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The Evolution of LLMs: From Imitation to Reasoning
Tue, 22 April, 3:40 PM - 4:10 PM GMT+5:30
Large Language Models (LLMs) are becoming smarter every day. Initially, these models focused on mimicking human text. Now, they’re evolving to think and reason.
At Walmart, we're focused on two key areas: Fine-tuning open models for specific tasks and exploring reasoning-based methods to enhance their flexibility and practical value. This shift helps us create more efficient, high-quality models while speeding up data readiness to suit Walmart's scale.
The session will explore the reasons behind these advancements, their trade-offs and the opportunities they create as we deploy these models.
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About the speaker
Arun Menon
Distinguished Software Engineer, Walmart Global Tech
Arun Menon is a Distinguished Software Engineer at Walmart Global Tech (WGT), with over 24 years of experience architecting and scaling enterprise-grade systems across retail, media and financial services. At WGT, he has been instrumental in incubating multiple Generative AI (GenAI) workstreams, driving innovation in AI-driven solutions for enterprise applications.
He played a key role in driving engineering excellence within the Enterprise Item and Inventory Group, where he contributed to mission-critical systems at a global scale.
Previously, Arun served as Lead Architect at a major sports network, where he led the API-layer redesign for a prominent sports information platform, building a modern cloud-native stack leveraging Kafka, CDC architecture and containerized services. His career spans leadership roles at leading IT and consulting firms, where he specialized in solution architecture, distributed systems and high-performance applications. Arun is known for his deep expertise in system design, cloud architecture and engineering mentorship.
