Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan

Sr. Product Manager, AI and Revenue @BaltimoreBanner|past: @AJC, @Stylebotapp, @latimes|alum: @USCAnnenberg, @MedillSchool MICS|“AUDIENCE FIRST”

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

I have been at Banner for about 20 months now. Rarely share my thoughts about Banner because organizing words takes time, and time is precious.
In light of this article, I want to share how I feel about Banner.
https://t.co/ikt7TngbVT

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

It’s pretty crazy to think Sam Darnold will probably be USC’s last home-grown lifetimer quarterback, given what happened to transfer portal after his class.
Do not want to jinx it, but his NFL journey has truly reflected “Fight On”.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

There’s usually one game and one QB that can represent your college years, still giving you goose bumps years after graduation.

For me, it’s that Rose Bowl game and Sam Darnold.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

You may think Banner seems heading in the direction to be "okay" because we have these two types of people.
Not wrong. But importantly, we have a culture where the two types of people can co-contribute and even learn from or think for each other.
Don't take that for granted.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

I often say two big reasons people join Banner:
1. a non-profit startup trying to preserve journalism in a community that has a legacy local news owned by people they are concerned about.

2. a local news is willing to put financial sustainability at the heart of its existence.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

Knowing HOW HARD to make something happen vs. WE NEED to make something happen are often two different things at Banner.
Need that "self-delusion" or "ego" from that quote to succeed in these two questions. That allows you to take a deep breath after stress, and then solve it.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

We know how many attempts have been made or failed before us. We still try.
We don't take our existence and results for granted.
Every day, we don't dare to be optimistic AND we also don't dare to be pessimistic.
Knowledge can be a curse, so you have to be "The Greater Fool."

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

This has been on my mind lately because it’s broken a norm I’ve followed for the past three years. I’m self-aware enough to know this has a 50% chance of being thought-provoking — and a 50% chance of being laughed at.

https://t.co/balRphpaJx

[The Baltimore Banner @BaltimoreBanner]

Baltimore Banner wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of overdose crisis https://t.co/qeQvhz46cs

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

It's so interesting that the news industry has been doing subscription model for many years now, while retention/churn became a focus recently.
And still not enough people talk about subscriber lifetime value, acquisition cost and LTV/CAC ratio.

They are designed as a bundle.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

@ojss_png It's bad to the extent that it has forced me to explore Grok and Gemini...
Gemini 2.5, btw, is good. Google is making a comeback here.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

Nah.. The quality stopped at gpt-4o....

[Sam Altman @sama]

chatgpt is great now.

i sort of think we should put up the version from december of 2022 so people can see how far we've come! would feel so ancient.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

@ojss_png In all ChatGPT, API and OpenAI Assistant contexts.
In all code generation, writing generation, information accuracy and context understanding..
The only thing the newer models are good at, in my experience, is that it's better at giving long answers but wrong.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

In a completely new chat, you ask a question about a project A, it will give you answers about things you asked in the past regarding project A (clearly referring to the meory) but absolutely irrelevant to what you are asking now.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

ChatGPT's memory reference feature is absolutely dog shit....
OpenAI is releasing features at a quality level we had previously laughed at Gemini.

Meanwhile, Gemini 2.5 is making a great comeback win for Google.
OpenAI seems really nothing without its people.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

A thread I wrote one night a year ago more relevant today, especially this part.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

We know how many attempts have been made or failed before us. We still try.
We don't take our existence and results for granted.
Every day, we don't dare to be optimistic AND we also don't dare to be pessimistic.
Knowledge can be a curse, so you have to be "The Greater Fool."

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

Couple weeks ago: finally, there will be a new team in Super Bowl this time. Ravens? Lions? Vikings? And somebody is going to kick this Chiefs team out in playoff.
All these sound so exciting and beautiful.

Now:

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

Geez, fourth time running into this issue in three weeks from four different platforms:

For a number type field, value ZERO and null/undefined/invalid value are completely two different things.

Value “0” is an actual value that shouldn’t break the code.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

Have been hoping for a Detroit vs Baltimore Super Bowl for past couple of seasons.

I don’t feel that will be possible after this year’s chance.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

@stoolpresidente In case you are still Baltimore and need more options: https://t.co/PAJy7WTuLp

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

This still hasn’t changed yet for USC. Same for LR.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

USC football just can’t handle the hype.
The strongest moments in the past years, back to 2016 season, were always when the team had no hype. Clay Helton’s team can only function well as an underdog.

[Kaidi “Ruby” Yuan @YuanRuby]

USC this season: always finding a way to lose.