Simon P. Couch
@simonpcouch.com
he/him - writing statistical software at Posit, PBC (née RStudio)🥑
simonpcouch.com, @simonpcouch elsewhere
simonpcouch.com, @simonpcouch elsewhere
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
Everyone is welcome to join us at our next virtual meetup for a talk on using #GenerativeAI in R with Sharon Machlis
@smachlis.bsky.social — Tech Journalist and Data Professional.
RSVP 🔗 www.meetup.com/rladies-pari....
#RStats #RStatsFr #Rprogramming #RLadies #GenAI @rladies.org @posit.co
@smachlis.bsky.social — Tech Journalist and Data Professional.
RSVP 🔗 www.meetup.com/rladies-pari....
#RStats #RStatsFr #Rprogramming #RLadies #GenAI @rladies.org @posit.co
November 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Everyone is welcome to join us at our next virtual meetup for a talk on using #GenerativeAI in R with Sharon Machlis
@smachlis.bsky.social — Tech Journalist and Data Professional.
RSVP 🔗 www.meetup.com/rladies-pari....
#RStats #RStatsFr #Rprogramming #RLadies #GenAI @rladies.org @posit.co
@smachlis.bsky.social — Tech Journalist and Data Professional.
RSVP 🔗 www.meetup.com/rladies-pari....
#RStats #RStatsFr #Rprogramming #RLadies #GenAI @rladies.org @posit.co
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
📣🚨 Very much looking forward to hearing from @frankiethull.bsky.social about the intersection of coded data viz and AI assistants! 👀🚀
Join us Tuesday Dec 2nd, at 3pm Eastern to hear about {ggpal2}, a {chores} extension. #ggplot2 #ai #chores
bit.ly/RxAI-join
Join us Tuesday Dec 2nd, at 3pm Eastern to hear about {ggpal2}, a {chores} extension. #ggplot2 #ai #chores
bit.ly/RxAI-join
November 21, 2025 at 9:54 PM
📣🚨 Very much looking forward to hearing from @frankiethull.bsky.social about the intersection of coded data viz and AI assistants! 👀🚀
Join us Tuesday Dec 2nd, at 3pm Eastern to hear about {ggpal2}, a {chores} extension. #ggplot2 #ai #chores
bit.ly/RxAI-join
Join us Tuesday Dec 2nd, at 3pm Eastern to hear about {ggpal2}, a {chores} extension. #ggplot2 #ai #chores
bit.ly/RxAI-join
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
The LLM privacy question comes up (rightly so) on every data community call I'm on. I've had sooo many questions myself. #databs #rstats #pydata
Good resource:
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
Also, have you seen side::kick in RStudio? simonpcouch.github.io/side/
Good resource:
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
Also, have you seen side::kick in RStudio? simonpcouch.github.io/side/
Privacy and AI Assistants - Posit
Many of our LLM tools can execute code and access your files. What does this mean for privacy?
posit.co
November 21, 2025 at 7:40 PM
The LLM privacy question comes up (rightly so) on every data community call I'm on. I've had sooo many questions myself. #databs #rstats #pydata
Good resource:
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
Also, have you seen side::kick in RStudio? simonpcouch.github.io/side/
Good resource:
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
Also, have you seen side::kick in RStudio? simonpcouch.github.io/side/
The newest edition of the @posit.co AI Newsletter is out! Some notes on TOON, several open source updates, and a callout to two recent blog posts from @sara-altman.bsky.social and I.
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
2025-11-21 AI Newsletter - Posit
Several notable model releases from OpenAI, Gemini, and Moonshot, a new release of ellmer, and an LLM benchmark on plot interpretation.
posit.co
November 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The newest edition of the @posit.co AI Newsletter is out! Some notes on TOON, several open source updates, and a callout to two recent blog posts from @sara-altman.bsky.social and I.
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
Often, the first question I get when sharing about Posit's LLM tools is "Will this expose my data?" @sara-altman.bsky.social and I wrote about the trust relationships involved when using our AI tools on the @posit.co blog.
