What is "the engineering perspective on AI"?
Engineers focus on understanding concepts and then figuring out what the concept means and how we can use it. There are many newsletters about AI but I focus on what interests me: the engineering that makes it work in real-world systems. Specifically, I write about:
The practical applications of machine learning systems.
The impact those systems have.
The complexities of building them.
It's useful for everyone to understand the engineering behind the AI systems that impact their life.
What is Society's Backend?
Society's Backend is the technology that runs society and by extension the people invested in it. If you're reading this, this probably includes you. I help others understand the machine learning behind this technology in three ways:
One weekly topic article: These articles focus on the why and how of an important machine learning engineering topic. No clickbait, no fearmongering. Just science backed by resources.
Weekly updates/resources: A weekly list of the articles and resources you should read to understand the things you need to know about machine learning. Paid subscribers get a more comprehensive list each week.
Community: If you want more than just a newsletter, you can join the community in the Substack App Chat. I'm active there and answer questions. Paid subscribers can use this chat to help guide the weekly topics I write about.
Machine Learning Road Map: I’ve put together a streamlined road map for learning ML fundamentals from high-quality resources entirely for free. You can check it out here.
Essentially, Society's Backend is a community to help people help machines help people. It's for anyone interested in using AI to build a better future.
Who am I?
Hi, I'm Logan Thorneloe. I build massive-scale, efficient machine learning systems at Google. I've also worked at Microsoft and I have experience doing scientific research in collaboration with the Stanford Department of Radiology and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
I love building incredible software that makes life better. Machine learning has incredible potential to do this because it introduces a new compute paradigm that radically changes how humans interact with technology. I'm specifically interested in the real-world applications of ML systems and optimizing them to work for everyone.
I write to help others do the same and so others can understand the impact machine learning will have on them. You can reach me on X, LinkedIn, or Substack.
If any of this interests you, join Society's Backend! If you’re unsure, check out some of the articles below.
Always be (machine) learning,
Logan
