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Azure AI for Deep Reading
This talk covers building a web app using React and Azure AI to facilitate deep reading of foundational texts like *The Wealth of Nations* with AI assistance.
Reflecting back on 2025, I, like much of the tech industry, significantly increased my dependence on AI. There are real negative side effects to this shift, but one positive outcome surprised me: AI made me a fearless learner. For a long time, I avoided learning things that felt too deep or too slow. If a topic looked intimidating, I procrastinated. If progress felt abstract, I lost interest. Fear of failure quietly shaped what I chose to learn. AI changed that by meeting me exactly where I am. I can ask naive questions, get ideas reframed in simpler language, and apply what I learn immediately. That removes the early confusion that usually kills momentum.
A recent talk by Andrej Karpathy really clicked for me. He described using AI to read The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, written in the 1700s. For a modern reader, the old English alone is a major barrier. I took that idea and turned it into a web app (https://github.com/varunr89/edps-method) React frontend, Azure SQL to track progress, and Azure AI Foundry for the AI layer. All texts come from the open-source Gutenberg project.
My goal for 2026 is to use this app for structured deep reading of the foundational texts behind economics, politics, and moral philosophy. (example The Wealth of Nations, The Federalist Papers, and Capital by Karl Marx). These are books people cite but rarely finish. AI is not doing the work for me. It is my learning partner that keeps things engaging and practical.