Avatar for Ashish Pawar

Ashish Pawar

Specializing in Backend Architecture and Applied AI

I am an experienced software engineer, with an expertise in creating scalable, data-driven solutions with a strong focus on backend architecture, AI integration, and cloud-based applications. With experience at industry leaders such as Palantir Technologies, Goldman Sachs and WHOOP, I have been instrumental in building robust frameworks and intelligent systems that enhance performance, reliability, and scalability.

Experience

Software Engineer, Palantir Technologies

May 2024 - Present

I worked on the Application Frameworks team, building common frameworks for other applications and played a key role in the effort of enhancing interoperability between Palantir Gotham and Palantir Foundry.

Software Engineer, WHOOP

July 2023 - Jan 2024

I worked on the Notification Center, delivering personalized user updates. I also created the Year in Review 2023 feature to highlight personalized fitness achievements and expanded API functionality to improve third-party integrations.

Software Engineer, Goldman Sachs

July 2020 - June 2022

I played a pivotal role in transforming the Securitized Derivatives and Structured Products teams by developing high-performance solutions such as an RFQ system, streamlining document approvals, and implementing automated settlement processes.

Impactful Projects

Consumer Price Index, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

2018

I worked on the data collection system for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, which is now used by the Government of India for critical financial discussions and inflation calculations.

Export Quiz, Moodle

2019

I am the lead maintainer of the Export Quiz plugin for Moodle that can export quizzes in any given format, currently used by over 200 schools and colleges worldwide, automating the reporting flow to save faculty time.

Dev Utilities, Visual Studio Code

2024

I am the lead developer of Dev Utilities, an open-source VS Code extension that enhances development workflows by providing a variety of utilities directly within the code editor, all while ensuring data privacy with local processing.

Publications & Writing

The One-Shot Generalization Paradox: Why Generative AI Struggles With New Information

Hackernoon (Chosen as Top Story)

Learn why GenAI models fail with new information, the 'One-Shot Generalization Paradox,' and what future AI research holds for overcoming this challenge.

Ella Isn’t Real, But She Feels Real: The Empathic AI Leasing Agent in Our Looming Bot First Economy

Hackernoon (Chosen as Top Story)

Discover how AI assistants like Ella are transforming customer interactions with human-like precision, the tech behind them, and what we may lose in this shift.

Should Machine Output Qualify for Free Speech Protections?

Hackernoon (Chosen as Top Story)

Should AI-generated speech enjoy the same legal protections we extend to human expression? Or should AI-generated content fall into its own category altogether, with separate rules?

Whisper Wars: Will AI Prompts Become the Secret Recipes of the Future?

Hackernoon

As businesses recognize the value of optimized AI prompts, a new debate emerges: can prompts become trade secrets, and what does that mean for innovation?

Here’s the one thing you should never outsource to an AI model

VentureBeat

Let me break down why over-reliance on gen AI in R&D could be innovation’s Achilles’ heel.

Sequence Length Limitation in Transformer Models: How Do We Overcome Memory Constraints?

Hackernoon

Transformers are limited by sequence length due to quadratic scaling. Explore solutions like sparse attention, low-rank approximations, and spectral methods.

Outsmarting Big Data: How Small Businesses Can Compete in AI Without Mega-Datasets

AI Advances

Let’s face it — when it comes to AI, it often feels like small businesses are part of a lopsided fight. How can small business compete?

Is Bias in AI Quantifiable?

Hackernoon

Can we really quantify that bias? Is there some magic metric that can definitively tell us how biased an AI is?

Why Isn’t Generative AI Good at Doing Two Things at Once?

TowardsAI.net

Why can’t we have one cohesive AI system that flips seamlessly between different modes of understanding and generation, like we humans do?

Mode Collapse in GANs: Can We Ever Completely Eliminate This Problem?

DZone

Mode collapse makes GANs produce repetitive outputs. Solutions exist, but none fully solve it. Curious how researchers are tackling this? Read on!

Character-Level vs. Word-Level RNNs: The Ultimate Face-Off in Text Generation

Medium

A nerdy debate between character-level and word-level RNNs.

Best practices for structuring large datasets in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

Data Science Central

Explores the core principles, practical steps, and common pitfalls to watch out for when structuring large datasets to get the most out of RAG.

onCreate() vs onStart() in Android: In-depth analysis

Medium

Delves into the differences between these methods and provides a concise answer to the question at hand with a comprehensive analysis.

Optimizing Bayesian acquisition functions in Gaussian Processes

Arxiv

This paper analyzes different acquistion functions like Maximum Probability of Improvement and Expected Improvement and various optimizers like L-BFGS and TNC to optimize the acquisitions functions for finding the next sampling point.

Auto Tuning of Hadoop and Spark parameters

Arxiv

After studying and analyzing various previous works in automating the tuning of these parameters, this paper proposes two algorithms - Grid Search with Finer Tuning and Controlled Random Search.

Portfolio Management using Deep Reinforcement Learning

Arxiv

This paper provides the conclusion that the proposed portfolio manager with actions centered on weight allocations can surpass the risk-adjusted returns of conventional portfolio managers.

Talks & Judging

Talk, Khoury Research Apprentice Showcase, Northeastern University

Boston, MA

Talk on "Can GPT Price Options?"

Paper Presentation, Future of Machine Learning And Data Science

Sydney, Australia

Paper: Can GPT Price Options?

Hackathon Judge, AI/ATL @ Georgia Tech

Atlanta, GA

Sponsors: Google Cloud, Anthropic, Microsoft, MongoDb, Databricks, Cloudflare, Figma, ...

Hackathon Judge, Hack This Fall

Virtual

Sponsors: Github, Devfolio, Postman, Google for Developers, MongoDb, Databricks, Okta, ...

Hackathon Judge, Hack OHI/O

Columbus, OH

Sponsors: Intel, Honda, Deloitte, First Energy, Union Home, ...

Editorial Review Board, International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies

Journal

Review submissions for the journal

Achievements

Khoury Research Apprenticeship

2024

I was awarded the prestigious Khoury Research Apprenticeship, with an acceptance rate of less than 1%, and received a scholarship covering full tuition for his research work.

Co-Founded Pune Startup Fest

2019

I co-founded Pune Startup Fest which attracts over 15,000 attendees, features 100+ startups, and hosts 20+ expert speakers every year to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Pune's startup ecosystem.

Featured in Pune Mirror, India Times

2017

I was featured in Pune Mirror and India Times newspaper as a young and enthusiastic application developer at the age of 19, highlighting my innovation and contributions to the community.