What's the future for generative AI? - The Turing Lectures with Mike Wooldridge

To get you excited for this year's Christmas Lectures, which are on the theme 'The Truth About AI', we've got our 2023 Lecturer Mike Wooldridge talking about the history and future of generative AI. If you're in the UK, you can watch the lectures on BBC FOUR and iPlayer from the 26th December, and if you're outside the UK, we'll be uploading them to this channel on the 29th December. Who's looking forward to watching?

There are times I don't think there's much to get proud of here in the UK, but the fact these lectures are still going, that they are watched and available for free on the website, going back for years, reminds me that some things in the UK are pretty damn cool

I find it quite interesting that this lecture was recorded in December 2023 and not once does he mention GPT4, which is much, much more capable than GPT3. When combined with some simple prompting techniques AI is already more capable than his checklist suggests. This technology is moving very fast indeed.

I wanted to experiment by asking ChatGPT if fish can run, expecting the answer "No, fish can't run." If that was the response, my follow-up question would've been, "Is a mudskipper considered a fish?" Unfortunately, that plan didn't go as expected. Q:Can a fish run? Answer (ChatGPT): In a way, some fish can be said to "run" underwater. Certain fish, like the flying fish or the mudskipper, use their fins or specialized anatomical features to propel themselves out of the water or move across land briefly. However, their movement isn't exactly like running as we typically think of it; it's more of a specialized form of locomotion adapted to their environment.

I kept waiting for him to talk about where AI is going and all I got was a pretty basic explanation of what AI is.

Yes, two siblings can be taller than one another but not at the same time. As they grow an older sister or brother can be taller than her/ his sibling, then as the younger grows she or he can outgrow the elder.

"Can two siblings be taller than ONE ANOTHER? "might work better than "Can two siblings be taller than the other?" because one could infer that there are other siblings that those two particular siblings in the sentence ARE taller than. In the context of there being three or four siblings this is plausible.

This was laid out so eloquently and clear with a great sense of humor, thank you so much mr. Wooldridge

Regarding the last example where AI is not bothered waiting for its user to return from vacation. I think, okay, that's relevant if we reason in terms of human time, what time means to a human. But if time is relative... if time didn't exist at all or was experienced differently whether you're a tree, the lifespan of a planet, the existence time of a micro black hole, etc. That changes quite a bit. Now, if we compare in the same way the time it takes for a newborn to become an adult with the same reasoning and knowledge and experience, compared to the time it takes for current AIs to reach new capabilities, where do we stand? Just a few questions I was pondering.

Regarding the YES answer to the question " Can two siblings each be taller than the other?" I think there is an explanation. As sibling grow up together then they may experience growth spurts at different times and so at specific moments in time one may be taller that the other which may be reversed at other times. Since the question did not specify simultaneity I think its a correct and valid answer.

"Chiarissimo" is the best complement that I can make for Mike Wooldridge. You make such a complement to the best teachers, in Italy. You made a very, very clear and understandable conference !

Two siblings can each be taller than the other at different points in time. For example if one is born later but ultimately grows to be taller than the other.

A wise old person told me a long time ago that Curiosity + Gullibility + Addiction often takes one on the road to perdition, and the road to perdition is often paved with "good intentions".

It got the siblings question wrong because the questions contains two levels of logic, first take any sibling and it can be taller than the other, but if you the add (level 2) that the siblings are related then if one is taller then the other must be shorter, so it only worked out the first level.

This talk would have been very fascinating and useful about 4 years ago.

There are already LLMs that can use tools, check the the paper Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Tools to see how to implement this.

North is to the left because we start the zero vector of complex number graphs at "Y=0" or East and then goes counter clockwise to North

GPT 3.5 can definitely answer all of those questions, I tested it myself. It came up with an answer I hadn't thought of. "No, it's not possible for two siblings to be taller than each other at the same time. Height is a measurable physical attribute, and in any given comparison, one person will be taller than the other. However, it is possible for their heights to change over time due to factors like growth spurts, nutrition, and genetics. So, while one sibling might be taller than the other at one point, their heights could eventually equalize or even reverse as they continue to grow."

Can’t wait for the next breakthrough so we can hear him talk about it again.

Very useful introduction that can help everyone understand where LLMs came from and what they actually do.