Hannah explores the potential of language models, the questions they raise, and if teaching a computer about language is enough to create artificial general intelligence (AGI). Beyond helping us communicate ideas, language plays a crucial role in memory, cooperation, and thinking – which is why AI researchers have long aimed to communicate with computers using natural language. Recently, there has been extraordinary progress using large-language models (LLM), which learn how to speak by processing huge amounts of data from the internet. The results can be very convincing, but pose significant ethical challenges.

For questions or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter @DeepMind or email [email protected].

Interviewees: DeepMind’s Geoffrey Irving, Chris Dyer, Angeliki Lazaridou, Lisa-Anne Hendriks & Laura Weidinger

Credits
Presenter: Hannah Fry
Series Producer: Dan Hardoon
Production support: Jill Achineku
Sounds design: Emma Barnaby
Music composition: Eleni Shaw
Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton
Editor: David Prest
Commissioned by DeepMind

Thank you to everyone who made this season possible!

Further reading:
GPT-3 Powers the Next Generation of Apps, OpenAI: https://openai.com/blog/gpt-3-apps/
https://web.stanford.edu/class/lingui...
Never Mind the Computer 1983 about the ELIZA program, BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p023...
How Large Language Models Will Transform Science, Society, and AI, Stanford University: https://hai.stanford.edu/news/how-lar...
Challenges in Detoxifying Language Models, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/research/publica...
Extending Machine Language Models toward Human-Level Language Understanding, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/research/publica...
Language modelling at scale, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/lan...
Artificial general intelligence, Technology Review: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020...
A Definition of Machine Intelligence by Shane Legg, arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/0712.3329
Stuart Russell - Living With Artificial Intelligence, BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001...

Find Seasons 1 & 2 on YouTube: http://dpmd.ai/3geDPmL

Or search “DeepMind: The Podcast” and subscribe on your favourite podcast app:

Apple Podcasts: http://dpmd.ai/2Rzlmcu
Google Podcasts: http://dpmd.ai/3geDjp5
Spotify: http://dpmd.ai/3w29cb4
Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/30m1