999: What's Left to Build When Software Is Free, with Chip Huyen

999: What's Left to Build When Software Is Free, with Chip Huyen

June 9, 2026 · 1h 16m

About this episode

Chip Huyen discusses her book 'AI Engineering' and the evolving landscape of AI engineering versus machine learning engineering.

Chip Huyen joins host Jon Krohn for this milestone episode 999 to talk about her record-breaking book "AI Engineering" the most-read title on the O'Reilly platform last year and how the AI landscape has shifted since her last appearance. Chip breaks down what separates AI engineering from machine learning engineering, makes the case for a "start simple" workflow, gets candid about the real costs of running LLMs in production, and shares why she's now fascinated by physical AI, robotics, and world models and why the durable problems worth solving are increasingly human ones. Jon Krohn guides the conversation from the practical content of the book through to where the field is heading next. Additional materials: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.superdatascience.com/999⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Interested in sponsoring a SuperDataScience Podcast episode? Email natalie@superdatascience.com for sponsorship information. In this episode you will learn: (06:48) What separates AI engineering from machine learning engineering (14:44) The “start simple” approach: prompting, then RAG, then fine-tuning (18:19) Why web search is so painfully expensive in production…

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