Best Erik Koch Podcasts (2025)

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Full-Stack AI Safety: Why Defense-in-Depth Might Work, with Far.AI CEO Adam Gleave 1:27:00

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3d ago1:27:00

1:27:00

Adam Gleave, CEO of FAR AI, offers a cautiously optimistic perspective on navigating the path to Transformative AI safely, advocating for a "defense-in-depth" approach. He discusses potential "post-AGI equilibria," key capability thresholds, and why fully autonomous, outcompeting AI might not arrive until around 2040. The conversation delves into F…

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Can We Stop AI Deception? Apollo Research Tests OpenAI's Deliberative Alignment, w/ Marius Hobbhahn 2:08:56

5d ago2:08:56

2:08:56

Today Marius Hobbhahn of Apollo Research joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss their collaboration with OpenAI using "deliberative alignment" to reduce AI scheming behavior by 30x, exploring the safety challenges and concerning findings about models' growing situational awareness and increasingly cryptic reasoning patterns that emerge when fron…

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User-Owned AI: On-Chain Training, Inference, and Agents, with NEAR's Illia Polosukhin 1:33:08

10d ago1:33:08

1:33:08

Today Illia Polosukhin, founder of Near Protocol joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss the intersection of AI and blockchain technologies, exploring how decentralized infrastructure can enable "user-owned AI" through privacy-preserving model training, confidential computing, and autonomous agents that operate via smart contracts without central…

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Coaching the Creators: Inside the Minds Building Frontier AI with Executive Coach Joe Hudson 1:44:57

12d ago1:44:57

1:44:57

Today Joe Hudson, founder of Art of Accomplishment and coach to executives at major AI labs including OpenAI and Anthropic, joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss the psychological patterns he observes among AI researchers and leaders, exploring what's missing beyond pure intelligence in current AI systems and arguing for supportive rather than …

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Zvi Mowshowitz on Longer Timelines, RL-induced Doom, and Why China is Refusing H20s 3:13:14

17d ago3:13:14

3:13:14

Today, Zvi Mowshowitz returns to The Cognitive Revolution to discuss how recent AI developments like GPT-5 and IMO gold medals have led to modestly extended timelines despite being on-trend, while policy missteps around chip exports to China and alignment challenges from reinforcement learning have increased risk assessments, covering everything fr…

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In-AI Advertising: Better Answers for Users, Big Questions for Society, with ZeroClick's Ryan Hudson 1:51:02

20d ago1:51:02

1:51:02

Today Ryan Hudson, Founder and CEO of ZeroClick, joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss creating advertising infrastructure for AI applications through paid inference-time consideration of advertiser content, examining how to build sustainable monetization for free-tier AI services while learning from the successes and failures of social media's…

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Material Abundance: Radical AI’s Closed-Loop Lab Automates Scientific Discovery 1:54:55

24d ago1:54:55

1:54:55

Today Joseph Krause and Jorge Colindres of Radical AI join The Cognitive Revolution to discuss their ambitious mission to revolutionize materials science by combining AI-powered discovery engines with fully autonomous robotic laboratories, exploring how they're accelerating the development of breakthrough materials like high-entropy alloys and room…

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Untangling Neural Network Mechanisms: Goodfire's Lee Sharkey on Parameter-based Interpretability 2:02:11

27d ago2:02:11

2:02:11

Today Lee Sharkey of Goodfire joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss his research on parameter decomposition methods that break down neural networks into interpretable computational components, exploring how his team's "stochastic parameter decomposition" approach addresses the limitations of sparse autoencoders and offers new pathways for under…

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What if Humans Weaponize Superintelligence, w/ Tom Davidson, from Future of Life Institute Podcast 2:04:18

1M ago2:04:18

2:04:18

Today Tom Davidson of Forethought joins Gus Docker of the Future of Life Institute podcast to discuss AI-enabled coups and how future AI systems could help powerful individuals seize political control, exploring three threat models—singular loyalties, secret loyalties, and exclusive access—along with their estimated 10% likelihood over the next 30 …

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The AI Whistleblower Initiative: Supporting AGI Insiders When It Matters Most, w/ founder Karl Koch 1:51:18

1M ago1:51:18

1:51:18

Today Karl Koch, Co-Founder of the AI Whistleblower Initiative, joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss the barriers preventing AI insiders from raising safety concerns, his organization's anonymous "Third Opinion" service connecting whistleblowers with independent experts, and their campaign demanding frontier AI companies publish their internal…

