Dave on Data

The Dave on Data mission is to empower any professional (or team) with the DIY data science skills needed to unleash the power of AI technologies like Copilot in Excel.

What gets left out of the AI Hype Cycle is this:

AI will make you (or your team) wildly more productive.

**BUT**

You must have the requisite skills to make the most of AI.

**AND**

If these skills are lacking, you will not be able to recognize (and correct) the AI when it makes mistakes.

BTW - AI makes mistakes all the time.

Take Microsoft's Copilot in Excel AI as an example.

The "magical" scenarios where Copilot analyzes data using a few clicks and a couple of short prompts rely heavily on two things:

Python
Machine learning

Here's the thing, however. 

I've tested Copilot in Excel, which rarely generates the correct Python/machine learning code.

As the DIY data scientist, this is where you unleash Copilot's power.

I can teach you these DIY data science skills.

Regardless of role. Regardless of background.

Founder

TDWI

I develop and deliver live training experiences on data science topics such as data analysis and predictive analytics (e.g., machine learning). I focus on accelerating the data science journey for teams and organizations using a practical hands-on approach.

Training can be delivered virtually or in person with your team. The following offerings are certified by TDWI and can be taught using R or Python:

👉 Machine Learning Bootcamp
👉 Visual Data Analysis
👉 Linear/Logistic Regresion

💻 Learn more: https://daveondata.com/live-analytics-training

Data Science Consultant & Instructor

Schedulicity

VP of Analytics

Data Science Dojo

VP of Data Science

Microsoft

Sr. Director, BI and Analytics

Principal Program Manager

Sr. Director, Platform Architecture

Principal Architect

Ascentium Corp

Associate Partner, Solution Architect

Safeco Insurance

IT Architect

e-software, Inc.

Software Design Engineer

Programmer Analyst

I help ANY professional or team have more impact using data. Analytics demystified.

Want to differentiate yourself at work with Excel skills? Leaders aren't excited about this in 2025:

- Using PivotTables
- Knowing many Excel functions

You know what they're excited about: AI

And that means Copilot in Excel.

Here are the 4 steps to build the skills you need to master Copilot in Excel and impress your manager, business stakeholders, and executives:

1) Ignore "prompt engineering."
2) Learn Python.
3) Learn DIY data science.
4) Recognize hallucinations.

I want to help you own the future of Microsoft Excel.

I will help you get started today - for free.

Join 1,000s of professionals building skills for the future: 
https://daveondata.com/newsletter

David Langer

As an author, there's nothing quite like waking up to some good news from Amazon!

Back in May of 2023, I saw an early version of Python in Excel for the first time. I immediately knew I wanted to be a part of the most significant upgrade in Excel's analytics capabilities ever. 

And it didn't stop there.

When I first got access to Copilot in Excel's "advanced analysis" mode, I quickly saw Microsoft's vision for Excel's future. For professionals building Python analytics skills, the future of Excel lies in deep integration with Copilot AI to unleash the power of their data.

My book is the first step in building the skills for Excel's AI-powered future. It uses your existing knowledge of Excel to help you learn the Python foundation you need - fast.

If you're ready to make 2026 the year you embrace the power of Excel, AI, and data, you can pre-order my book here: https://lnkd.in/eQp4g5_d

#Excel #PythonInExcel #MicrosoftExcel

I help professionals and teams build better forecasts using machine learning with Python and Python in Excel.

Interesting behavior from Copilot in Excel. Just another example of how Python in Excel skills are part of Excel's AI-powered future.

I was working on the next issue of my LinkedIn newsletter, which will cover using AI to build better forecasts in Microsoft Excel, and asked Copilot to create a forecast for me.

I was surprised to see that Copilot didn't use Excel's FORECAST.ETS() function because that's the best way to build data-driven forecasts using native Excel features.

Instead, Copilot in Excel generated Python code in the background to build an ETS model similar to what would be produced from FORECAST.ETS() using Python's mighty statsmodels library.

BTW - I covered statsmodels in my last two LinkedIn newsletter articles.

I'm betting that the new Copilot in Excel Agent Mode will be able to manipulate worksheets (e.g., generating formulas) directly and will be able to generate forecasts using FORECAST.ETS().

However, I'm also betting the Agent Mode will eventually be smart enough to recognize when a better forecasting technique is available from Python and use that instead.

Which means that the AI-powered future of Microsoft Excel will belong to those professionals who develop Python skills.

Stay healthy and happy data sleuthing!