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
Privacy and AI Assistants - Posit
Many of our LLM tools can execute code and access your files. What does this mean for privacy?
posit.co
November 20, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Often, the first question I get when sharing about Posit's LLM tools is "Will this expose my data?" @sara-altman.bsky.social and I wrote about the trust relationships involved when using our AI tools on the @posit.co blog.
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
posit.co/blog/trust-l...
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
Introducing bluffbench, a new tool to evaluate how well LLMs actually see data plots.
When we trick LLMs with secret #RStats transformations, they can miss the visual contradiction.
bluffbench helps us measure this "blind spot" in AI coding agents. Learn more: posit.co/blog/introdu...
When we trick LLMs with secret #RStats transformations, they can miss the visual contradiction.
bluffbench helps us measure this "blind spot" in AI coding agents. Learn more: posit.co/blog/introdu...
When plotting, LLMs see what they expect to see - Posit
Data science agents need to accurately read plots even when the content contradicts their expectations. Our testing shows today's LLMs still struggle here.
posit.co
November 19, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Introducing bluffbench, a new tool to evaluate how well LLMs actually see data plots.
When we trick LLMs with secret #RStats transformations, they can miss the visual contradiction.
bluffbench helps us measure this "blind spot" in AI coding agents. Learn more: posit.co/blog/introdu...
When we trick LLMs with secret #RStats transformations, they can miss the visual contradiction.
bluffbench helps us measure this "blind spot" in AI coding agents. Learn more: posit.co/blog/introdu...
Gemini 3 is out! I've been poking at it with `side::kick()` and am impressed so far.
In case you want to connect to it with the #rstats ellmer package, I wrote some quick notes in a Gist: gist.github.com/simonpcouch/...
In case you want to connect to it with the #rstats ellmer package, I wrote some quick notes in a Gist: gist.github.com/simonpcouch/...
November 18, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Gemini 3 is out! I've been poking at it with `side::kick()` and am impressed so far.
In case you want to connect to it with the #rstats ellmer package, I wrote some quick notes in a Gist: gist.github.com/simonpcouch/...
In case you want to connect to it with the #rstats ellmer package, I wrote some quick notes in a Gist: gist.github.com/simonpcouch/...
A core capability for data science agents is making plots and learning from them. While developing Databot and Positron Assistant, though, we've seen that LLMs tend to ignore plotted trends when they're counterintuitive.
From @sara-altman.bsky.social and I: posit.co/blog/introdu...
From @sara-altman.bsky.social and I: posit.co/blog/introdu...
November 18, 2025 at 3:46 PM
A core capability for data science agents is making plots and learning from them. While developing Databot and Positron Assistant, though, we've seen that LLMs tend to ignore plotted trends when they're counterintuitive.
From @sara-altman.bsky.social and I: posit.co/blog/introdu...
From @sara-altman.bsky.social and I: posit.co/blog/introdu...
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
ellmer 0.4.0 is out now! New features include Claude caching & file uploads, support for newer OpenAI responses API, web search tools, and better security. Read more at tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11... #rstats
ellmer 0.4.0
ellmer 0.4.0 includes important lifecycle updates, new Claude features (caching, file uploads, web tools), OpenAI improvements, and enhancements to error handling, pricing tracking, and security.
tidyverse.org
November 18, 2025 at 6:38 AM
ellmer 0.4.0 is out now! New features include Claude caching & file uploads, support for newer OpenAI responses API, web search tools, and better security. Read more at tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11... #rstats
Once you've built something with ellmer, how can you tell whether it's any good? My posit::conf(2025) talk on LLM evaluation with #rstats is now live. :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciR...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciR...
Is that LLM feature any good? (Simon P. Couch, Posit) | posit::conf(2025)
YouTube video by Posit PBC
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Once you've built something with ellmer, how can you tell whether it's any good? My posit::conf(2025) talk on LLM evaluation with #rstats is now live. :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciR...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciR...
