Doug Turnbull
In 2012, Doug got bit by the search bug and he’s still trying to keep up. From full-text search, to Learning to Rank models, to search agents that generate their own code, he knows the overwhelming landscape first hand. Yet Doug still works to deeply understand the what / how / why. He help teams use these technologies practically, distinguishing hype from reality.
He’s led search at Reddit, Shopify, and Wikipedia, authored Relevant Search and AI Powered Search, and advised 100+ organizations over the years – all in pursuit of the same question: how does search actually work?
Sessions
Search rankers coded by agents
Talk
6. May 2026, 15:20 - 16:05
Main Stage
Could AI code generation replace Learning to Rank? AI coding tools can generate rankers, but only up to a point. What techniques matter when building an agent coded ranker? And where do traditional search techniques still work?