Shows
Before The CommitEpisode 22: AI Bubble ProjectionsIn episode 22 of "Before the Commit," hosts Dustin and Danny dive into a range of AI and tech topics. They start by discussing the evolving landscape of AI, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's "ominous warning" about AI testing humanity and the emergence of "Moltbot" (formerly ClaudeBot). The conversation touches on the practicalities of AI agents and their integration into daily life.A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the insurance industry's adoption of AI, highlighted by Lemonade offering discounts for Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) users. This sparks a broader discussion about AI's role in improving safety and...
2026-01-281h 01Before The CommitEpisode 21: OpenCode and Claude CoworkThe podcast episode "Before the Commit" episode 21 covers several key topics. The hosts discuss OpenAI's decision to test ads within ChatGPT, which raises concerns about privacy and the potential for a "slippery slope" in how user data is utilized. They draw parallels to Google's integration of ads into its search results and discuss the incentive structures that drive these companies.A significant portion of the discussion revolves around AI coding tools. The hosts clarify that Claude Code is not open-source, but they highlight an open-source repository for Claude code-related plugins and communities. They compare Claude Code with Grok Code...
2026-01-211h 09Before The CommitEpisode 20: Claude Code SDKThis episode of "Before the Commit" dives into several significant developments in the AI and tech landscape. The hosts discuss the controversy surrounding Anthropic's Claude Code, specifically how third-party developers were allegedly exploiting a subsidized usage model, leading to a crackdown by Anthropic. They explore the different ways Anthropic offers access to its models, including API-based consumption and subscription plans, and the implications of this crackdown for users and the broader AI ecosystem.A key part of the discussion revolves around Apple's decision to integrate Gemini for its Siri functionality, a move that sparks debate about Apple's AI strategy...
2026-01-1454 minBefore The CommitEpisode 19: Ralph Wiggum and Grok Heavy**Tailwind Labs and AI's Impact on Business Models:**\The conversation begins by examining how AI is affecting established open-source projects like Tailwind Labs. Traditionally, companies monetize open-source by offering premium add-ons or services. However, AI, by enabling users to generate code and potentially create custom solutions internally, is seen as "cannibalizing" these revenue streams. This phenomenon is termed "AI Vampire Economics," where AI's capabilities reduce the need for pre-packaged solutions, impacting companies that rely on traffic to their websites for upselling. The example of Stack Overflow is mentioned, noting a decrease in traffic and new questions as AI tools...
2026-01-091h 11Before The CommitEpisode 18: Claude Code Commands, Skills, Sub-agents, and more.This episode of "Before the Commit" (Episode 18, the last of 2025) features hosts Dustin and Sam discussing various AI topics. They begin by reflecting on their podcast journey over the past six months, noting its unexpected benefits in clarifying their own thoughts and keeping them updated with the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Sam likens this to an "Arnold Schwarzenegger effect," where consistent content creation helps AI better understand and respond to an individual's unique needs.The conversation then dives into key AI developments:- **OpenAI's Stance on Prompt Injection:** OpenAI has acknowledged that prompt injection attacks might be an unsolvable...
2025-12-301h 08Before The CommitEpisode 17: Datacenters In SpaceThe hosts, Danny Gershman and Dustin Hilgaertner, open by celebrating the official release of their book, Before The Commit. Dustin shares his excitement about receiving the physical proof, describing the book as a "playbook" for CISOs and engineering leaders. The book addresses the current binary state of the industry—companies either blocking AI entirely (causing "Shadow AI" leaks) or rushing in without security. Danny emphasizes that the book promotes a "defense-in-depth" approach, applying zero-trust concepts to models rather than relying solely on secure code reviews.The hosts discuss Merriam-Webster’s word of the year: "Slop" (low-quality, AI-generated cont...
2025-12-171h 08Before The CommitEpisode 16: LLM CouncilEpisode 16: Code Red at OpenAI, LLM Council, and the HashJack ExploitIs OpenAI in crisis mode? This week Danny and Dustin dive into the reported "code red" at OpenAI following Google's Gemini 3 release, and the curious reversal just 24 hours later claiming everything is fine. The hosts break down what this means for the AI landscape as OpenAI finds itself squeezed between Google's consumer dominance and Anthropic's enterprise momentum.Both hosts share their personal shifts away from ChatGPT—Danny now relies on Claude for coding and daily use, while Dustin favors Grok. They discuss how OpenAI ha...
