Arun Baby

ML Researcher → AI Engineer → Architecting intelligent agent systems

I’m currently CTO at a stealth startup (since 2024), where I’m building the next generation of agentic conversational AI systems – agents that don’t just respond, but reason, plan, and take action.

My work sits at the intersection of research and engineering: taking cutting-edge ML research and shipping it as production systems that people actually use. I’ve spent the last decade making computers better at understanding and generating human speech, and now I’m focused on making them genuinely helpful – multi-modal agents that see, hear, speak, and collaborate.

Background

I was previously at Samsung Research (acqui-hired from Zapr Media Labs) as a Speech Researcher (Staff Engineer, AI and ML), where I worked on end-to-end conversational AI systems. My peer-reviewed publications span INTERSPEECH, ICASSP, TSD, SSW, NCC, and the Blizzard Challenge.

Before that, I’ve worked at Zapr Media Labs, Cisco, the Speech and Music Tech Lab at IIT Madras, Qbotics Labs, and HCL Technologies.

I hold a Master’s in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Madras, where I worked on unified approaches to speech synthesis for Indian languages under Prof. Hema A. Murthy.

Beyond Work

I’m on a journey to question assumptions and shed unnecessary labels, constantly learning, unlearning, and trying to see things as they are. Becoming Unlabelable.

Writing: I write to clarify my thinking and share what I’m learning. I’m currently working on books covering AI agent orchestration and other topics, alongside the technical deep-dives on this site. I also create podcasts exploring these topics in long-form audio.

Physical pursuits: I stay active through volleyball, squash, badminton, and table tennis. I’ve also trained in martial arts – Taekwondo, Hapkido, MMA, and Muay Thai. There’s something valuable about disciplines that demand both mental and physical presence.

Learning: I’m an avid reader and podcast listener. You can find my podcast list here. I also maintain a list of 101 things I want to accomplish in this life – an ever-evolving reminder to stay curious.

Philosophy: I lean toward minimalism – owning less, focusing on what matters. I prefer thoughtful conversations over debates. Think of me as a mental sparring partner rather than an opponent; the goal is for both of us to learn.

Let’s Connect

I’m always interested in conversations about AI, speech tech, building intelligent systems, or just interesting ideas in general.

The best conversations start with a simple email. Don’t hesitate to reach out.