{"podcast":{"title":"Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)","slug":"machine-learning-street-talk","podcast_index_feed_id":781643,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/1e4a0eac/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/4981699/4981699-1757416025703-f026fa81b6d04.jpg","author":"Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)","episode_count":250,"summary":"Welcome! We engage in fascinating discussions with pre-eminent figures in the AI field. Our flagship show covers current affairs in AI, cognitive science, neuroscience and philosophy of mind with in-depth analysis. Our approach is unrivalled in terms of scope and rigour – we believe in intellectual diversity in AI, and we touch on all of the main ideas in the field with the hype surgically removed. MLST is run by Tim Scarfe, Ph.D (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecsquizor/) and features regular appearances from MIT Doctor of Philosophy Keith Duggar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-keith-duggar/).","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk"},"episode":{"title":"How Machines Learn to Ignore the Noise (Kevin Ellis + Zenna Tavares)","slug":"how-machines-learn-to-ignore-the-noise-kevin-ellis-zenna-tavares","published_at":"2025-04-08T21:03:31+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk/how-machines-learn-to-ignore-the-noise-kevin-ellis-zenna-tavares","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk/episodes/How-Machines-Learn-to-Ignore-the-Noise-Kevin-Ellis--Zenna-Tavares-e319n04","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/1e4a0eac/podcast/play/101030340/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-3-8%2Feca73139-5076-05da-1c71-0c4421ae52e9.mp3","summary":"Prof. Kevin Ellis and Dr. Zenna Tavares talk about making AI smarter, like humans. They want AI to learn from just a little bit of information by actively trying things out, not just by looking at tons of data. They discuss two main ways AI can "think": one way is like following specific rules or steps (like a computer program), and the other is more intuitive, like guessing based on patterns (like modern AI often does). They found combining both methods works well for solving complex puzzles like ARC. A key idea is "compositionality" - building big ideas from small ones, like LEGOs. This is powerful but can also be overwhelming. Another important idea is "abstraction" - understanding things simply, without getting lost in details, and knowing there are different levels of understanding. Ultimately, they believe the best AI will need to explore, experiment, and build models of the world, much like humans do when learning something new. SPONSOR MESSAGES: *** Tufa AI Labs is a brand new research lab in Zurich started by Benjamin Crouzier focussed on o-series style reasoning and AGI. They are hiring a Chief Engineer and ML engineers. Events in Zurich. Goto https://tufalabs.ai/ *** TRANSCRIPT: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ngggvhb3tnemw879er5y/BASIS.pdf?rlkey=lr2zbj3317mex1q5l0c2rsk0h&dl=0 Zenna Tavares: http://www.zenna.org/ Kevin Ellis: https://www.cs.cornell.edu/~ellisk/ TOC: 1. Compositionality and Learning Foundations [00:00:00] 1.1 Compositional Search and Learning Challenges [00:03:55] 1.2 Bayesian Learning and World Models [00:12:05] 1.3 Programming Languages and Compositionality Trade-offs [00:15:35] 1.4 Inductive vs Transductive Approaches in AI Systems 2. Neural-Symbolic Program Synthesis [00:27:20] 2.1 Integration of LLMs wit…","meta_description":"Prof. Kevin Ellis and Dr. Zenna Tavares talk about making AI smarter, like humans. They want AI to learn from just a little bit of information by actively…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4615,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/machine-learning-street-talk/episodes/how-machines-learn-to-ignore-the-noise-kevin-ellis-zenna-tavares/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk/how-machines-learn-to-ignore-the-noise-kevin-ellis-zenna-tavares.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}