Large language models

A mind-expanding conversation on how models actually work | Emmanuel Ameisen (Anthropic)

A mind-expanding conversation on how models actually work | Emmanuel Ameisen (Anthropic)

Emmanuel Ameisen, an interpretability researcher at Anthropic, explains how the team looks inside models like Claude to understand how they actually think. The conversation covers why next-token prediction hides real planning and conceptual representation, why models are grown rather than built, how intermediate activations reveal structure, why anthropomorphic framing can be useful, how smooth scaling produces sudden capability thresholds, and how interpretability ties into alignment, safety, and the broader question of what these systems are.

David Silver and Lasse Espeholt of Ineffable Intelligence: A Superlearner for the Age of Experience

David Silver and Lasse Espeholt of Ineffable Intelligence: A Superlearner for the Age of Experience

David Silver, co-founder of Ineffable Intelligence, outlines his bold vision for building a "superlearner"—an AI that discovers science, mathematics, and language autonomously, free from human data or explicit guidance. Drawing parallels to AlphaGo Zero's success, Silver argues that human-language reasoning is a ceiling, not a foundation, for advanced AI. He details their approach using complex simulated "crucibles" and simple rewards, aiming to develop the "science of superintelligence" in simulation for safety and accelerated progress. With a powerful GPU cluster and a small, elite team, Silver forecasts strong evidence within a year and superintelligence within three.

What AI gets wrong and what failure teaches us

What AI gets wrong and what failure teaches us

Jennifer Neville discusses her research into "surprising failures" in AI systems, where models, particularly LLMs, struggle with complexity in realistic user workflows. Her team focuses on practical evaluation for multi-turn conversations and agentic knowledge work, emphasizing the need for robust AI that understands context and user intent over time. She offers insights into bridging the gap between user expectations and AI capabilities, advocating for detailed user feedback and outlining the future of human-AI collaboration.

From deepfakes to DNA: the science of watermarking AI

From deepfakes to DNA: the science of watermarking AI

Hannah Fry talks with Pushmeet Kohli and Jeremy Ratcliffe about SynthID, DeepMind's invisible watermarking technology. They cover its origins and design requirements, how it works for text, images, and video, why it matters for regulation and misinformation, and how SynthID Bio extends watermarking to protein structures and sequences to help screen AI-designed biological material without changing function.

New frontier AI models, TypeSafe’s Jev AI, & NASA’s IBM collab

New frontier AI models, TypeSafe’s Jev AI, & NASA’s IBM collab

An exploration of the recent wave of AI innovations, focusing on the pervasive theme of efficiency. The episode delves into cost-reduction in new frontier models like Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 and OpenAI's GPT-6, the emergence of TypeSafe AI's "System One" models like Jev for high-speed, calibrated decision-making, and the groundbreaking open-source Lunar Foundation Model by NASA and IBM, showcasing AI's diverse applications beyond text generation.

Pacing the AI frontier, IBM Granite 4.2 & Meta’s Muse assistant

Pacing the AI frontier, IBM Granite 4.2 & Meta’s Muse assistant

This episode explores the critical debate around pacing frontier AI development, driven by Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei's call for slowdowns amidst growing concerns over AI risks. It then delves into IBM's latest Granite 4.2 release, highlighting innovations in agentic models, speech recognition, and advanced training techniques like synthetic data and mid-training. Finally, the discussion pivots to Meta's new Muse agentic AI assistant, examining its technical design, the strategic rationale behind Meta's push into productivity, and the inherent privacy dilemmas and trade-offs between utility and user comfort that define the future of personal AI.