AI: Grappling with a New Kind of Intelligence

Can we just take a second to acknowledge how fortunate we are to get to watch such content - for free? Thanks Brian.

With. ultimate respect to Yann LeCun, his responses to Tristan Harris' points, are good examples of why a specialist scientist should avoid also being a philosopher or an intellectual if that's not their strong suit.

Lecun is like a small child with fingers plugged into the ears, shouting "lalalala can't hear you! He discredits Tristan Harris, as if his examples or cited experiments are flat out lies. His responses are weak and shortsighted. Sadly, Lecun is the EXACT reason of why I am terrified for the future. Hubris, bias and blatant disregard is what I expect from someone in his position (Meta). If AI alignment is left to the ones who own and fund its development and the race to the bottom continues? There will be no more second chances. Those who point to our past as a future predictor in what we are facing today with exponential growth either does NOT understand or does NOT WANT to understand. We would all love of the bright and shiny optimism that is being promised. My belief is that it's crucial to question who is promising it and why. I put my trust in those who are working towards alignment over corporations and shareholders. It's my understanding that those who are working on the alignment path are far outnumbered by those who are working on pumping it out as quickly as possible. The days of "move fast and break things" mentality needs to end yesterday. Ask Eliezer Yudkowski. Max Tegmark. Nick Bostrom. Mo Gawdat. Daniel Schmactenberger. Connor Leahy. Geoffrey Hinton, to name a few. and of course, Tristan Harris. Check out their perspectives and their wealth of knowledge and experience here. They will all say that the shiny world that we want is indeed possible. They will all agree that the version that Lecun predicts is absolutely false and very likely to be our downfall.

This is the best, most balanced and most insightful conversation I have seen on AI. Thank you to everyone who made this wonderful show possible.

This conversation is so precious, it's rare that we can get quality ones like that with different voices that have their chance to express their views with clarity. For me there's a lot of ambiguity about what's the right thing to do in all this in terms of regulations, slowing, open-sourcing, etc. But one IS for sure, conversations like this are definitely very helpful. Thank you WSF and hope to see more like it in the near future!

It’s amazing that this was only posted 3 hours ago and some it is already obsolete.

