ChatGPFFT : The Impact of Large Language Models (Or: How I Learned to Think Critically About Technology)

Thursday, 9:30 AM EST

It’s inescapable. The capabilities that ChatGPT and Large Language Models provide have become discussion topics on the news, in social gatherings, online, at work. Things that would have seemed impossible a few years ago are now nearly pedestrian in how ubiquitous they are becoming on a daily basis. While they show very well, very few people actually understand what is going on, and worse, what is or isn’t possible.

How then should we evaluate these achievements as we make decisions on how to adopt and adapt to powerful new technologies? What will they mean for us as a society and as individual knowledge workers? In addition to a discussion specifically about ChatGPT and its peer technologies and what they portend, we will also discuss critically evaluating new technology as make decisions in the future.

Learning Objectives:

After attending this talk, you will be able to:
Explain what Large Language Models (LLMs) are and how they are used
Understand intuitively how they are built and work
Understand where they fit into the overall history of natural language processing
Understand the use cases where they are effective and appropriate in modern Enterprises
Understand the limitations of these models and how they can go wrong
Understand the moral, ethical, and legal complications that surround the development and use of these models
Understand the externalities of developing and operating these models which are often not priced into the fancy demos

Modern Software Systems : Succeeding at IT in the 21st Century

Friday, 11:00 AM EST

In the last 30 years, our industry has been upended by advancements that unlock previously unimaginable capabilities. It still seems like there is far too much failure and not enough success in IT systems though. To be successful in the 21st Century, you will need to understand where we are and where we are going. It is a complex amalgamation of developments in hardware, computer languages, architectures and how we manage information. Very few people understand all of the pieces and how they connect.

In this talk we will cover how technology changes are enabling longer term capture of business value, modernization of legacy systems, resilience in the face of increased mobile user bases, IT sovereignty and distributed, layered, heterogeneous architectures.