Hello World

Deciding to write anyway.

I started this blog three times in my head and talked myself out of it each time. Too busy. Not ready. What would I even say? Better wait until I have something worth saying.

But that's a trap. While you wait for your ideas to feel ready to share, they circle your mind, taking up space and going nowhere.

So I'm writing anyway. Not to build an audience. Not to position myself. To think better.

I don't know what this blog will become. I keep thinking about AI, building, and what it means to come from somewhere (nowhere?) and try to make something.

For now, I'm writing, mostly for myself.

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The Counterfactual Dilemma

Raisul ChowdhuryWriting & building

Hi, I'm Raisul. I build AI products at Google and write about tech, craft, and what comes next.

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Painted night scene: a figure at a glowing laptop, child's family drawing on the wall, mountain valley and city lights through the windows

Amplified IntelligenceNotes on where machine ends and we begin.

The Perfect Stranger (coming soon)The Perfect Mirror (coming soon)A Bubble of One (coming soon)Inception (coming soon)The Replacement Trap (coming soon)Thinking in a Second Language (coming soon)

WritingSelected essays
and notes

Scratching the SurfaceWhat smarter machines reveal about the mind.2026
The Counterfactual DilemmaOn picking the right comparison.2026
Hello WorldDeciding to write anyway.2026

ProjectsSelected work

Calm for NetNewsWire showing “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy?” from Naval’s Archive with an adaptive reading map
CalmNavigate long articles without distraction.

Entries2026-

AboutMe

Hi, I'm Raisul Chowdhury, a data scientist and product builder in San Francisco.

I grew up in Dhaka, moved to Toronto in my twenties, did an MBA at Kellogg, and have been in California with my wife and son ever since. Before Google, I helped grow StackAdapt from 70 to 1,000 people. And way before that, product and growth across digital platforms in emerging markets.

My titles changed over time, but the work I do stayed the same: understand the user, find the gap, ship it, learn, ship again.

These days I build AI products at Google and write about where the machines end and we begin. The bet underneath: AI that makes the person using it sharper, not smaller. I don't know if it's right yet. I'm building toward it.

When I'm not working, I'm usually at the park with my son, making waffles, or sitting with music and chai thinking about what comes next.

Experience

  • Senior Data ScientistGoogleCurrently teaching YouTube what to play next.
  • MBA in Artificial IntelligenceKellogg School of ManagementNorthwestern's first AI-focused MBA. Half the syllabus changed during the program.
  • Head of Audience & Optimization ProductsStackAdaptMade up a job. Built a team to do it. Shipped what the job was supposed to ship.
  • Product & GrowthRocket Internet GmbHDesigned a mobile platform for users who couldn't read.

Elsewhere