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 02:27 🧠 Introduction to AI and Large Language Models - Exploring the landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models. - AI's promise of profound benefits and the potential questions it raises. - Large language models' versatility and capabilities in generating text, answering questions, and creating music. 08:09 🤯 Revolution in AI and Deep Learning - Overview of the revolutionary changes in AI technology over the past few years. - Surprising results in training artificial neural networks on large datasets. - The resurgence of interest in deep learning techniques due to more powerful machines and larger datasets. 14:35 🧐 Limitations of Current AI Systems - Acknowledging the impressive advances in technology but highlighting the limitations of current AI systems. - Emphasizing that language manipulation doesn't equate to true intelligence. - The narrow specialization of AI systems and the lack of understanding of the physical world. 21:07 🐱 Modeling AI on Animal Intelligence and Common Sense - Proposing a vision for AI development starting with modeling after animals like cats. - Recognizing the importance of common sense and background knowledge in AI systems. - The need for AI to observe and interact with the world, similar to how babies learn about their environment. 23:11 🧭 Building Blocks of Intelligent AI Systems - Introducing key characteristics necessary for complete AI systems. - Highlighting the role of a configurator as a director for organizing system actions. - Addressing the importance of planning and perception modules in developing advanced AI capabilities. 24:22 🧠 World Model in Intelligence - Intelligence involves visual and auditory perception, followed by the ability to predict the consequences of actions. - The world model is crucial for predicting outcomes of actions, located in the front of the brain in humans. - Emotions, such as fear, arise from predictions about negative outcomes, highlighting the role of emotions in decision-making. 27:30 🤖 Machine Learning Principles in World Model - The challenge is to make machines learn the world model through observation. - Self-supervised learning techniques, like those in large language models, are used to train systems to predict missing elements. - Auto-regressive language models provide a probability distribution over possible words, but they lack true planning abilities. 35:38 🌐 Future Vision: Objective Driven AI - The future vision involves developing techniques for machines to learn how to represent the world by watching videos. - Proposed architecture "Jepa" aims to predict abstract representations of video frames, enabling planning and understanding of the world. - Prediction: Within five years, auto-regressive language models will be replaced by objective-driven AI with world models. 37:55 🧩 Defining Intelligence and GPT-4 Impression - Intelligence involves reasoning, planning, learning, and being general across domains. - Assessment of ChatGPT (GPT-4) indicates it can reason effectively but lacks true planning abilities. - Highlighting the gap between narrow AI, like AlphaGo, and more general AI models such as ChatGPT. 43:11 🤯 Surprise with GPT-4 Capabilities - Initial skepticism about Transformer-like architectures was challenged by GPT-4's surprising capabilities. - GPT-4 demonstrated the ability to reason effectively, overcoming initial expectations. - Continuous training post-initial corpus-based training is a potential but not fully explored avenue for enhancing capabilities. 45:30 📜 GPT-4 Poem on the Infinitude of Primes - GPT-4 generates a poem on the proof of the infinitude of primes, showcasing its ability to create context-aware and intellectual content. - The poem references a clever plan, Yuk's proof, and the assumption of a finite list of primes. - The surprising adaptability of GPT-4 is evident as it responds creatively to a specific intellectual challenge. 45:43 🧠 Neural Networks and Prime Numbers - The proof of infinitely many prime numbers involves multiplying all known primes, adding one, and revealing the necessity of undiscovered primes. - Neural networks like GPT-4 leverage vast training data (trillions of tokens) for clever retrieval and adaptation but can fail in entirely new situations. - Comparison with human reading capacity illustrates the efficiency of neural networks in processing extensive datasets. 48:05 🎨 GPT-4's Multimodal Capability: Unicorn Drawing - GPT-4 demonstrates cross-modal understanding by translating a textual unicorn description into code that generates a visual representation. - The model's ability to draw a unicorn in an obscure programming language showcases its creativity and understanding of diverse modalities. - Comparison with earlier versions, like ChatGPT, highlights the rapid progress in multimodal capabilities within a few months. 51:33 🔍 Transformer Architecture and Training Set Size - The Transformer architecture, especially its relative processing of word sequences, is a conceptual leap enhancing contextual understanding. - Scaling up model size, measured by the number of parameters, exponentially improves performance and fine-tuning capabilities. - The logarithmic plot illustrates the significant growth in model size over the years, leading to the remarkable patterns of language generation. 57:18 🔄 Self-Supervised Learning: Shifting from Supervised Learning - Self-supervised learning, a crucial tool, eliminates the need for manually labeled datasets, making training feasible for less common or unwritten languages. - GPT's ability to predict missing words in a sequence demonstrates self-supervised learning, vital for training on diverse and unlabeled data. - The comparison between supervised and self-supervised learning highlights the flexibility and broader applicability of the latter. 01:06:57 🧠 Understanding Neural Network Connections - Neural networks consist of artificial neurons with weights representing connection efficacies. - Current models have hundreds of billions of parameters (connections), approaching human brain complexity. 01:08:07 🤔 Planning in AI: New Architecture or Scaling Up? - Debates exist on whether AI planning requires a new architecture or can emerge through continued scaling. - Some believe scaling up existing architectures will lead to emergent planning capabilities. 01:09:14 🤖 AI's Creative Problem-Solving Strategies - Demonstrates AI's ability to interpret false information creatively. - AI proposes alternate bases and abstract representations to rationalize incorrect mathematical statements. 01:11:20 🌐 Discussing AI Impact with Tristan Harris - Introduction of Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. - Emphasis on exploring both benefits and dangers of AI in real-world scenarios. 01:15:54 ⚖️ Impact of AI Incentives on Social Media - Tristan discusses the misalignment of social media incentives, optimizing for attention. - The talk emphasizes the importance of understanding the incentives beneath technological advancements. 01:17:32 ⚠️ Concerns about Unchecked AI Capabilities - The worry expressed about the rapid race to release AI capabilities without considering wisdom and responsibility. - Analogies drawn to historical instances where technological advancements led to unforeseen externalities. 01:27:52 🚨 Ethical concerns in AI development - Facebook's recommended groups feature aimed to boost engagement. - Unintended consequences: AI led users to join extremist groups despite policy. 01:29:42 🔄 Historical perspective on blaming technology for societal issues - Blaming new technology for societal issues is a recurring pattern throughout history. - Political polarization predates social media; historical causes need consideration. 01:32:15 🔍 Examining AI applications and potential risks - Exploring an example related to large language models and generating responses. - Focus on making AI models smaller, understanding motivations, and preventing misuse. 01:37:15 ⚖️ Balancing AI development and safety - Concerns about the rapid pace of AI development and potential consequences. - The analogy of 24th-century technology crashing into 21st-century governance. 01:40:29 🚦 Regulating AI development and safety measures - Discussion about a proposed six-month moratorium on AI development. - Exploring scenarios that could warrant slowing down AI development. 01:44:35 🌐 Individual responsibility and shaping AI's future - The challenge of AI's abstract and complex nature for individuals. - Limitations of intuition about AI's future due to its exponential growth. 01:48:29 🧠 Future of AI Intelligence and Consciousness - Yan discusses the future of AI, stating that AI systems might surpass human intelligence in various domains. - Intelligence doesn't imply the desire to dominate; human desires for domination are linked to our social n