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
🤖 Introducción a #Tidymodels
Aprendé a usar tidymodels para crear y evaluar modelos de #MachineLearning en #RStats
Con Francisco Cardozo y Edgar Ruiz
📅 1 Dic, 18:00–20:00 UTC-3 – Online
💵 Estudiantes USD 5 · Académicos USD 10 · Industria USD 15
🔗 www.eventbrite.com.ar/e/1962543491...
#LatinR2025
Aprendé a usar tidymodels para crear y evaluar modelos de #MachineLearning en #RStats
Con Francisco Cardozo y Edgar Ruiz
📅 1 Dic, 18:00–20:00 UTC-3 – Online
💵 Estudiantes USD 5 · Académicos USD 10 · Industria USD 15
🔗 www.eventbrite.com.ar/e/1962543491...
#LatinR2025
November 13, 2025 at 3:33 PM
🤖 Introducción a #Tidymodels
Aprendé a usar tidymodels para crear y evaluar modelos de #MachineLearning en #RStats
Con Francisco Cardozo y Edgar Ruiz
📅 1 Dic, 18:00–20:00 UTC-3 – Online
💵 Estudiantes USD 5 · Académicos USD 10 · Industria USD 15
🔗 www.eventbrite.com.ar/e/1962543491...
#LatinR2025
Aprendé a usar tidymodels para crear y evaluar modelos de #MachineLearning en #RStats
Con Francisco Cardozo y Edgar Ruiz
📅 1 Dic, 18:00–20:00 UTC-3 – Online
💵 Estudiantes USD 5 · Académicos USD 10 · Industria USD 15
🔗 www.eventbrite.com.ar/e/1962543491...
#LatinR2025
To be effective, data science agents need to be able to read plots reliably. @sara-altman.bsky.social and I wrote about some concerning findings on LLMs' ability to interpret plots when the content contradicts their expectations on the @posit.co blog.
posit.co/blog/introdu...
posit.co/blog/introdu...
When plotting, LLMs see what they expect to see - Posit
Data science agents need to accurately read plots even when the content contradicts their expectations. Our testing shows today's LLMs still struggle here.
posit.co
November 13, 2025 at 3:07 PM
To be effective, data science agents need to be able to read plots reliably. @sara-altman.bsky.social and I wrote about some concerning findings on LLMs' ability to interpret plots when the content contradicts their expectations on the @posit.co blog.
posit.co/blog/introdu...
posit.co/blog/introdu...
This edition of @sara-altman.bsky.social and I's AI Newsletter is a @posit.co heavy one! Support for new model providers in Positron Assistant, an experimental coding agent for RStudio, a conference on #rstats + AI this week, and more. :)
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
2025-11-07 AI Newsletter - Posit
Anthropic tested whether LLMs can introspect, Posit added support for AWS Bedrock and custom providers in Positron Assistant, and OpenAI finalized its for-profit shift toward a $1T IPO.
posit.co
November 10, 2025 at 2:36 PM
This edition of @sara-altman.bsky.social and I's AI Newsletter is a @posit.co heavy one! Support for new model providers in Positron Assistant, an experimental coding agent for RStudio, a conference on #rstats + AI this week, and more. :)
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
posit.co/blog/2025-11...
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
🗞️ New edition of the Posit AI Newsletter is up on the Posit blog!
Curated by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com, this week covers LLM introspection, an RStudio coding agent, custom providers in Positron Assistant, and more.
Read the latest: posit.co/blog/2025-11...
Curated by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com, this week covers LLM introspection, an RStudio coding agent, custom providers in Positron Assistant, and more.
Read the latest: posit.co/blog/2025-11...
2025-11-07 AI Newsletter - Posit
Anthropic tested whether LLMs can introspect, Posit added support for AWS Bedrock and custom providers in Positron Assistant, and OpenAI finalized its for-profit shift toward a $1T IPO.
posit.co
November 7, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🗞️ New edition of the Posit AI Newsletter is up on the Posit blog!
Curated by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com, this week covers LLM introspection, an RStudio coding agent, custom providers in Positron Assistant, and more.
