In this episode, Nathan sits down with three researchers at Carnegie Mellon studying adversarial attacks and mimetic initialization: Zico Kolter, Andy Zou, and Asher Trockman. They discuss: the motivation behind researching universal adversarial attacks on language models, how the attacks work, and the short term harms and long term risks of these jailbreaks. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Tur...
Sep 22, 2023•2 hr 17 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Adam Wenchel, CEO of Arthur.ai. Adam founded the AI security company back in 2019, before GPT-2 existed. In this episode, Adam shares his unique perspective on the AI security landscape, drawing from years building commercial AI systems. They discuss the attacks Adam set out to defend against, the changing priorities of executives in the rush to adopt LLMs, and the LLM-specific techniques Adam has developed. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out ...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Stephen Parker and Josh Rubin of Waymark, and creators of The Frost, an AI-powered 12 minute short film. In this episode, we get a behind the scenes look at their creative process, the prompting and creative techniques they used to generate and animate the DALL-E results, and an overview of the current state of AI art. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpe...
Sep 14, 2023•2 hr 32 min•Ep 62•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Trey Kollmer, WGA Writer and Co-Executive of the show Ghosts, returns to the show to discuss updates to the Hollywood Strikes, including news on SAG-AFTRA and WGA. Trey and Nathan chat why actors are joining the strikes, how AI will change acting as a profession, Trey’s views on reasoning and how he’s experimenting with GPT-4, and much, much more. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of St...
Sep 12, 2023•3 hr 34 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with three members of the a16z x Convex AI Town project: Yoko Li (Partner, a16z), Martin Casado (GP, a16z), and James Cowling (CTO, Convex). AI Town is a virtual town where AI agents live, interact, and socialize. They discuss how AI Town originated from Yoko’s companion app project, unpredictability as a feature in LLMs and interacting with models like they are lifeforms, and why they chose Javascript and Convex to build AI Town. If you're looking for an ERP pl...
Sep 07, 2023•58 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Daniel Kang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois. Kang has done pioneering work bringing zero knowledge cryptographic proofs to AI. In this episode, they chat about the cryptographic theory behind Daniel's work, how cryptography allows us to balance the tradeoff between privacy and authenticity, and how cryptography usage is needed in a world where LLMs are increasingly embedded into our daily lives. If you're looking for a...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep 59•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan and Erik sit down to analyze Hugging Face in light of its recent $235M Series D round. They analyze Hugging Face’s community and defensibility through the lens of other community businesses like ProductHunt and Yelp, assess its ability to fulfill its $4.5 billion valuation, and assess competitors and other notable companies in the space like Replit, Character, and Runway. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 58•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Paige Bailey, Lead Product Manager of Generative Models at Google Deepmind. In this conversation, they discuss what it's like to be a PM for an LLM as opposed to an app, defining ideal LLM behaviour, and reasoning - how do you distinguish real abilities vs pattern matching? If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other pr...
Aug 29, 2023•57 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast Join Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the latest developments from OpenAI on GPT 3.5, compare GPT to other live player models like Llama2, and discuss the state of AI in coding, education, and healthcare. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investmen...
Aug 25, 2023•54 min•Ep 56•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Vivek Natarajan and Tao Tu of Google’s Med-PaLM, diving into how they used one of the world’s largest medical datasets ever compiled to develop Med-PaLM M, an AI agent specialized in medical tasks. In this episode, they discuss: Med-PaLM M's “clinically superhuman” abilities and limitations, the rigorous testing and validation that went into the model, and their vision for AI to take over repetitive clerical tasks and allow doctors to focus on patients. We'...