2025-12-091h 06Before The CommitEpisode 15: Autonomous VehiclesIn this episode we cover, Autonomous Vehicles, sensors and AI. Claude Opus 4.5 cost drops, AI bubble concerns. KawaiiGPT and the risks associated with malicious model outputs. We close out with a brief chat about Time Warners parnership with Sano.
2025-11-261h 02Before The CommitEpisode 14: Devcontainers and Sandboxing with Claude CodeThis episode focuses on Claude Code Sandboxing a security construct. They also talk about AI attacks with Claude Code that were orchestrated by a nation state actor. News topics on Gemini 3, Gemini AI Studio, AI transportation, and a novel idea with AI ads.
2025-11-181h 06Before The CommitEpisode 13: OpenAI AtlasIt looks like the previous summary was too long. Here is a summary of the podcast episode, limited to 4,000 characters.The episode kicked off with the news of Amazon's largest-ever corporate layoffs , with reports citing 16,000 workers and potentially up to 30,000 employees affected across various units like video games, groceries, HR, and devices. This comes as Amazon is increasing its investments in AI , with a senior vice president stating that AI is the "most transformative technology we've ever seen". The company aims to be organized "more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership".The hosts noted...
2025-10-2853 minBefore The CommitEpisode 12: Speech to TextOpenAI's "Atlas" browser is seen as a strategic move to secure market share, with some calling it a "Chrome killer". By owning a piece of the web browser, OpenAI gains leverage in the search market, challenging Google. The browser's key feature is using the current web page as context for AI queries, effectively turning it into a "true super assistant". This represents a shift in the AI boom from the race for the best LLM performance to securing dominance in agentic applications. Google is countering this by integrating a Gemini button into Chrome that includes page context in searches.
2025-10-221h 10Before The CommitEpisode 11: AgentkitThe main focus is OpenAI's Agent Kit, dubbed a potential "N8N killer." Agent Kit includes Agent Builder, a drag-and-drop interface for creating agentic workflows, inspired by N8N but with enterprise features like guardrails (e.g., hallucination detection via vector stores, PII moderation, jailbreak prevention). It supports branching, human-in-the-loop approvals, and widgets for custom HTML/CSS templating (e.g., styling travel itineraries). Chat Kit embeds these workflows into apps or websites with branding, though locked to OpenAI models. Users can generate SDK code for customization, enabling porting to other frameworks like LangChain. Evaluations allow A/B testing prompts...
2025-10-141h 24Before The CommitEpisode 10: Claude Code Security ReviewerEpisode 10 of Before the Commit dives into three main themes: the AI investment bubble, Claude Code’s AI-powered security review tool, and AI security vulnerabilities like RAG-based attacks — closing with speculation about OpenAI’s Sora 2 video generator and the future of generative media.Danny and Dustin open by comparing today’s AI investment surge to the 2008 mortgage and 2000 dot-com bubbles. Venture capitalists, they note, over-allocated funds chasing quick returns, assuming AI would replace human labor rapidly. In reality, AI delivers productivity augmentation, not full automation.They describe a likely market correction — as speculative investors pull out, valuations...
2025-10-081h 13Before The CommitEpisode 9: Open Source ModelsIn episode nine, hosts explore open source AI models and introduce the "KILLM chain" segment on LLM vulnerabilities. Co-host Dustin mentions an upcoming move, prompting an early recording.The discussion expands on last week's open source AI model talk, referencing Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s view that "open source model" is a misnomer. Unlike software’s editable source code, AI offers "open weights"—trained model parameters—but not training data or processes. Amodei argues model quality, not openness, matters most, comparing models like DeepSeek (open weights) to closed ones like Claude Opus or GPT-5.Openness varies:
2025-09-291h 09Before The CommitEpisode 8: LLM CachingIn this episode, the hosts discuss the latest news and trends in AI, focusing on LLM caching, a new EU regulation on AI-generated code, the changing landscape for Stack Overflow, and a recent AI security vulnerability.The hosts explain LLM caching as a technique to boost efficiency and cut costs for AI providers and developers. It involves saving parts of a prompt that are sent repeatedly, such as tool descriptions for a code agent or a developer's code. This means the content doesn't need to be re-tokenized each time, saving computational power. Providers offer a reduced rate...