Read the latest: posit.co/blog/2025-11...
Curated by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com, this week covers LLM introspection, an RStudio coding agent, custom providers in Positron Assistant, and more.
Read the latest: posit.co/blog/2025-11...
side::kick() is model-agnostic. When you first launch the app, a setup flow will detect whether any common providers are already configured to help you get started.
#rstats
#rstats
November 7, 2025 at 12:48 PM
side::kick() is model-agnostic. When you first launch the app, a setup flow will detect whether any common providers are already configured to help you get started.
#rstats
#rstats
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
pkgdown 2.2.0 now out — tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11.... Main feature is new build_llm_docs() which makes your websites easier to understand by LLMs. (Which you can easily turn off if desired) #rstats
pkgdown 2.2.0
The latest version of pkgdown automatically builds markdown files that make it easy for LLMs to use your website.
tidyverse.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:45 PM
pkgdown 2.2.0 now out — tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11.... Main feature is new build_llm_docs() which makes your websites easier to understand by LLMs. (Which you can easily turn off if desired) #rstats
I'm excited to share side::kick(), an experimental open-source coding agent for RStudio built entirely in R. It can interact with your files, communicate with your active #rstats session, and run code.
Check it out: github.com/simonpcouch/...
Check it out: github.com/simonpcouch/...
November 5, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I'm excited to share side::kick(), an experimental open-source coding agent for RStudio built entirely in R. It can interact with your files, communicate with your active #rstats session, and run code.
Check it out: github.com/simonpcouch/...
Check it out: github.com/simonpcouch/...
Tomorrow morning! Come by!
I'll be keynoting at R/Pharma a week from today! The conference is free and virtual. I'll be focused on the mundane use cases of LLMs for wrangling data with #rstats, and the content should feel applicable for folks outside of pharma—come through. :)
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/Ai-geyS63...
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/Ai-geyS63...
November 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Tomorrow morning! Come by!
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
Happy Halloween to all who celebrate. Hope you and/or your kids get some nice candy and fun times tonight!
Here's a silly little post on making neon ghosts in #rstats with #ggplot2
drmowinckels.io/blog/2025/ne...
Here's a silly little post on making neon ghosts in #rstats with #ggplot2
drmowinckels.io/blog/2025/ne...
Neon Ghosts with ggplot2 - Dr. Mowinckel’s
Make your own glowing, wiggly ghosts in R with a dash of randomness and a lot of neon.
drmowinckels.io
October 31, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Happy Halloween to all who celebrate. Hope you and/or your kids get some nice candy and fun times tonight!
Here's a silly little post on making neon ghosts in #rstats with #ggplot2
drmowinckels.io/blog/2025/ne...
Here's a silly little post on making neon ghosts in #rstats with #ggplot2
drmowinckels.io/blog/2025/ne...
mcptools 0.2.0 is on CRAN! mcptools implements the Model Context Protocol in #rstats, allowing ellmer users to share context and tools more easily between LLM applications.
Read more: github.com/posit-dev/mc...
Read more: github.com/posit-dev/mc...
October 30, 2025 at 12:13 PM
mcptools 0.2.0 is on CRAN! mcptools implements the Model Context Protocol in #rstats, allowing ellmer users to share context and tools more easily between LLM applications.
Read more: github.com/posit-dev/mc...
Read more: github.com/posit-dev/mc...
I'll be keynoting at R/Pharma a week from today! The conference is free and virtual. I'll be focused on the mundane use cases of LLMs for wrangling data with #rstats, and the content should feel applicable for folks outside of pharma—come through. :)
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/Ai-geyS63...
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/Ai-geyS63...
October 29, 2025 at 7:32 PM
I'll be keynoting at R/Pharma a week from today! The conference is free and virtual. I'll be focused on the mundane use cases of LLMs for wrangling data with #rstats, and the content should feel applicable for folks outside of pharma—come through. :)
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/Ai-geyS63...
Register: events.zoom.us/ev/Ai-geyS63...