Aug 23, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep 55•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Jon Noronha, co-founder of Gamma. Gamma is a new medium for presenting ideas, allowing you to focus on your ideas and receive beautiful, engaging content without the formatting work. In this episode, Jon and Nathan discuss the journey of building Gamma, how to coax AI to do things well, and the opportunity for AI A/B testing. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board a...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Shawn Jansepar, Director of Engineering at Khan Academy, to discuss their GPT-4 powered Socratic tutor, Khanmigo. In this conversation, Shawn and Nathan chat about Khan Academy’s collaboration with OpenAI and how they helped fine-tune GPT-4, how Khan Academy leveraged GPT-4 to build Khanmigo, and the impact of providing access to an AI tutor to any student. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep 53•Transcript available on Metacast Join Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the last month in AI advancements. Nathan takes us through the meaningful updates to his Scouting Report (released last month, linked below), discusses highlights from recent episodes of The Cognitive Revolution, and gives us a sneak peek at upcoming interviews with Google researchers. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik'...
Aug 10, 2023•41 min•Ep 52•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Replit’s VP of AI, Michele Catasta. Replit is building what CEO Amjad Masad calls "the perfect substrate for AGI." In this discussion, Michele and Nathan discuss Replit's state of AI development report, advantages when it comes to AI development, and the company's custom models. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on oth...
Aug 08, 2023•2 hr 42 min•Ep 51•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Tyler Angert, Product Designer at Replit, to discuss the future of software development. Replit is building what CEO Amjad Masad calls "the perfect substrate for AGI." In this discussion, Tyler and Nathan discuss how Replit is leveraging AI to enhance its current product, bot-bot interactions, the design and ethical considerations around AI agents, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitiv...
Aug 04, 2023•2 hr 50 min•Ep 50•Transcript available on Metacast This isn't news, it's analysis! Nathan Labenz sits down for an with Zvi Mowshowitz, the writer behind Don't Worry About the Vase to talk about the major players in AI over the last few months. In this extended conversation, Nathan and Zvi debate if AI has attained the intelligence of a well-read college graduate (per OpenAI's Jan Leike), a live player analysis (who to count/ who not to count), and the role of independent red teaming organizations. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out...
Aug 02, 2023•3 hr 2 min•Ep 49•Transcript available on Metacast Arthur Conmy sits down with Nathan Labenz for an accessible deep dive into the state of interpretability research online today. They discuss how pioneering researchers have painstakingly worked to isolate the sub-circuits within transformers that are responsible for different aspects of AI capabilities. Arthur also introduces us to a new ACDC approach that he and his co-authors have taken to automating some of the most time-consuming parts of this work. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, che...
Jul 27, 2023•2 hr 14 min•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan Labenz sits down with Dr. Ronen Dar, CTO and co-founder of Run:ai, an Israel-based company that helps enterprises train and deploy AI models by optimizing GPU usage. The discussion covers how chip makers can meet the soaring demands, geopolitical fears, to the best practices companies can secure compute capacity. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on ...
Jul 25, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 47•Transcript available on Metacast Head over to YouTube to watch Part 2 of The AI Scouting Report (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovm4MbQ4G9E), supported by slides and visual aides. In Part 2, Nathan Labenz builds on Part 1: AI Fundamental and delves into recent trends and practical applications for AI. Nathan's aim is to impart the equivalent of a high school AP course understanding to listeners in 90-minute installments. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating....
Jul 19, 2023•4 min•Ep 46•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan Labenz interviews Div Garg, founder of MULTI·ON, the world's first personal AI agent and life copilot. Div talks about the product strategy and roadmap for the MULTI·ON browser, their natural language approach to skills, and the steps they are taking to ensure user safety. Div explains how the platform uses a critic model to detect the success or failure of tasks, and how it can be used to book flights, order food, and more. Div also talks about the future of memory systems, such as the u...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan Labenz sits down with Zvi Mowshowitz, the writer behind Don't Worry About the Vase. Zvi is an information hyperprocessor who synthesizes vast amounts of new and ever-evolving information into extremely clear summaries that help educated people keep up with the latest news. In this episode, we cover his AI safety worldview, an overview of the AI discourse, and who really matters in the AI debates. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he...
