The Data Engine is a show about exactly that. Each episode takes one research paper and works through what it actually changed: how Waymo got its cars to label their own driving data, why Meta's Segment Anything Model can cut out an object nobody ever taught it to recognize, how a trick as simple as flipping an image teaches a model more than another million photographs would, and why treating pictures like sentences turned out to be the idea that unlocked the last decade of progress.

No prerequisites beyond curiosity. If you have ever wondered how a machine learns to see, and who does the unglamorous work that makes it possible, start anywhere.

Episodes are conversational walkthroughs of the papers, produced with synthetic voices.