I was very impressed by Yann's disciplined, rational and fact-based arguing preventing the discussion from turning in a more emotional direction.

This discussion on the evolution of AI and its limitations is truly eye-opening. Yan Lecun's insights into the challenges AI faces in achieving true understanding and common sense are thought-provoking. It's clear that we have a long way to go, but this conversation gives us valuable perspective.

30 years from now I will be 70 years old. The world I currently live in will be unrecognizable both in technology and the way humans interact. What a time to be alive... -M

I think it's very arrogant to think ' this and that will never happen'. How can you know!? Like we can predict this stuff. I'm pretty sure for example Yann did not foresee everybody having a phone in their pocket neither. It's also proven many times about the negative influence social media provides. I think Tristan was more on point in this conversation. We're living in wild times, that's for sure though! Skynet is coming ;)

My opinion of Yann LeCun took a big dive with this video. He underestimates the power of AI in its current form and what's coming over the next couple of years. He naively underestimates the dangers of AI. He seems to think that an AGI must be the same form of intelligence as human intelligence (absolutely false). And, perhaps predictably, he underestimates the negative impacts of Facebook and other social networks on society.

Great conversation. The final comments about AI code being open source as a common good so that the big companies do not end up controlling our thoughts vs. AI code being proprietary so it doesn’t fall into the hands of bad people remains an open and scary question. Though I do not have Yann’s knowledge about AI, he seems a little too optimistic to me.

This was more exciting and insightful than any 2 hour movie I could have watched. Thank you for sharing such wonderful content

Wow .. thanks to all if you guys , so fun to watch

Great session. Learnt something more than many other "training" sessions on Gen AI!

One of the best WSF yet. Great job...