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
Thank you so much, Jen! If all goes well, that submission will be the final #TidyTuesday for 2025! It is *so* helpful when people submit datasets! I've been able to implement features to catch errors in datasets, and I have more on the way. Maybe I'll even finally finish the easier to use website!
Woot, just submitted another dataset to #TidyTuesday and now there are 5 PRs waiting for Jon to review.
I screenrecorded the process, so if you want to see how EASY it is to contribute a dataset to this AMAZING #rstats community, check out this video.
youtu.be/Kp7pyYwLcwc
I screenrecorded the process, so if you want to see how EASY it is to contribute a dataset to this AMAZING #rstats community, check out this video.
youtu.be/Kp7pyYwLcwc
October 29, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Thank you so much, Jen! If all goes well, that submission will be the final #TidyTuesday for 2025! It is *so* helpful when people submit datasets! I've been able to implement features to catch errors in datasets, and I have more on the way. Maybe I'll even finally finish the easier to use website!
I sincerely apologize for the mcptools package not having a cute lil feller on its hex sticker in its first release. This will be corrected in the next #rstats CRAN release!!!
posit-dev.github.io/mcptools/
posit-dev.github.io/mcptools/
October 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I sincerely apologize for the mcptools package not having a cute lil feller on its hex sticker in its first release. This will be corrected in the next #rstats CRAN release!!!
posit-dev.github.io/mcptools/
posit-dev.github.io/mcptools/
The newest release of @sara-altman.bsky.social and I's AI Newsletter covers support for GitHub Copilot as a chat provider in Positron Assistant, two releases from Anthropic, and reflections on water and electricity usage of data centers.
Read it on the @posit.co blog: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
Read it on the @posit.co blog: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
2025-10-24 AI Newsletter - Posit
Anthropic introduces the cost-effective Claude Haiku 4.5 and the new "Skills" feature, while the broader AI discussion shifts to the growing impact of data center electricity consumption.
posit.co
October 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The newest release of @sara-altman.bsky.social and I's AI Newsletter covers support for GitHub Copilot as a chat provider in Positron Assistant, two releases from Anthropic, and reflections on water and electricity usage of data centers.
Read it on the @posit.co blog: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
Read it on the @posit.co blog: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
Reposted by Simon P. Couch
GitHub Copilot powering Positron Assistant Chat mode is huge for my job!
We have Posit Connect and our only LLM is GitHub Copilot.
The only way to get copilot to edit and run code directly on the posit connect server was to remote-ssh from VSCode.
All I need to do convince IT to enable positron.
We have Posit Connect and our only LLM is GitHub Copilot.
The only way to get copilot to edit and run code directly on the posit connect server was to remote-ssh from VSCode.
All I need to do convince IT to enable positron.
🗞️ New edition of the Posit AI Newsletter is up on the Posit blog!
Curated by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com, the newsletter keeps you up to date:
Claude Haiku 4.5
GitHub Copilot support in Positron Assistant
AI water and energy use
📬 Read the newsletter: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
Curated by @sara-altman.bsky.social and @simonpcouch.com, the newsletter keeps you up to date:
Claude Haiku 4.5
GitHub Copilot support in Positron Assistant
AI water and energy use
📬 Read the newsletter: posit.co/blog/2025-10...
2025-10-24 AI Newsletter - Posit
Anthropic introduces the cost-effective Claude Haiku 4.5 and the new "Skills" feature, while the broader AI discussion shifts to the growing impact of data center electricity consumption.
posit.co
October 25, 2025 at 5:12 AM
GitHub Copilot powering Positron Assistant Chat mode is huge for my job!
We have Posit Connect and our only LLM is GitHub Copilot.
The only way to get copilot to edit and run code directly on the posit connect server was to remote-ssh from VSCode.
All I need to do convince IT to enable positron.
We have Posit Connect and our only LLM is GitHub Copilot.
The only way to get copilot to edit and run code directly on the posit connect server was to remote-ssh from VSCode.
All I need to do convince IT to enable positron.