AI Discourse Deranged: Assessing LLM Generalization Takes and Polarizing Regulatory Debate

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Video Description

In this episode, Nathan and Erik discuss research out of Google Deepmind suggesting LLMs can’t generalize and unpack several perspectives from AI thinkers, Hemant Teneja’s responsible VC commitments, and why now is not the time for an ideological war on AI regulation. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period.

Episode Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nKSEPkVajUzjBAvQNUqUD3p5Pz-xaz0dp-DVR8KJCc0/edit?usp=sharing

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TIMESTAMPS:(00:00:00) - Opening discussion of recent viral tweet claiming LLMs can't generalize
(00:03:27) - Waymo Safety Research
(00:07:09) - Use of GPT-4V for medicine
(00:10:12) - Response to Google Deepmind’s research claiming LLMs can’t generalize
(00:15:08) - Sponsors: Shopify | Omneky
(00:21:38) - Reproduction of the DeepMind research showing noise allows generalization
(00:26:02) - Helen of Transforrmers
(00:30:15) - Sponsors: Oracle | Netsuite
(00:32:36) - Continuation of Google Deepmind discussion
(00:36:49) - Google Med-PaLM LLM resulting in novel insights
(00:38:27) - Disagreeing with Jim Fan about how transformers are not elixirs
(00:42:47) - “The AI Executive Order will only continue to look more foolish from here”
(00:44:09) - The AI Scout mindset
(00:45:22) - Few humans can extrapolate beyond their training data
(00:47:17) - Meg Mitchell’s perspective on AI safety and data measurement rigour
(00:48:45) - When does GPT-4 deceive its user?
(00:49:58) - Voluntary Responsible AI Commitments from VCs
(00:54:00) - Analysis of the commitments as basic common sense practices
(00:56:30) - No need for an ideological war
(00:57:00) - Discussion of critical reactions framing the commitments as capitulation
(01:00:00) - Concerns about the voluntary commitments enabling harmful regulation
(01:03:00) - Rebuttal that self-regulation can avoid heavy handed regulation
(01:08:00) - Self driving cars: the invisible lives you can save
(01:11:00) - Mysticism when it comes to AI
(01:12:03) - Suggestion that product liability law could address concerns
(01:15:00) - Challenge to defend rejecting product liability for AI systems
(01:18:00) - Closing call for moving beyond polarized ideological discourse