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Autonomous Organizations: Vending Bench & Beyond, w/ Lukas Petersson & Axel Backlund of Andon Labs 1:48:43

1M ago1:48:43

1:48:43

Today Lukas Petersson and Axel Backlund of Andon Labs join The Cognitive Revolution to discuss their experiments deploying autonomous AI agents to run real-world vending machines, exploring the safety challenges and unexpected behaviors that emerge when frontier models like Claude and Grok operate without human oversight. Read transcript of the epi…

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Dean W. Ball on America's AI Action Plan & 4 Months at the White House 3:14:15

1M ago3:14:15

3:14:15

Today Dean W. Ball, former White House AI policy advisor joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss his role in crafting the Trump administration's AI Action Plan, his reasons for leaving government, and his perspectives on AI policy, US-China competition, and the future of AI regulation and adoption. Check out our sponsors: Fin, Labelbox, Oracle Cl…

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Jake Sullivan on Navigating AI Uncertainty and Managing Competition with China 1:12:31

1M ago1:12:31

1:12:31

Today Jake Sullivan, the U.S. National Security Advisor from 2021-2025 joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss AI as a critical national security issue. Check out our sponsors: Labelbox, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Shopify. Shownotes below brought to you by Notion AI Meeting Notes - try one month for free at https://notion.com/lp/nathan Four-Cat…

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Sovereign AI: Geopolitical Strategy & Industrial Policy for Countries 3-193, with Anjney Midha, a16z 1:42:55

2M ago1:42:55

1:42:55

Today Anjney Midha, General Partner at a16z joins The Cognitive Revolution to discuss sovereign AI and China's growing semiconductor capabilities. Check out our sponsors: Gemini CLI, Labelbox, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Shopify. Shownotes below brought to you by Notion AI Meeting Notes - try one month for free at https://notion.com/lp/nathan What…

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The Revolution in Services: General Catalyst's AI Rollup Strategy, with Marc Bhargava 1:24:03

2M ago1:24:03

1:24:03

Marc Bhargava from General Catalyst discusses their Creation Strategy for building AI-enabled roll-ups – companies that start as vertical software startups, then grow by acquiring traditional service businesses and transforming them through AI automation. They explore how systematic analysis of 70 service categories identified 10 verticals where 30…

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Liability for AI Harms: How Ancient Law Can Govern Frontier Technology Risk, with Prof Gabriel Weil 2:11:58

2M ago2:11:58

2:11:58

Gabriel Weil from Touro University argues that liability law may be our best tool for governing AI development, offering a framework that can adapt to new technologies without requiring new legislation. The conversation explores how negligence, products liability, and "abnormally dangerous activities" doctrines could incentivize AI developers to pr…

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Private Governance: Creating a Market in AI Regulation, with Dr. Gillian Hadfield & Andrew Freedman 1:53:29

2M ago1:53:29

1:53:29

Dr. Gillian Hadfield from Johns Hopkins University and Andrew Freedman from Fathom discuss their innovative proposal to govern AI through private regulatory markets, which has been introduced as California's SB 813. Their system would separate democratic goal-setting from technical rule-making by having government bodies articulate safety outcomes …

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The Dawn of Dynamic AI: RFT Comes Online, w/ Predibase CEO Dev Rishi, from Inference by Turing Post 35:47

2M ago35:47

35:47

This crossover episode from Inference by Turing Post features CEO Dev Rishi of Predibase discussing the shift from static to continuously learning AI systems that can adapt and improve from ongoing user feedback in production. Rishi provides grounded insights from deploying these dynamic models to real enterprise customers in healthcare and finance…

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Cracking the Medical Code: Why Cleveland Clinic Doctors Love Their Ambience Healthcare AI Scribe 1:28:38

2M ago1:28:38

1:28:38

Brendan Fortuner from Ambience Healthcare and Ben Shahshahani from Cleveland Clinic discuss how AI is transforming medical documentation and coding in a healthcare system that spends $1 trillion annually on administrative tasks. They explore Ambience's technical breakthrough using OpenAI's Reinforcement Fine-Tuning to achieve medical coding accurac…

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The Data Factory: Inside the $100B Race for Post-Training Supremacy, with Labelbox CEO Manu Sharma 1:41:55

3M ago1:41:55

1:41:55

Manu Sharma, founder and CEO of Labelbox, explains how frontier AI training data has evolved far beyond simple labeling to sophisticated reinforcement learning environments where domain experts create "gyms" for models to develop complex skills. With every Western frontier lab now spending over a billion dollars annually on training data, the conve…

