In 2012, Doug got bit by the search bug and he's still trying to keep up. From full-text search, to Learning to Rank models, to search agents that generate their own code, he knows the endless landscape first hand. Yet Doug wants to deeply understand the what / how / why, and help teams use these technologies practically, distinguishing hype from reality.

He’s led search at Reddit, Shopify, and Wikipedia, authored Relevant Search and AI Powered Search, and advised 100+ organizations over the years - all in pursuit of the same question: how does search actually work?

Hugo Bowne-Anderson is an independent data and AI consultant who has advised and taught teams building AI-powered systems, including engineers from Netflix, Meta, and Amazon. He hosts Vanishing Gradients and has written for Harvard Business Review and VentureBeat. Previously Head of Developer Relations at Outerbounds, he has also taught at Yale University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, SciPy, and PyCon.