#Excel #PythonInExcel #MicrosoftExcel

Greg Coquillo

Product Leader @AWS | Startup Investor | 2X Linkedin Top Voice for AI, Data Science, Tech, and Innovation | Quantum Computing & Web 3.0 | I build software that scales AI/ML Network infrastructure

Product leader with a passion for solving business use cases such as Growth, Go-to-Market, and Price Optimization. I owned P&L for commodity-based products, and leveraged AI to increase the average customer contract values across business industries. As a Product Leader at Amazon, I own a roadmap that drives the adoption of AI products through the Media Automation charter, which supports Private Brands’ YOY growth. I work with Data Scientists, Software Engineers and Business Intelligence Engineers to leverage Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics to design predictive models that enhance business decision-making and performance to accelerate growth, reduce Time to Market of products, monitor cross-geo compliance and import requirements, and ensure customer safety.

I am always curious and eager to learn how new technology affects our daily lives, and I love to support communities on their quest to adopt Artificial Intelligence across industries. Feel free to contact me if you have Data Science projects that you’d like to be showcased on this platform for visibility.

🌐I am a Global Business Leader with 12 years of experience and skills including Product Management, P&L management, Global Networking, EBITDA Optimization, Pricing Management, Margin Management, Product Management, Program Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and Continuous Improvement.

🧘🏽‍♂️Soft Skills include: Communication, Collaboration, Lateral Thinking, Adaptability, Inspiration, Innovation, Empathy, Listening, Diplomacy, Organization, Responsibility, Leadership...

🎬🎥🎞 I really enjoy watching movies, and if I could redo it all over, I’d be a Sci-Fi script writer so I can be bounded by the limits of imagination.

(Opinions are my own)

Product Management, Media Automation

Owner of the AI vision and roadmap for Private Brand’s Compliance Division. Driving adoption of new technology, allowing my customers to scale their processes and increase productivity. Core responsibilities include:

-Building cross-functional teams consisting of Data Scientists, Software Engineers, Data Engineers, Product Managers and Program Managers, to plan and implement sophisticated AI projects
-Manage the New Initiative Intake Process
-Gather Business requirement artifacts
-Communicate roadmap definition and prioritization
-Coordinate User Acceptance Testing
-Manage Launch Announcements
-Prepare and communicate annual planning artifacts

Building Agentic AI systems beyond connecting APIs or LLMs is complicated, but not impossible.

This architecture lays the foundation for how AI agents think, communicate, and improve, covering everything from testing and observability to deployment and memory management.

Here’s a breakdown of the key layers and components that make up a scalable Agentic AI Architecture :

1.🔸Decomposition
Break down complex systems by domain (e.g., Coding Agent, Data Agent), by cognitive capability (Reasoning, Planning, Execution), or by agent role (Planner, Executor, Memory Manager, Communicator).

2.🔸Communication
Enable message passing between agents using inter-agent protocols or A2A (Agent-to-Agent) orchestration.
Support both single-agent and multi-agent setups for small or distributed workflows.

3.🔸Deployment
Deploy agents in containerized or serverless environments using Docker or Modal.
Support orchestrators like CrewAI or AutoGen for collective intelligence in multi-agent workflows.

4.🔸Data & Discovery
Integrate knowledge bases (like vector databases for RAG), memory stores (FAISS, Redis, Pinecone), and APIs for dynamic data access.
Context is passed using Model Context Protocol (MCP) for structured and real-time reasoning.

5.🔸Testing & Observability
Validate workflows end-to-end, test reasoning logic, and evaluate performance under real conditions.
Monitor using Weights & Biases, LangFuse, and track metrics like latency and task success rate.

6.🔸UI & Style
Provide intuitive feedback loops through visualization layers, dashboards, and self-reflective modes.
Enable collaborative, proactive, and goal-driven reasoning among multiple agents.

7.🔸Security
Protect access with token-based authorization and data encryption.
Include Trust Layers for human-in-the-loop validation and Policy Enforcement for safe execution.

8.🔸Cross-Cutting Concerns
Handle configuration, secrets, and environment management.
Support flexible frameworks like LangChain, AutoGen, or CrewAI for runtime execution and modular design.

Agentic AI is the future of automation - where AI doesn’t just assist but collaborates and learns.

Save this post to understand the architecture that powers the next generation of AI systems

#AgenticAI

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Do you think Gemini is the only big AI release from Google?
The truth is, Google is among the few companies that built one of the most complete AI ecosystems in the world and most people don’t even realize how deep, interconnected, and powerful it has become. 

From advanced multimodal models to coding agents, business assistants, creative tools, and enterprise AI platforms, Google’s ecosystem covers nearly every category of modern AI development.

Here’s a breakdown and what each part does:

🔸The Models
Google’s core family of Gemini and Gemma models power reasoning, multimodal understanding, fast inference, and lightweight on-device AI.

🔸Build & Code
A full suite of tools which include App Builder, AI Studio, Code Assist, Antigravity, and Jules. They help developers prototype apps, debug code, automate tasks, and build production-ready agents.