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Cheat on Everything: Cluely's Vision for Always-On AI Assistance 1:19:36

3M ago1:19:36

1:19:36

Roy Lee, founder and CEO of Cluely, discusses his AI startup's $15 million Andreessen Horowitz investment and their provocative "cheat on everything" marketing approach that has gone viral across the tech industry. They explore Cluely's real-time AI assistant that provides undetectable information during meetings and interviews, Roy's philosophy of…

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The AI Village: Previewing the Giga-Agent Future with Adam Binksmith, Founder of AI Digest 1:25:22

3M ago1:25:22

1:25:22

Adam Binksmith, founder of AI Digest, discusses his AI Village experiment where four frontier AI agents (Claude, o3, and Gemini models) collaborate in a shared environment with persistent memory and group chat access to pursue concrete goals over weeks. The conversation explores fascinating multi-agent dynamics from their completed seasons, includi…

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402 Payment Required: a New Way for AI Agents to Pay, with Nemil Dalal, Dev Platform Lead @ Coinbase 1:22:21

3M ago1:22:21

1:22:21

Nemil Dalal from Coinbase discusses the x402 protocol, a new open standard that enables AI agents to make cryptocurrency payments for online resources using the long-dormant HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code. The conversation covers stablecoin fundamentals, including how they work and who maintains their stability, before exploring how crypto…

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2-Sigma in 2 Hours: How Alpha Schools are Using AI to Revolutionize Education 1:22:21

3M ago1:22:21

1:22:21

MacKenzie Price, founder of Alpha School & 2 Hour Learning, discusses her revolutionary educational model that uses AI to enable students to master traditional academics in just 2 hours per day while achieving 2.3x faster learning rates than statistical models predict. The conversation explores how Alpha School combines adaptive learning apps with …

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Living Lindy: a No-BS Conversation on AI Agents with Flo Crivello 1:24:35

3M ago1:24:35

1:24:35

Flo Crivello, CEO of AI agent platform Lindy, provides a candid deep dive into the current state of AI agents, cutting through hype to reveal what's actually working in production versus what remains challenging. The conversation explores practical implementation details including model selection, fine-tuning, RAG systems, tool design philosophy, a…

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Embryology of AI: How Training Data Shapes AI Development w/ Timaeus' Jesse Hoogland & Daniel Murfet 1:36:54

3M ago1:36:54

1:36:54

Jesse Hoogland and Daniel Murfet, founders of Timaeus, introduce their mathematically rigorous approach to AI safety through "developmental interpretability" based on Singular Learning Theory. They explain how neural network loss landscapes are actually complex, jagged surfaces full of "singularities" where models can change internally without affe…

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AI Scouting Report: AI Agents -vs- Agentic AI, from Imagine AI Live 38:02

3M ago38:02

38:02

This episode features Nathan's talk from Imagine AI Live, where he provides business leaders with a comprehensive overview of AI agents and agentic AI systems. He covers the evolution from simple task automation to more autonomous AI systems, delivers a practical roadmap for implementing AI agents in business while maintaining quality standards, an…

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The Decade of May 15-22, 2025: Google's 50X AI Growth & Transformation with Logan Kilpatrick 1:23:02

3M ago1:23:02

1:23:02

Logan Kilpatrick from Google DeepMind returns for his fifth appearance to discuss Google’s transformation from "sleeping giant" to AI powerhouse, sharing insights from his year at the company as AI usage grew 50 times to 500 trillion tokens per month. He examines Google’s strengths, including superior compute infrastructure, frontier models like Ge…

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a16z on Protecting Little Tech: The Techno-Optimist AI Policy Agenda with Matt Perault, Head of AI Policy 1:00:40

4M ago1:00:40

1:00:40

In this episode, Matt Perault, Head of AI Policy at a16z, discusses their approach to AI regulation focused on protecting "little tech" startups from regulatory capture that could entrench big tech incumbents. The conversation covers a16z's core principle of regulating harmful AI use rather than the development process, exploring key policy initiat…

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Don't Make Mirror Life: Synthetic Biologist Kate Adamala on Risks & Responsibility 2:00:21

4M ago2:00:21

2:00:21

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, University of Minnesota Professor of Genetics and Synthetic Biologist, Kate Adamala, offers insights into synthetic biology and its potential implications for humanity. The discussion begins with an overview of synthetic biology and its goal to expand the chemical repertoire of life. Adamala delves into …

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What did Google's AI Co-Scientist "Discover"? The Human Scientists' POV, from the Podovirus podcast 1:11:14

