Gavin Dsouza

Machine Learning Engineer

About

Hi there, I'm Gavin.

I work on applied AI and ML systems with a focus on agentic systems and practical AI tools.

Recently built Protostar, a browser copilot that brings Cursor-style intelligence to web browsing.

Beyond work, like building side projects, write about what I learn, and play RPGs like Elden Ring, Dying Light etc in my downtime.

Stuff I've Made

Protostar - Browser Copilot

Cursor for the Browser

Slug-Search

Fine-tuning LLMs using outcome-based reinforcement learning (GRPO) to strategically use search/retrieval tools.

Multi-Modal Reasoning

Training Pixtral-12B for figurative image-text matching using CoT reasoning.

Experience

Sep 2024 - Mar 2026

UC Santa Cruz

Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence

Partnering with Adobe on capstone project developing a Browser Agent for Adobe Express
Research focus on agentic RAG systems, LLM fine-tuning, and multimodal AI

Mar 2022 - Apr 2024

Royal Datamatics (BlueKaktus)

Machine Learning Engineer

Designed OCR pipeline reducing manual document processing effort by 90%
Led team building multi-task product classifier for 50,000+ fashion items
Optimized ML algorithms achieving 7x performance improvements
Built similarity search with 90% accuracy in <1 second
Started as Software Developer Intern, developing neural network regression models for product manufacturing cost estimation

July 2018 - Jun 2022

Manipal Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering

Published several Computer Vision research papers focusing on biomedical applications
Minor Specialization: Computational Intelligence
Focused on signal processing, embedded systems, and machine learning fundamentals