Lak Lakshmanan is an operating executive at Silver Lake focused on improving the value of portfolio companies through data and AI-driven innovation. Prior to Silver Lake, Lak was the Director for Data Analytics and AI Solutions on Google Cloud and a Research Scientist at NOAA. He co-founded Google's Advanced Solutions Lab and is the author of several O'Reilly books and Coursera courses. He was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (the highest honor offered by the AMS) for his data science work.

In this episode, Host Ted Hallum and Lak dive into Google Cloud's evolved view of what data science encompasses (IT'S BROADER THAN EVER!), the biggest developments that Lak sees on the horizon for our field, how to deal with the blistering pace of change in the datasphere, and the challenges faced by all non-tech organizations that are striving for an edge with AI.

FEATURED GUEST:

Name: Lak Lakshmanan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valliappalakshmanan/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lak_luster

Medium: https://lakshmanok.medium.com/

SUPPORT THE DATA CANTEEN (LIKE PBS, WE'RE LISTENER SUPPORTED!):

Donate: https://vetsindatascience.com/support-join

EPISODE LINKS:

Lak on Medium: https://lakshmanok.medium.com/

Lak on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qphajtkAAAAJ&hl=en

Lak's Website: www.vlakshman.com

Lak's Books: https://aisoftwarellc.weebly.com/books.html

Lak's Technical Articles: https://aisoftwarellc.weebly.com/articles.html

Lak's Recorded Talks: https://aisoftwarellc.weebly.com/talks.html

Lak's Courses: https://aisoftwarellc.weebly.com/courses.html

Lak's Journal Articles: https://aisoftwarellc.weebly.com/research.html

Lak's Resume/Vitae: https://aisoftwarellc.weebly.com/resumevitae.html

PODCAST INFO:

Host: Ted Hallum

Website: https://vetsindatascience.com/thedatacanteen

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-data-canteen/id1551751086

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaNx9aLFRy1h9P22hd8ZPyw

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-data-canteen

CONTACT THE DATA CANTEEN:

Voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/datacanteen

VETERANS IN DATA SCIENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING:

Website: https://vetsindatascience.com/

Join the Community: https://vetsindatascience.com/support-join

Mentorship Program: https://vetsindatascience.com/mentorship

OUTLINE:

00:00:00 ​ - Introduction

00:02:15 - How Lak got into data science

00:10:06 - How to deal with the blistering pace of change in the datasphere

00:16:45 - Google Cloud's evolved view of what data science encompasses

00:25:48 - Is Google Cloud's new definition of data science inspired by MLOps?

00:28:05 - Biggest developments that Lak sees on the horizon for our field

00:33:59 - How capable do you think AutoML is? What role will it play in the future?

00:39:59 - Where Lak suggests veterans should focus when transitioning into data 

00:47:22 - Challenges faced by all non-tech organizations that are striving for an edge with AI

00:51:25 - Lak's secret to keeping his learning and growth focus on track

00:54:38 - Lak's favorite way to learn new things

00:56:12 - How Lak prefers to be contacted

00:56:34 - Farewells