Jul 11, 2023•3 hr 45 min•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast Head to a special YouTube presentation with visual aides (https://youtu.be/0hvtiVQ_LqQ), where Nathan Labenz synthesizes the core fundamentals of AI as simply, clearly, and literally as possible. Nathan's aim is to impart the equivalent of a high school AP course understanding to listeners in 90 minutes. This special episode is in part brought to you by Athena. You can use Nathan’s referral link (http://athenago.me/nathan-labenz) for a free first month of Athena services for qualified customers....
Jul 06, 2023•7 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan Labenz sits down with Hayk Martiros, VP of Autonomy at Skydio. Martiros leads the autonomy team, which holds the state of the art in complex autonomous flight. Skydio is the largest drone developer in the US, and recently raised $230M to expand its US manufacturing 10-fold, bringing its valuation to $2.2 billion. In this discussion, Hayk and Nathan discuss why Skydio will not weaponize its drones, Skydio’s systems and AI approach, and the considerations of choosing an aut...
Jul 04, 2023•2 hr 42 min•Ep 42•Transcript available on Metacast [Bonus Episode] Latent.space hosts, Alessio and Swyx, sit down with Linus Lee of Notion AI to discuss Linus’ experience starting the AI/UX community, prompt engineering at Notion, and designing AI interfaces and agents. The latent.space podcast aims to be the first place where AI engineers hear about the latest AI news and technology trends. We’ve had several guests in common – including Shreya Rajpal of Guardrails, Jonathan & Abhi from the recently acquired for $1.3B MosaicML, and also Riley Go...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast Nathan Labenz sits down with Lili Yu, a researcher of Meta AI to discuss the paper she authored: MEGABYTE: Predicting Million-byte Sequences with Multiscale Transformers. In this conversation, they discuss the architecture and breakthroughs of their research, and the opportunity to eliminate the need for tokenization. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment A...
Jun 29, 2023•2 hr 35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ziming Liu is a Physics PhD student at MIT and IAIFI, advised by Prof. Max Tegmark. Ziming’s research is at the intersection of AI and physics. Today’s discussion goes in-depth on Liu’s paper “Seeing is Believing” where he presents Brain-Inspired Modular Training (BIMT), a method for making neural networks more modular and interpretable. The ability to see modules visually can complement current mechanistic interpretability strategies. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's p...
Jun 27, 2023•2 hr 55 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Part 2 of Nathan's conversation with Tanishq Mathew Abraham focuses on Tanishq's work with virtual biopsy technology enabled by deep learning. This unique technology has the potential to address a number of important biomedical challenges; in particular, qOBM could help during live tumor and cancer removal surgeries. Tanishq, a 19-year-old UC Davis grad and one of the youngest people in the world to receive a Ph.D, with a degree in biomedical engineering, is the founder of the Medical AI Researc...
Jun 22, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Tanishq Mathew Abraham, 19-year-old UC Davis grad and one of the youngest people in the world to receive a Ph.D, with a degree in biomedical engineering. Tanishq is the founder of the Medical AI Research Center (MedARC), and with his teammates, recently published a paper: Reconstructions of the Mind's Eye, which encompasses their breakthrough research on reconstructing visual perceptions from fMRI scans into images. In this episode, Nathan and Tanishq talk ...
Jun 20, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan sits down with Jonathan Frankle, Chief Scientist, and Abhi Venigalla, Research Scientist of MosaicML. They chat about Mosaic’s custom LLMs, the customers seeking Mosaic out and what their journeys and use cases look like, and exciting developments in Mosaic’s research: including their new inference platform, as well as Mosaic’s MPT-7B-65k+ storywriter model. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incr...
Jun 16, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg host a discussion between Emad Mostaque, founder of Stability AI, and Sam Lessin, GP of Slow Ventures and former VP Product at Facebook. These influential technology thinkers tackle topics pertinent to evaluating whether AI is a good investment for venture capital. They talk about the attention and information economy, SaaS markets, how AI-created entertainment will impact society and our relationships, and AI disruption of highly-regulated indus...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast 
