In this episode of the Shift AI podcast, host Boaz Ashkenazy interviews Sarah Nagy, CEO of Seek.ai, discussing her journey from astrophysics and finance to leading one of the fastest-growing AI companies. Sarah shares insights into her transition from quantitative analysis and data science in finance to creating Seek.ai, which aims to make data more accessible to non-technical users through natural language interfaces. She highlights the significance of large language models in facilitating this transition and elaborates on Seek.ai's achievements, including surpassing a major benchmark in natural language to SQL translation. Summary of topics covered: Introduction to Sarah Nagy: The podcast begins with an introduction to Sarah Nagy, highlighting her past work in the financial sector and her transition to the AI industry, leading up to her role as CEO of Seek.ai. Background in Finance and Astrophysics: Sarah shares her journey from working in astrophysics and quantitative finance to her growing interest in big data and machine learning, eventually leading data teams at startups and at Citadel. Founding of Seek.ai: Frustrated with the challenges non-technical people face in accessing and understanding data, Sarah discusses how her experiences led to the founding of Seek.ai, aiming to make data accessible through a natural language interface. Large Language Models and Code Generation: Sarah elaborates on the potential of large language models for code generation and their application in making data queries accessible to non-technical users, underpinning the technology behind Seek.ai. Seek.ai's Mission and Technology: The discussion delves into Seek.ai's mission to enable business professionals to ask data-related questions in natural language, highlighting the company's use of analytical AI to process these queries efficiently. Challenges of Transitioning to AI from Finance: Sarah reflects on the transition from working deeply with data in finance to leading an AI startup, discussing the challenges and opportunities this shift presented. Mentorship and Influence: The conversation shifts to Sarah's early influences, including her family's background in tech and her mentors throughout her career, emphasizing the role of mentorship in her professional development. The Future of AI and Work: Sarah offers her perspective on the evolving AI landscape, the excitement around large language models, and their implications for the future of work, including the potential for everyone to leverage AI for decision-making. Seek.ai's Achievements and Benchmarks: Sarah shares recent accomplishments of Seek.ai, including their performance on the Spider benchmark for natural language to SQL translation, highlighting the company's leadership in the field. Vision for Seek.ai and the Industry: The podcast concludes with Sarah's vision for the future of Seek.ai and the broader AI industry, touching on the opportunities for innovation and the importance of making AI accessible to a wider audience. Connect with Sarah Nagy Twitter/X ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Connect with Boaz Ashkenazy ⁠Twitter⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/shift-ai/message