# Want to Understand Neural Networks? Think Elastic Origami! - Prof. Randall Balestriero

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk/want-to-understand-neural-networks-think-elastic-origami-prof-randall-balestriero
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk/want-to-understand-neural-networks-think-elastic-origami-prof-randall-balestriero.md
Podcast: [Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)](https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk)
Published: 2025-02-08T14:18:53+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk/episodes/Want-to-Understand-Neural-Networks--Think-Elastic-Origami----Prof--Randall-Balestriero-e2ujg9u
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/1e4a0eac/podcast/play/98205438/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-1-8%2F0d2541ce-6d8a-f729-83eb-feb798bbbd9b.mp3
Processing state: processed
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/machine-learning-street-talk/episodes/want-to-understand-neural-networks-think-elastic-origami-prof-randall-balestriero
Duration seconds: 4690

## Resource

Professor Randall Balestriero joins us to discuss neural network geometry, spline theory, and emerging phenomena in deep learning, based on research presented at ICML. Topics include the delayed emergence of adversarial robustness in neural networks ("grokking"), geometric interpretations of neural networks via spline theory, and challenges in reconstruction learning. We also cover geometric analysis of Large Language Models (LLMs) for toxicity detection and the relationship between intrinsic dimensionality and model control in RLHF. SPONSOR MESSAGES: *** CentML offers competitive pricing for GenAI model deployment, with flexible options to suit a wide range of models, from small to large-scale deployments. https://centml.ai/pricing/ Tufa AI Labs is a brand new research lab in Zurich started by Benjamin Crouzier focussed on o-series style reasoning and AGI. Are you interested in working on reasoning, or getting involved in their events? Goto https://tufalabs.ai/ *** Randall Balestriero https://x.com/randall_balestr https://randallbalestriero.github.io/ Show notes and transcript: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3lufge4upq5gy0ug75j4a/RANDALLSHOW.pdf?rlkey=nbemgpa0jhawt1e86rx7372e4&dl=0 TOC: - Introduction - 00:00:00: Introduction - Neural Network Geometry and Spline Theory - 00:01:41: Neural Network Geometry and Spline Theory - 00:07:41: Deep Networks Always Grok - 00:11:39: Grokking and Adversarial Robustness - 00:16:09: Double Descent and Catastrophic Forgetting - Reconstruction Learning - 00:18:49: Reconstruction Learning - 00:24:15: Frequency Bias in Neural Networks - Geometric Analysis of Neural Networks - 00:29:02: Geometric Analysis of Neural Networks - 00:34:41: Adversarial Examples and Region Concentration - LLM Safety and Geometric Analysis - 00:40…

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