ines.io

Hi, I’m Ines.

I’m a software developer working on Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing technologies, and the co-founder of Explosion. We’re the makers of spaCy, the leading open-source library for Natural Language Processing in Python, and Prodigy, a machine teaching tool powered by active learning.

I believe in programming until four in the morning in my pyjamas instead of getting up early to attend conferences about productivity. I believe in making the best possible products instead of launching just for the sake of it because some startup advice blog told me so. I believe in rational planning, logical consequences and bullshit-free hard work instead of “following my dreams”. In short, I believe in doing things.

I grew up on the internet and started coding and designing websites at 11. After completing my degree in Communication Science, Media Studies and Linguistics, I spent four years working in media and sales. I’ve been self-employed since 2015. I live in Berlin with my fancy rats and I occasionally speak at conferences.

I’ve been featured in…

Zündfunk (Bayern 2) · Techtiefen Podcast · Mouse vs. Python · Python Bytes Podcast · DataHack Radio · TWiML & AI · TalkPython Podcast · ARD-alpha · NLP Highlights Podcast · Spiegel Online · The Exponential View · O’Reilly Newsletter

Bayern 2

“Wir setzen zu viele Hoffnungen in künstliche Intelligenz”

spaCy IRL 2019: 2 days of NLP in Berlin

We were pleased to invite the spaCy community and other folks working on Natural Language Processing to Berlin this summer for a small and intimate event.

FAQ #1: Tips & tricks for NLP, annotation and training

Custom pipelines and extensions for spaCy v2.0

As spaCy v2.0 gets closer, we've been excited to implement the last outstanding features. One of the best improvements is a new system for adding pipeline components and registering extensions to the Doc, Span and Token objects.

Training an insults classifier with Prodigy

How to Ignore Most Startup Advice and Build a Decent Software Business

The wired brain: How not to talk about an AI-powered future

The way we talk about AI is a mess. It starts with the most obvious, the imagery.

Story time: How I started coding

I've seen a couple of these posts pop up over the past year or so, and I've always enjoyed reading other people's stories. So here's mine.

Rebuilding a Website with Modular Markup Components

In a small team, everyone should be able to contribute content to the website without having to worry about design or write complex HTML.

spaCy and Explosion: past, present and future

ARD-alpha

Frag deinen Kühlschrank: Doku über künstliche Intelligenz

TalkPython podcast

Building a software business

In this episode, Michael Kennedy and I talk about building a sustainable software business on open source and Python.

Building Prodigy: Our new tool for efficient machine teaching

Prodigy is a project very dear to my heart and seeing it come to life has been one of the most exciting experiences as a software developer so far.

Reflections on running spaCy: commercial open-source NLP

As more and more people and companies are getting involved with open-source software, balancing the expectations of an open community and a traditional provider vs. consumer relationship is becoming increasingly difficult.

Announcing Explosion AI

Today, we launched the website for our new company, Explosion AI. Explosion is a digital studio specialising in Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing.

I fell for self-help so you don’t have to

I hate to admit it, but during my late teenage years and the beginning of my adult life, I massively fell for self-help blogs.

2019-11-09	Künstliche Intelligenz beyond the hype Zündfunk Netzkongress · Munich (Germany)
2019-10-13	Keynote Let Them Write Code PyCon India · Chennai (India)
2019-07-06	spaCy and Explosion: past, present and future spaCy IRL · Berlin (Germany)
2019-05-09	Practical NLP transfer learning with spaCy and Prodigy Scale InfoShare · Gdańsk (Poland)
2019-01-28	Practical transfer learning for NLP with spaCy and Prodigy Applied Machine Learning Days · Lausanne (Switzerland)
2018-11-22	The AI Revolution will not be Monopolized Hack Talks · Helsinki (Finland)
2018-07-26	Keynote How to Ignore Most Startup Advice and Build a Decent Software Business EuroPython · Edinburgh (Scotland)
2018-05-05	Teaching AI about Human Knowledge PyDays · Vienna (Austria)
2018-04-14	Increasing Data Science Productivity: spaCy & Prodigy San Francisco (United States)
2018-04-12	Rapid NLP Annotation Through Binary Decisions, Pattern Bootstrapping and Active Learning TomTom Founders Festival · Charlottesville (United States)