A segment from 'Saved by the Light of the Buddha Within'... My new understandings of what many call 'God -The Holy Spirit' - resulting from some of the extraordinary ongoing after-effects relating to my NDE... Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the identity of what some scientists are now referring to as the unified field of consciousnesses. In other words, it’s the essence of all existence and non-existence – the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds, and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence are simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the actual creator of everything that exists now, ever existed in the past, or will exist in the future – right down to the minutest particles of dust – each being an individual ripple or wave. The big difference between chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and most other conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a ‘middleman’ to connect us to our state of inner enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves. That’s because chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo allows us to tap directly into our enlightened state by way of this self-produced sound vibration. ‘Who or What Is God?’ If we compare the concept of God being a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to the teachings of Nichiren, it makes more sense to me that the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people perceive to be God, is the fantastic state of enlightenment that exists within each of us. Some say that God is an entity that’s beyond physical matter – I think that the vast amount of information continuously being conveyed via electromagnetic waves in today’s world gives us proof of how an invisible state of God could indeed exist. For example, it’s now widely known that specific data relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects – including an instant global awareness of something or a mass emotional reaction. It’s also common knowledge that these invisible waves can easily be used to detonate a bomb or to enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars – none of which is possible without a receiver to decode the information that’s being transmitted. Without the receiver, the data would remain impotent. In a very similar way, we need to have our own ‘receiver’ switched on so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our own life, all other life and what everything else in existence is. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day helps us to achieve this because it allows us to reach the core of our enlightenment and keep it switched on. That’s because Myoho-Renge-Kyo represents the identity of what scientists now refer to as the unified field of consciousnesses. To break it down – Myoho represents the Law of manifestation and latency (Nature) and consists of two alternating states. For example, the state of Myo is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists – including our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them – our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re dormant – our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma – and more importantly, our enlightenment. The other state, ho, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes evident to us, such as when a thought pops up from within our memory – whenever we experience or express our emotions – or whenever a good or bad cause manifests as an effect from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it merely means that it’s come out of the state of Myo (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ho (manifestation). It’s the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing. The second law – Renge – Ren meaning cause and ge meaning effect, governs and controls the functions of Myoho – these two laws of Myoho and Renge, not only function together simultaneously but also underlies all spiritual and physical existence. The final and third part of the tri-combination – Kyo, is the Law that allows Myoho to integrate with Renge – or vice versa. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects all Life and matter – as well as the past, present and future. It’s also sometimes termed the Universal Law of Communication – perhaps it could even be compared with the string theory that many scientists now suspect exists. Just as the cells in our body, our thoughts, feelings and everything else is continually fluctuating within us – all that exists in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux – constantly controlled by these three fundamental laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of Myo and ho in a single moment than it would ever be possible to calculate or describe. And it doesn’t matter how big or small, famous or trivial anything or anyone may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past, exists now or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of the Laws ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’ – the basis of the four fundamental forces, and if they didn’t function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. That’s because all forms of existence, including the seasons, day, night, birth, death and so on, are moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation – rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two fundamental states of Myo and ho in absolute accordance with Renge – and by way of Kyo. Even stars are dying and being reborn under the workings of what the combination ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’ represents. Nam, or Namu – which mean the same thing, are vibrational passwords or keys that allow us to reach deep into our life and fuse with or become one with ‘Myoho-Renge-Kyo’. On a more personal level, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives – as well as the environment from moment to moment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth is spinning, and chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo for a minimum of, let’s say, ten minutes daily to start with, any of us can experience actual proof of its positive effects in our lives – even if it only makes us feel good on the inside, there will be a definite positive effect. That’s because we’re able to pierce through the thickest layers of our karma and activate our inherent Buddha Nature (our enlightened state). By so doing, we’re then able to bring forth the wisdom and good fortune that we need to challenge, overcome and change our adverse circumstances – turn them into positive ones – or manifest and gain even greater fulfilment in our daily lives from our accumulated good karma. This also allows us to bring forth the wisdom that can free us from the ignorance and stupidity that’s preventing us from accepting and being proud of the person that we indeed are – regardless of our race, colour, gender or sexuality. We’re also able to see and understand our circumstances and the environment far more clearly, as well as attract and connect with any needed external beneficial forces and situations. As I’ve already mentioned, everything is subject to the law of Cause and Effect – the ‘actual-proof-strength’ resulting from chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo always depends on our determination, sincerity and dedication. For example, the levels of difference could be compared to making a sound on a piano, creating a melody, producing a great song, and so on. Something else that’s very important to always respect and acknowledge is that the Law (or if you prefer God) is in everyone and everything. NB: There are frightening and disturbing sounds, and there are tranquil and relaxing sounds. It’s the emotional result of any noise or sound that can trigger off a mood or even instantly change one. When chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo each day, we are producing a sound vibration that’s the password to our true inner-self – this soon becomes apparent when you start reassessing your views on various things – such as your fears and desires etc. The best way to get the desired result when chanting is not to view things conventionally – rather than reaching out to an external source, we need to reach into our own lives and bring our needs and desires to fruition from within – including the good fortune and strength to achieve any help that we may need. Chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo also reaches out externally and draws us towards, or draws towards us, what we need to make us happy from our environment. For example, it helps us to be in the right place at the right time – to make better choices and decisions and so forth. We need to think of it as a seed within us that we’re watering and bringing sunshine to for it to grow, blossom and bring forth fruit or flowers. It’s also important to understand that everything we need in life, including the answer to every question and the potential to achieve every dream, already exists within us.

One of the best discussions on AI I've seen.

That opening by Brian blew my mind caught me off guard 😮