Gordić
- Aleksa’s journey into ai highlights the importance of persistence and self-learning.
- Crafting a personalized ai learning path is crucial to success, going beyond generic courses.
- Internships and competitive drive play a transformative role in personal and professional growth.
- Aleksa’s YouTube strategy emphasizes technical depth to build an informed community.
- The move towards multilingual ai systems has the potential to have a global impact, especially in non-English speaking regions.
- ai development is dynamic and focuses on hardware innovation, software optimization, and integration with emerging technologies such as the metaverse.
- Continuous learning from diverse sources, including biographies, classics, and business books, adds substantial value to an ai professional’s journey.
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Now, let’s look at Aleksa Gordić’s answers to some of the essential questions about ai.
How did your journey into data science begin?
As an electrical engineering student, I initially focused on hardware, but realized the enormous opportunities that software offered. I pivoted towards software engineering towards the end of my studies, self-taught Android development, and immersed myself in hackathons and datathons. My friend, who interned at big tech companies, inspired me to delve deeper into algorithms and data structures, which led me to prepare for big tech interviews. Despite rejections from Facebook and Microsoft, I persevered and eventually landed a job at Microsoft, working on the HoloLens project. This experience sparked my interest in machine learning, which led me to self-study, read articles, create YouTube videos, and ultimately work at DeepMind as a research engineer.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-inspired-you-to-create-your-own-learning-path-in-ai“>What inspired you to create your own ai learning path?
I believe that no one knows better than you what is the optimal curriculum for your personal development. I have always been self-taught, whether transforming my body through sport or learning new languages. I have found that I learn more efficiently on my own. While there are many generic curricula, such as Fast ai or Coursera courses, I wanted to create a path that suited my interests and strengths.
Can you share a pivotal moment from your internship in Germany?
My stay in Germany was transformative. I realized that I needed to channel my energy into a specific field rather than being a “renaissance man” with broad interests. My peers inspired me and I became competitive, not against a single person but against the progress of the industry. This drive led me to focus on machine learning, particularly the visual component, which I found more satisfying than text analysis.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-led-you-to-start-your-youtube-channel-ai-epiphany”>What led you to start your YouTube channel, ai Epiphany?
Influenced by Gary Vaynerchuk’s approach to documenting his journey, I wanted to create a public presence and teach others as a way to learn more myself. The pandemic provided the perfect opportunity to start my channel. Although I was camera shy at first, I kept going and focused on creating super technical content. My goal was to build a strong technical community rather than chasing views with beginner-friendly content.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tell-us-about-your-current-startup-ortus-ai-and-its-focus”>Tell us about your current startup, Ortus ai and your approach
Ortus ai‘s initial product was YouTube ai Buddy, a Chrome extension for querying YouTube videos. However, I have shifted my focus towards building multilingual ai systems, starting with a replication of Meta’s “No Language Left Behind” project. I am currently working on machine translation models for Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian languages, with the aim of opening these models for commercial use. My goal is to address the industry’s English-centric approach and support businesses in non-English speaking regions.
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-do-you-see-the-development-of-generative-ai-and-transformers-in-the-near-future”>How do you see the development of generative ai and transformers in the near future?
The field of ai is unpredictable, as seen with the sudden impact of ChatGPT. I’m excited about innovations across the board, from hardware advancements that challenge Nvidia’s monopoly to software developments like OpenAI’s Triton. I’m also intrigued by progress in large language models, efficient attention mechanisms, and the potential for ai to run on personal computers in the near future.
summarizing
Aleksa Gordić unfolds the narrative of her journey towards ai, emphasizing the importance of personalization, competitive spirit and continuous learning. From crafting a personalized learning path to founding Ortus ai, he exemplifies the resilience needed in ai.
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