4M ago1:11:14

1:11:14

We're following up on our recent episode on Google's AI Co-Scientist with a special crossover episode from the Podovirus podcast. Hosts Dr Jessica Sacher and Dr Joe Campbell speak with José Penadés and Tiago Costa, scientists at Imperial College London who made a surprising discovery that Google's AI Co-Scientist later put forward as a hypothesis e…

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Mechanistic Interpretability: Philosophy, Practice & Progress with Goodfire's Dan Balsam & Tom McGrath 1:49:52

4M ago1:49:52

1:49:52

In this episode, Daniel Balsam and Tom McGrath, at Goodfire, discuss the future of mechanistic interpretability in AI models. They explore the fundamental inputs like models, compute, and algorithms, and emphasize the importance of a rich empirical approach to understanding how models work. Balsam and McGrath provide insights into ongoing projects …

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The Perfect Substrate for AGI, with Replit CEO Amjad Masad 58:16

4M ago58:16

58:16

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Amjad Masad , founder and CEO of Replit, discusses the fast-paced growth of Replit, the concept of 'vibe coding', and the challenges and opportunities in the rapidly evolving AI-assisted coding space. He shares insights into Replit's competitive advantages, known as 'moats', and how they maintain their l…

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The RAISE Act: Minimum Standards for Frontier AI Development, with NY Assembly Member Alex Bores 1:40:36

4M ago1:40:36

1:40:36

In this episode, New York State Assembly Member Alex Bores discusses the RAISE Act, a proposed bill aimed at regulating frontier AI models with basic safety protocols. He explains his background in technology, his motivations for the bill, and the legislative process. He emphasizes the importance of having clear safety protocols, third-party audits…

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Gemini Robotics – AI for the Physical World, with Keerthana Gopalakrishnan and Ted Xiao of Google DeepMind 1:44:38

4M ago1:44:38

1:44:38

In this engaging episode of the Cognitive Revolution, host Nathan Labenz welcomes guests Keerthana Gopalakrishnan and Ted Xiao to revisit significant advancements in robotics over the past year. Key themes discussed include the proliferation of new robotics companies, the emergence of humanoid robots, and the development of sophisticated foundation…

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Titans: Neural Long-Term Memory for LLMs, with author Ali Behrouz 2:08:25

4M ago2:08:25

2:08:25

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Ali Behrouz, a PhD student at Cornell University, delves into his research on enhancing memory mechanisms in large language models through his latest paper titled Titans. Behrouz discusses the limitations of current models in maintaining long-term coherence and introduces the concept of a neural network …

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Luma Labs' Diffusion Revolution: from Dream Machine to Multimodal Worldsim - Amit Jain, Jiaming Song 1:16:32

4M ago1:16:32

1:16:32

In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution podcast, the host Nathan Labenz welcomes Amit Jain, CEO and Jiaming Song, Chief Scientist at Luma Labs, alongside co-host Stephen Parker. The conversation delves into the latest advancements and products from Luma Labs, makers of the Dream Machine, including cutting-edge models and features like camera mo…

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OpenAI's Identity Crisis: History, Culture & Non-Profit Control with ex-employee Steven Adler 2:00:13

5M ago2:00:13

2:00:13

In this episode, former OpenAI research scientist Steven Adler discusses his insights on OpenAI's transition through various phases, including its growth, internal culture shifts, and the contentious move from nonprofit to for-profit. The conversation delves into the initial days of OpenAI's development of GPT-3 and GPT-4, the cultural and ethical …

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AI Control: Using Untrusted Systems Safely with Buck Shlegeris of Redwood Research, from the 80,000 Hours Podcast 2:26:21

5M ago2:26:21

2:26:21

In this episode, we share a fascinating conversation from the 80,000 Hours Podcast between Rob Wiblin and Buck Shlegeris, CEO of Redwood Research. Buck dives deep into the emerging field of AI Control strategies for safely working with powerful AIs even if they’re not fully aligned. They explore innovative techniques like always-on auditing, honeyp…

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Blueprint for AI Armageddon: Josh Clymer Imagines AI Takeover, from the Audio Tokens Podcast 1:59:05

5M ago1:59:05

1:59:05

In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution, an AI-narrated version of Joshua Clymer's story on how AI might take over in two years is presented. The episode is based on Josh's appearance on the Audio Tokens podcast with Lukas Peterson. Joshua Clymer, a technical AI safety researcher at Redwood Research, shares a fictional yet plausible AI scenario…

