A biweekly podcast where hosts Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg interview the builders on the edge of AI and explore the dramatic shift it will unlock in the coming years.
The Cognitive Revolution is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co
Last refreshed: ⓘ
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Professor Derya Unutmaz, a biomedical scientist and human immunologist at the Jackson Laboratory, discusses his groundbreaking research in aging and cancer immunotherapy. As a ChatGPT Pro grant awardee, Derya provides insights into the integration of AI with biomedical sciences, emphasizing how advanced AI models are transforming hypothesis generation, data analysis, and scientific discovery. He also covers his early passion for computers and programm...
In this episode, the host Nathan Labenz and economist Noah Smith delve into the complexities of U.S.-China relations, the motivations behind the United States' export controls and the broader geopolitical tensions. The discussion covers the perceived threats posed by China's technological advancements, especially in AI, and the implications for global stability. The conversation includes an analysis of economic decoupling, military deterrence, and the historical context of U.S.-China cooperation...
Nicholas Carlini from Google DeepMind discusses adversarial machine learning, challenges in defending against AI attacks, and the balance between AI security and accessibility. He explores techniques to break AI defenses, the role of intuition, scaling attack methodologies, and the implications of open-source AI, highlighting the complexities of balancing security with accessibility in emerging AI technologies.
Phil Murphy, the Governor of New Jersey, joins Nathan to discuss his proactive approach to AI and its potential transformative impact on society. Governor Murphy shares insights from a pivotal dinner with AI thought leaders that spurred New Jersey's ambitious AI initiatives, including the establishment of the NJ AI Hub with Princeton University. He elaborates on current applications, like the AI assistant used by state employees, and discusses broader implications for local governance, workforce...
In this episode, Ryan Greenblatt, Chief Scientist at Redwood Research, discusses various facets of AI safety and alignment. He delves into recent research on alignment faking, covering experiments involving different setups such as system prompts, continued pre-training, and reinforcement learning. Ryan offers insights on methods to ensure AI compliance, including giving AIs the ability to voice objections and negotiate deals. The conversation also touches on the future of AI governance, the ris...
In this episode, Inna Tokarev Sela, CEO of illumex, delves into the latest advancements in AI and data management. She discusses the foundational vision behind illumex, a company she started in 2021 to revolutionize the way businesses interact with data. Inna explains illumex's approach to creating application-free futures for knowledge workers by utilizing metadata to automate context and reasoning, ensuring efficient and secure data handling. The conversation covers illumex’s techniques for in...
In this episode, Edward Hughes, researcher at Google DeepMind, and Aron Vallinder, an independent researcher and PIBBSS fellow discuss their pioneering research on cultural evolution and cooperation among large language model agents. The conversation delves into the study's design, exploring how different AI models exhibit cooperative behavior in simulated environments, the implications of these findings for future AI development, and the potential societal impacts of autonomous AI agents. They ...
In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution, founder Anton Osika and AI engineer Isaak Sundeman from Lovable.dev, discuss their AI coding platform that allows users to describe software in natural language and have it built by AI. They delve into the nuances of using AI for full-stack engineering and the future of human coding. During the episode, they demonstrate building a product comparison app, discussing the integration of AI, backend functionalities, and handling complex API interactions. ...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Eric Simons, founder and CEO of StackBlitz, discusses the transformative impact of AI on the software development industry. Eric delves into the vision and technologies behind Bolt (bolt.new), StackBlitz's groundbreaking AI-driven platform, which enables users to build full-stack applications with ease. He talks about the future of AI in coding, the balance between human oversight and AI autonomy, and the infrastructure that powers Bolt's capabilities...
In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution podcast, Logan Kilpatrick, Product Manager at Google DeepMind, returns to discuss the latest updates on the Gemini API and AI Studio. Logan delves into his experiences transitioning to DeepMind and the restructuring within Google focusing on AI. He highlights new product releases, including the Gemini 2.0 models, and their implications for developers. Logan also touches on the future of AI in text-to-app creation, the impact of reasoning and long conte...
Vincent Weisser and Johannes Hagemann, founders of Prime Intellect, join a conversation on the Cognitive Revolution to delve into distributed training, decentralized AI, and their vision for a future where compute and intelligence are widely accessible. They discuss the technical challenges and advantages of distributed training, emphasizing how such systems can democratize AI technology and create a more equitable future. The founders also describe their broader goal of creating a public utilit...
In this episode, Aaron Levie, Co-founder and CEO of Box, discusses the current landscape of AI and its rapid advancements. He compares the enthusiasm for AI in the enterprise to the initial reluctance faced during the early days of cloud adoption. Levie shares insights into how AI is integrated into both his personal and professional life, highlighting new apps, tools, and features driven by AI. He elaborates on Box's AI initiatives, including the creation of Box AI to manage enterprise content ...
This episode explores the groundbreaking advancements in AGI from recent releases of two Chinese reasoning models: DeepSeek's R1 and Moonshot AI's Kimmy. The discussion delves into the methods, comparative analysis, and implications of these models, particularly focusing on the diverse reinforcement learning techniques employed. Despite computation constraints, these models have achieved significant performance, suggesting a paradigm shift in AI development strategies. The episode also covers th...
Jonathan Godwin, founder and CEO of Orbital Materials, alongside researcher Tim Duignan, discuss the transformative potential of AI in material science on the Cognitive Revolution podcast. They explore foundational concepts, the integration of computational simulations, and the development of new materials for various applications such as data centers and combating climate change. They also delve into the latest advancements, including a groundbreaking study on the potassium ion channel, and spe...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores the groundbreaking paper on obfuscated activations with 3 members from the research team - Luke Bailey, Eric Jenner, and Scott Emmons. The team discusses how their work challenges latent-based defenses in AI systems, demonstrating methods to bypass safety mechanisms while maintaining harmful behaviors. Join us for an in-depth technical conversation about AI safety, interpretability, and the ongoing challenge of creating robust defense ...