2025-09-231h 17Before The CommitEpisode 7: LiteLLMHosts Dustin Hillgartner and Danny Gershman discuss securing large language models (LLMs) amid rising "shadow AI" risks, where employees use unmonitored tools like ChatGPT, leading to unintentional data spills (e.g., sensitive info, code). Echoing shadow IT, they stress education, policies, and multi-layered defenses over bans, as prohibition drives underground use—studies show ~40% of workers admit to AI usage despite restrictions.LightLLM: Open-Source LLM ProxyCentral focus: LightLLM as a tool to combat shadow AI. It's a proxy funneling all LLM calls through a controlled channel, blocking public providers (e.g., forcing use of secure on...
2025-09-091h 05Before The CommitEpisode 6: Model Context Protocol (MCP)This episode discussion AI coding topics, starting with MCP ("Model Context Protocol"), an open-source framework by Anthropic for reflective APIs. MCP enables LLMs to self-discover and use external capabilities dynamically, bypassing traditional API integration. It comprises four primitives:- **Resources**: Read-only data access (e.g., databases, files) via path-like queries, ensuring security by limiting to retrieval. Example: Exposing a CRM database for LLM queries without write access. Authentication mirrors standard APIs.- **Prompts**: Templated, guided interactions provided by the server (e.g., Facebook's pre-built prompts for timeline queries).
2025-09-0259 minBefore The CommitEpisode 5: AWS KiroBefore the Commit Episode 5 SummaryHosts Dustin Hillgartner and co-host discuss Amazon's Kiro (pronounced "Kira Code" or "Cairo Code"), AWS history, AI coding security, and news on AI browsers and emotional distress.AWS Origins and AI Impact: Amazon started as a 2000s bookstore; hosts recall buying used textbooks. To scale, it built data centers, launching AWS in 2006 with S3 (storage) and EC2 (compute). This revolutionized dev: bypassed IT gatekeepers, enabled API-driven infra via Terraform. Solo devs could launch hits like Facebook. Now, AWS rivals Amazon's e-commerce revenue. AWS CEO: AI boosts devs (80% use it), enhances...
2025-08-261h 15Before The CommitEpisode 4: Claude Code Github ActionIn this episode of Before the Commit, the hosts dive deep into the evolving landscape of software development, automation, and AI’s role in reshaping industries beyond tech. The discussion spans GitHub Actions with Cloud Code, the challenges of technical debt in an AI-driven era, the evolution of agile practices, and the disruptive effects of AI in creative fields like music and film.The conversation opens with a focus on Cloud Code, which has emerged as both a CLI tool and SDK rather than a traditional IDE. When paired with GitHub Actions, Cloud Code allows for asynchronous au...
2025-08-191h 05Before The CommitEpisode 3: Claude CodeIn episode three of "Before the Commit," the hosts delve into a detailed comparison of AI coding assistants, the implications of the new GPT-5 model, the evolution of search optimization, and a plausible AI-related security threat.The discussion opens with a deep dive into Claude Code, which one host now uses almost exclusively over Cursor. While Cursor is a polished IDE, Claude Code is a more powerful command-line interface (CLI) tool that excels at executing coding tasks from start to finish. A key advantage of Claude Code is its intelligent use of Anthropics's family of models (Haiku...
2025-08-121h 08Before The CommitEpisode 2: Cursor Background Agents🎧 Before the Commit – Episode 2The Future of Coding Isn’t Coming — It’s Already Here.In this episode, we dive into the cutting edge of agent-powered development with Cursor’s new background agents — are we on the verge of coding without ever opening an IDE? Can AI truly handle the dev work while you're at a baseball game?We explore how top tools like Grok 4 and Claude are changing the game, discuss a wild experiment where an entire company was staffed by LLMs, and unpack OpenAI’s quiet pivot into custom software services.We also tack...
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