🔸Video & Motion
Tools like Veo, Lumiere, Flow, and VideoFX generate cinematic footage, consistent characters, smooth motion, and AI-powered video storytelling.

🔸Image Creation
Imagen 3, Nano Banana, Google ImageFX, Whisk, and Stitch create photorealistic images, editable UI layouts, artistic styles, and precise controlled-generation outputs.

🔸Assistants & Business
Gemini Live, Gemini Gems, Workspace Gemini, Google PomellI, and NotebookLM act as reasoning assistants, brand agents, workflow automators, and personalized long-term AI personas.

🔸Additional Ecosystem Pieces
Vertex AI, Gemini for Firebase, Gemini Nano, Creative tools, and AI Safety systems bring enterprise orchestration, mobile integrations, on-device intelligence, and responsible AI safeguards.

However, this doesn’t mean this is the only choice you have when it comes to building state of the art AI systems. Would love to know which one you’re a big fan of. 
#AI

📚LLMs in the Enterprise are finally getting the playbook they deserve… LLMs in Enterprise by Ahmed Menshawy and Mahmoud Fahmy provides practical guides for building real AI systems that operate at scale.

Most teams talk about LLMs in theory. This book focuses on execution. It bridges foundational concepts with the hands-on design patterns that matter when you are integrating models into production environments.

Here are the insights that stood out👇

1.🔸Enterprise LLM integration is a data architecture problem
The book breaks down how to design pipelines, tune retrieval, and structure data so models operate with consistency and low latency in real workloads.

2.🔸Scaling LLMs requires pattern-level thinking
They go deep on architectural patterns that reduce complexity, improve efficiency, and streamline deployment. This includes RAG frameworks, fine-tuning strategies, segmentation techniques, and evaluation patterns that teams often overlook.

3.🔸Performance is not just about bigger models
The authors show how to optimize model behavior with advanced inferencing engines, contextual model customization, and monitoring systems that keep applications predictable.

4.🔸Real enterprise value comes from operational rigor
Security, fairness, transparency, and accountability are not afterthoughts. They are part of the design process, especially when LLMs touch business workflows and customer data.

5.🔸AI teams win by mastering both concepts and impact
The flow of the book reflects the real enterprise lifecycle: Concept → Customization → Impact
A clear, structured way to think about turning LLM capabilities into business outcomes.

If you are building production AI systems, leading an LLM program, or preparing for the next wave of enterprise adoption, you should definitely get a copy of this book.

Enterprise AI is evolving fast. Understanding these design patterns early puts at a career advantage which allows you to shape the next generation of intelligent applications.

#LLM

Check out this simple breakdown of the four core LLM architectures shaping most of today’s advanced systems.

Not all LLMs reason the same way. Building reliable AI systems, or choosing the right model for a workflow requires a clear mental model of the architectures that drive them.

Let’s review:

1.🔸Decoder Only (GPT, LLaMA, Grok)
Generates text by predicting one token at a time using previous context.

Best for generative workloads, conversational systems, and multi step reasoning.

2.🔸Encoder Only (BERT, RoBERTa)
Processes text with full bidirectional context to learn dense semantic representations.

Best for classification tasks, retrieval, and embedding generation.

3.🔸Encoder Decoder (T5, FLAN T5, BART)
Separates understanding from generation. The encoder builds meaning, the decoder transforms it.

Best for translation, summarization, and any structured text to text transformation.

4.🔸Mixture of Experts (Mixtral, Gemini 1.5)
Routes each input to a subset of specialized expert networks.

Best for scaling model capacity while controlling compute cost.

These architectures go beyond academic details to determine latency profiles, context handling, fine tuning strategies, and how models behave under real workloads. A clear grasp of them helps you design better pipelines, choose the right foundation models, and understand why two LLMs can produce very different outcomes on the same task.

Let me know your thoughts!

#LLM

I believe the next wave of AI systems will not be defined by bigger models but by smarter orchestration. Salman Paracha got my attention on Arch Router, which introduces a routing approach that aligns model selection with human preferences instead of benchmark scores. You should absolutely check it out, as I know machine alignment is one of the most talked about challenges at enterprise. 

Arch Router treats routing as a semantic matching problem between a user query and a set of natural language policies built from a Domain and Action taxonomy. This design gives teams direct control over how queries should be handled and removes the need to retrain routers whenever new models are added. 

The authors trained a compact 1.5B model that outperforms top proprietary models in multi-turn routing while running at a fraction of their latency. The result is a practical blueprint for multi-model systems that are fast, interpretable, and aligned with real usage rather than synthetic metrics.  

Let me know your thoughts on this one. 

Salman and I will be sharing more on the subject.

#LLM

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