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Fiverr Goes All-In on AI: Empowering Creators, Not Replacing Them, with Micha Kaufman, CEO of Fiverr 1:40:05

5M ago1:40:05

1:40:05

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, host Nathan Labenz speaks with Micha Kaufman, founder and CEO of Fiverr, about the company's new AI suite called Fiverr Go. Kaufman shares his unique values-based approach to AI implementation, which aims to empower human creators rather than replace them in the freelance marketplace. The conversation ex…

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Securing Superintelligence: National Security, Espionage & AI Control with Jeremie & Edouard Harris 2:06:51

5M ago2:06:51

2:06:51

In this thought-provoking episode of The Cognitive Revolution, host Nathan Labenz speaks with Jeremy and Edouard Harris, founders of Gladstone AI and authors of "America's Superintelligence Project." The conversation explores a critical dilemma facing US policymakers: balancing the race to develop advanced AI ahead of China against the risks of los…

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Is OpenAI's o3 AGI? Zvi Mowshowitz on Early AI Takeoff, the Mechanize launch, Live Players, & Why p(doom) is Rising 3:05:19

5M ago3:05:19

3:05:19

In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution podcast, the host Nathan Labenz is joined for the record 9th time by Zvi Mowshowitz to discuss the state of AI advancements, focusing on recent developments such as OpenAI's O3 model and its implications for AGI and recursive self-improvement. They delve into the capabilities and limitations of current AI…

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AI News Crossover: A Candid Chat with Liron Shapira of Doom Debates 2:26:35

5M ago2:26:35

2:26:35

In this crossover episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan Labenz joins Liron Shapira of Doom Debates, for a wide-ranging news and analysis discussion about recent AI developments. The conversation covers significant topics including GPT-4o image generation's implications for designers and businesses like Waymark, debates around learning to code…

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Helen Toner: OpenAI Reflections, Adaptation Buffers, and AI in Warfare 1:26:35

5M ago1:26:35

1:26:35

In this thought-provoking conversation, Helen Toner, Director of Strategy at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), discusses her perspectives on AI development, regulation, and international competition. Toner shares insights from her time on OpenAI's board, clarifying that reports about a "Q*" breakthrough influencing the board's…

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Is a US-China Thucydides Trap Unavoidable? With David C. Kang from the ChinaTalk Podcast 1:36:16

5M ago1:36:16

1:36:16

In this crossover episode from the China Talk podcast, Nathan Labenz shares a thought-provoking conversation between Jordan Schneider, Ilari Michaela, and Professor David C. Kang that challenges conventional Western perspectives on East Asian international relations. Professor Kang argues that studying East Asian history on its own terms reveals a …

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New in Nature: Google Agents Beat Human Doctors, Make Scientific Discoveries – With Vivek Natarajan and Anil Palepu 1:24:57

6M ago1:24:57

1:24:57

In this episode, Nathan Labenz speaks with Vivek Natarajan and Anil Palepu from Google DeepMind about their groundbreaking work on AMIE (Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer) and Co-Scientist. The conversation reveals how these AI systems are already outperforming human physicians in diagnostic accuracy and treatment recommendations, with AMIE …

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Scaling "Thinking": Gemini 2.5 Tech Lead Jack Rae on Reasoning, Long Context, & the Path to AGI 1:13:28

6M ago1:13:28

1:13:28

In this illuminating episode of The Cognitive Revolution, host Nathan Labenz speaks with Jack Rae, principal research scientist at Google DeepMind and technical lead on Google's thinking and inference time scaling work. They explore the technical breakthroughs behind Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro model, discussing why reasoning techniques are suddenly wo…

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Reward Hacking by Reasoning Models & Loss of Control Scenarios w/ Jeffrey Ladish of Palisade Research, from FLI Podcast 1:29:17

6M ago1:29:17

1:29:17

On this cross-post episode, Jeffrey Ladish discusses the rapid pace of AI progress and the risks of losing control over powerful systems. We explore why AIs can be both smart and dumb, the challenges of creating honest AIs, and scenarios where AI could turn against us. Additionally, we delve into Palisade's new study on how reasoning models can che…

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Shortwave Rides the Tidal Wave: Inbox Agents, Hyper-Growth & Hiring AI Managers, with CEO Andrew Lee 1:51:39

6M ago1:51:39

1:51:39

In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution podcast, Andrew Lee, founder and CEO of Shortwave, returns to discuss the rapid advancements in AI over the past year and how they have significantly improved Shortwave, an AI email assistant. Andrew shares insights into the exponential growth of Shortwave's revenue and the enhanced capabilities of their …