Author: TJ Ravishankar

Agentic AI model: foundational problemsNew 

Jul 6, 2026 | ,

Model development was always a challenge in any subject but is more so in an area where abstraction is the foundational attribute: AI. I have written earlier also that abstraction is the first step to building great software and especially in AI, because AI works on abstraction, which depends on mathematics of the highest level. Most people will say data but what they forget is that the model needs data and vast amounts of it, precisely because it has to abstract from it so as to work effectively whatever be the data. The model abstracts from the data so that it can work on any data! This is the crux of any model.

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Piercing the veilNew 

Jul 1, 2026 | ,

RLHF – reinforcement learning through human feedback. This fanciful and seemingly innocuous phrase used in GenAI to moderate the output it generates hides a dark truth. GenAI needs content-moderation on a massive scale, because its inputs are the ‘vast corpus of humanity’, making it impossible to control. Some writers glibly talk about how such moderation, practised through the use of third parties, bring about ‘ethically aligned’ output, completely ignorant, wilfully or otherwise, of a vast environment of clearly unethical practices. We owe this revelation to an old institution: good journalism.

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Poor data quality, not AI infrastructureNew 

Jun 18, 2026 | ,

A superior technology such as AI cannot wash away the sins of poor implementation which inevitably results in poor data quality and as source data to AI. Will this poor quality of data not escalate problems with the embedding of AI in an ERP software? Analytics, the darling of consultants for over a decade, could well become an unmitigated disaster. It is firmly established that poor data quality alone remains one of the principal causes of failures in the efficient use of AI systems. Interestingly, the database as the OS, an idea articulated by Professor Michael Stonebraker, could be the opening to a new way of looking

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Conglomerates – the Kangaroo strategy

May 31, 2026 | ,

The holding company structure has for years been an immensely attractive option as a control strategy in building a Business Group with varied businesses under its belt. A pure holding company’s legal character was not a problem until regulation decided otherwise. While this probably forces a Hobson’s choice on such a holding company structure, the alternative of an using an operating company as a holding company, long an established reality in India, will see ‘renewed’ growth.

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Neither euphoria, nor panic

May 26, 2026 | ,

Neither panic nor euphoria is an answer to technological changes but simple understanding of its implications, its ramifications, both in breadth and depth. Neither gaping in awe nor recoiling in fear is a sensible response. Since, despite all the hype, it is reasonably clear that AI is here to stay, wisdom lies in drawing out opportunities for various businesses. Incidentally, this holds important lessons for education too.

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