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Pragmatic AI with Matt Stauffer
Pragmatic AI with Matt Stauffer

AI Researcher Michelle Yi on Watson, World Models, and Why AI Should Be for Everyone

20 May 2026 1:06:22 Matt Stauffer

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About this episode

The Pragmatic AI Podcast is sponsored by Tighten.  T-I-G-H-T-E-N. We will take your AI ideas, prototypes or even vibe-coded apps, and we'll take them to production. Scalable and secure. Check us out at tighten.com.


Matt Stauffer is joined by Michelle Yi — co-founder of Generationship, board member of Women in Data, and AI Researcher at Basis Research Institute — who shares her 20-year journey across AI research, industry, and startups.


Michelle traces the evolution of AI from her early days working on IBM Watson through to modern language models, reflecting on what's changed, what's been lost, and what's finally becoming possible. She and Matt dig into the importance of democratizing AI and making it genuinely useful beyond big tech.


The conversation closes on Michelle's vision for a more equitable and responsible AI future — one being built through initiatives like Generationship and Basis Research Institute, and powered by people who choose to engage with AI rather than sit it out.


  • Matt Stauffer on X 
  • Tighten Website 
  • Michelle on LinkedIn 
  • Basis Research Institute
  • NYC Rat Research in the News 
  • Pyro.ai 
  • Women in Data 
  • Generationship 
  • Decile Group 
  • Bobiverse Series 
  • Becky Chambers Book 
  • Andrej Karpathy YouTube 
  • Community Usage Tweet 
  • Setlist FM 


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Editing and transcription sponsored by Tighten.

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