"what if you don't have the dataset?"
The article discusses the potential of LLM-powered analytics tools to source data without requiring users to upload datasets. Initially skeptical, the author discovered that these tools can access obscure data sources through their inherent knowledge. Examples include water temperature data from NOAA and 311 civic data from city complaint hotlines, showcasing the unexpected capabilities of LLMs in data retrieval.
- ▪The author frequently drives from San Francisco to San Diego and often discusses creative ideas during these trips.
- ▪The concept of an analytics app finding data without user input was initially dismissed but later proven viable through experimentation.
- ▪LLMs can access and retrieve data from obscure sources, such as NOAA buoys and city 311 complaint systems, without prior user knowledge.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
“What if you don't have the dataset?” May 31, 2026 My partner's family is from San Diego and so we frequently drive up and down the coast from San Francisco. It takes about 8-10 hours but we've grown to favor splitting up the drive in half on one side of trip and staying overnight in the little towns stuck in time along the 1 like Pismo Beach and Cayucos. During one of these drives last year, I was in the middle of an intensely creative and industrious period building out the next version of Plotly Studio - an LLM-powered analytics and visualization app - and our roadtrip turned into a rubber duck discussion about its underpinnings and possibilities. Talking out loud - especially to those who aren't so close to the problem - almost always brings up new ideas.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Chris-parmer.
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