How a simple tool gives rise to astonishing complexity — Taking something simple and scaling it up to achieve something more complex is a powerful idea, laying the foundation of life, computers (based on the simplicity of the Turing machine), and deep learning techniques (based on the idea of the neurons in a neural network). More is frequently different, which…

We are taking continuous steps towards ever more intelligent and powerful AI systems, and it is clear that even narrow AI systems have increasing influence over our lives. Understanding them and maintaining control over them might be one of the most existentially relevant tasks of the century. This task is…

“14 games is a fairly low sample size. If you want to determine who the best player is, you need more matches. If you want to find the best player, you need to change the format to increase the chance of finding the best player.” Magnus Carlsen, World Chess Champion …

“The ability to generalize to unseen data is at the core of machine learning.” At the heart of much of current AI research is the question of how to make algorithms generalize to unseen data. In the context of machine learning, most models are trained and evaluated on data following…

On the role of uncertainty in evolution, markets, neuroscience, and AI — The world is unpredictable in many ways. This has been the natural state of affairs for all living beings fighting an uphill battle for survival within an ever-evolving world. And while modern life has given us more certainties, with scientific theories setting out to explain the mess around us, science…

And their connections to Neuroscience, AI and Russian Poetry — “My dreams, my dreams! What has become of their sweetness? What indeed has become of my youth?” ― Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin It might seem strange to start an article on Markov chains (also called Markov processes) with a quote from a 19th-century Russian poem, but there is a surprising…

Keep on with the force don’t stop Don’t stop ’til you get enough. - Michael Jackson The world is a rich place of opportunities waiting to be discovered, of actions to be taken and choices to be made. We mere mortals have to navigate this world with partial and biased…

How humans find meaning when they can’t find the answers. — The 14th century. Times are tough — the Hundred Years’ War is raging, newly freed peasants are trying to find a place in society, and a plague is afoot. …

How to synchronize your biological clock using light — Seeing the light is a choice, not seeing the light is no choice. Douglas Horton The pandemic has changed the working habits of millions of people around the globe. For many, remote work has quickly turned from an emergency solution to the new status quo, with many companies offering their…