AI Upgrades + Anime Frodo Baggins

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Dr. Ryan Ries here with insights from our recent "Ask Us Anything" webinar on generative AI.

Mission’s CTO Jonathan LaCour and Lead Gen AI Solution Architect Na Yu shared valuable perspectives on some of the most asked AI questions I’m seeing today. If you missed the live session, I recommend you go watch the on-demand version here.

On today’s Matrix, I want to unpack one of the questions with you.

The Million Dollar Question

One attendee asked a question that's been on many of our minds: "How can we efficiently track, version, and streamline validation while ensuring quality and user confidence in the updated system?"

In other words, how do we upgrade our AI systems without losing our minds (or our users' trust)?

Jonathan & Na’s Words of Wisdom

Jonathan and Na offered up several practical approaches in response to this question:

Prioritize Automation: If you remember nothing else, remember this. Automate your testing and validation like your sanity depends on it (because it does).
Rinse and Repeat: Document thoroughly and design validation methods you can easily replicate.
Implement CI/CD: Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment is not just a mouthful of a term. It’s your BFF for smoother upgrades.
Engage Users in Testing: Incorporate user feedback through methods like A/B testing. Their feedback is gold!
Develop Automated Quality Checks: Build systems to assess AI performance objectively.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel: Take advantage of existing third-party solutions for testing and validation.

Prompt Flows

Now, let me add my two cents in something that a lot of folks are working on: Prompt Flows.

Prompt Flows are essentially a visual builder for AI workflows. Think of it as a drag-and-drop for creating complex AI applications.

Amazon Bedrock has its own Prompt Flows in preview, and it’s pretty cool. It offers:

Visual Workflow Creation: Design AI applications using a graphical interface.
Quick Testing Capability: Try out your flows directly in the console. No waiting room required.
Version Control on Steroids: Easily compare and roll back different versions.
Team Collab Features: Work together on AI application design and refinement.
AWS Service Integration: Connect seamlessly with other AWS tools faster than you can say “cloud computing.”

This tool could significantly change how we create, test, and deploy AI applications, offering a more structured approach to building updatable AI systems.

(Here is some more documentation on Amazon’s Prompt Flows if you’re interested).

The Bottom Line

Look, upgrading AI systems will always have some risks. These things are about as predictable as a cat on catnip.

But with tools like Prompt Flows and the strategies Jonathan and Na shared, we can at least make the process less of a headache.

My best advice? Stay flexible, focus on automation, and use advanced tools. The goal is to keep pace with AI progress while maintaining high standards and user confidence.

What’s your take on all this? I'm all ears for your AI upgrade stories — the good, the bad, and the “oh no, what did I just do?”

Until next time,

Ryan Ries

P.S. If you missed our recent webinar, don't worry. We plan to host more. Watch for future announcements and keep your questions coming — they help guide our discussions and innovations.

Now, time for this week’s AI-generated image and the prompt I used to generate it.

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"Generate an anime-style image of The Lord of the Rings. Create a hobbit character with pale white skin, pointed elf ears, brown curly hair, and light blue eyes. He is wearing a brown medieval-looking outfit and a moss green cloth tattered cape. He is on a quest to destroy AI. The background should resemble Mordor."