I’ve written about AI and data on and off since 2023, one post at a time. Read in this order, they tell
one story: from how machines learn, to how language models work, to building with them, to letting them act.
1. How machines learn#
| Post | In one line |
|---|---|
| The Core Divide | Supervised vs unsupervised learning |
| K-Nearest Neighbors | Classify by the company you keep |
| Mastering TF-IDF | Turning text into numbers that mean something |
| Data Mining Essentials | Distances, clusters and the core vocabulary |
| Matrix Multiplication to GPUs | Why AI runs on graphics cards |
2. How language models work#
| Post | In one line |
|---|---|
| GenAI | What generative AI is, and its building blocks (2023) |
| Language Model | Transformers and the attention breakthrough |
| Two Students, Two Talents | Auto-regressive (GPT) vs auto-encoding (BERT) models |
| The Evolution of Language Models | From 2017’s transformer to today’s families |
| The Probability Engine | The maths of choosing the next token |
| Tokens and tokenomics | What a token is, context windows, and the bill |
3. Building with models#
| Post | In one line |
|---|---|
| Ollama | Running language models on your own machine |
| A minimal LangChain + Ollama demo | Prompt, model and chain, end to end |
| A practical RAG assistant | Answering from your own documents |
| From speech to text | Speech recognition in Python |
| Choosing the right framework | The AI stack, layer by layer |
| ML pipelines on Vertex AI | Train, evaluate and deploy, repeatably |
4. Letting models act#
| Post | In one line |
|---|---|
| From RAG to tools and agents | Function calling and the agent loop |
| MCP, the Model Context Protocol | One standard plug for tools and data |
| The Ghost Board | A story about agents nobody was watching |
The data shelf#
Analytics and big-data posts that sit underneath much of the above:
- Analytics: Business Analytics Simplified · The Bigger Picture · Correlation and Covariance · RFM Analysis
- Forecasting and optimisation: Forecasting Methods · Model and Selection · Comparing Forecasting Models · Linear Programming · Monte Carlo Optimisation
- Big data: Apache Spark · PySpark vs pandas · Parquet and Arrow
Everything tagged AI or data is also collected on the AI & Data topic page.