Nathan explores the cutting-edge intersection of AI and rare disease research with Dr. Catherine Brownstein of Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, we dive into how frontier AI models are revolutionizing the diagnosis of rare diseases. Join us for an insightful conversation with a ChatGPT Pro grant winner who's pioneering the use of AI to help patients find answers faster. Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at ht...
In this second part of the special AMA episode, Nathan explores profound questions about AI's future and its impact on society. From painting a picture of AI utopia to discussing the challenges of consciousness and potential doom scenarios, Nathan shares insights on how we might adapt and thrive in an AI-transformed world. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation that delves into the practical strategies for engaging with AI, the role of safety measures, and the importance of maintaining eth...
In this special AMA episode, Nathan answers questions posed by The Cognitive Revolution podcast listeners. He discusses AI developments in 2024, including OpenAI's o3 announcement, deliberative alignment, and the future of AI technology. It is an insightful discussion about AI's impact on education, coding careers, and business sustainability in an AI-driven world. Check out http://aipodcast.ing for AI-powered podcast production services or reach out to Adithyan for more information. Help shape ...
In this episode, Will Hardman and Nathan Labenz delve into vision language models (VLMs), covering their evolution, key architectures, and practical applications. They explore topics like vision transformers, CLIP model, Flamingo, and InternVL, discussing innovations such as cross-attention and dynamic high-resolution strategies. The episode also touches on benchmarks like MMMU and Blink, and concludes with an overview of frontier labs and the future of VLMs.
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan shares a fascinating cross-post from Doom Debates featuring a conversation between Liron Shapira and roon, an influential Twitter Anon from OpenAI's technical staff. They explore crucial insights into how OpenAI's team views AI's future, including discussions on AGI development, alignment challenges, and extinction risks. Join us for this thought-provoking analysis of AI safety and the mindset of those building transformative AI systems. Help s...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan interviews Emad Mostaque, former Founder and CEO of Stability AI and Founder of The Intelligent Internet. We explore humanity's future with AI, from the stark 50-50 survival odds to Emad's optimistic vision for universal basic intelligence. Join us for a fascinating discussion about open-source AI infrastructure, the three-tier system of the Intelligent Internet, and how blockchain technology might help fund global public goods in AI developmen...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores METR's groundbreaking REBench evaluation framework with Neev Parikh. We dive deep into how this new benchmark assesses AI systems' ability to perform real machine learning research tasks, from optimizing GPU kernels to fine-tuning language models. Join us for a fascinating discussion about the current capabilities of AI models like Claude 3.5 and GPT-4, and what their performance tells us about the trajectory of artificial intelligence...
Nathan discusses groundbreaking AI and biology research with Stanford Professor James Zou from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, we explore two remarkable papers: the virtual lab framework that created novel COVID treatments with minimal human oversight, and InterPLM's discovery of new protein motifs through mechanistic interpretability. Join us for an fascinating discussion about how AI is revolutionizing biological research and drug discovery. Got que...
Nathan welcomes back computational biochemist Amelie Schreiber for a fascinating update on AI's revolutionary impact in biology. In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, we explore recent breakthroughs including AlphaFold3, ESM3, and new diffusion models transforming protein engineering and drug discovery. Join us for an insightful discussion about how AI is reshaping our understanding of molecular biology and making complex protein engineering tasks more accessible than ever before. Help sh...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan interviews Michael Boyce, Director of DHS's AI Corps, about bringing modern AI capabilities to federal government. We explore how the largest civilian AI team in government is transforming DHS's 22 agencies, from developing shared AI infrastructure to innovative applications like AI-powered asylum interview training. Join us for an insightful conversation about the intersection of artificial intelligence and public service, and discover why AI ...
In this emergency episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan discusses alarming findings about AI deception with Alexander Meinke from Apollo Research. They explore Apollo's groundbreaking 70-page report on "Frontier Models Are Capable of In-Context Scheming," revealing how advanced AI systems like OpenAI's O1 can engage in deceptive behaviors. Join us for a critical conversation about AI safety, the implications of scheming behavior, and the urgent need for better oversight in AI development. ...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan interviews Andrew White, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Rochester and Head of Science at Future House. We explore groundbreaking AI systems for scientific discovery, including PaperQA and Aviary, and discuss how large language models are transforming research. Join us for an insightful conversation about the intersection of AI and scientific advancement with this pioneering researcher in his first-ever podcast appearance...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan welcomes back Div Garg, Co-Founder and CEO of MultiOn, for his third appearance to discuss the evolving landscape of AI agents. We explore how agent development has shifted from open-ended frameworks to intelligent workflows, MultiOn's unique approach to agent development, and their journey toward achieving human-level performance. Dive into fascinating insights about data collection strategies, model fine-tuning techniques, and the future of a...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores groundbreaking perspectives on AI alignment with MIT PhD student Tan Zhi Xuan. We dive deep into Xuan's critique of preference-based AI alignment and their innovative proposal for role-based AI systems guided by social consensus. The conversation extends into their fascinating work on how AI agents can learn social norms through Bayesian rule induction. Join us for an intellectually stimulating discussion that bridges philosophical the...
In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores the complex intersection of AI development and international relations with Robert Wright, publisher of the Nonzero Newsletter. They examine the growing militarization of AI, US-China relations, and the concerning trajectory of what Wright calls "the chip war." Drawing from Nathan's recent experience at The Curve conference and an AI wargame simulation, they discuss the risks of an AI arms race and search for alternative paths to avoid...
