AIs encode language like brains do − opening a window on human conversations

Brains encode language by matching words to patterns of activity. Large language models can do the same thing.

Zaid Zada, Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology, Princeton University • conversation
Aug. 2, 2024 ~7 min

MIT researchers advance automated interpretability in AI models

MAIA is a multimodal agent that can iteratively design experiments to better understand various components of AI systems.

Rachel Gordon | MIT CSAIL • mit
July 23, 2024 ~10 min


Reasoning skills of large language models are often overestimated

New CSAIL research highlights how LLMs excel in familiar scenarios but struggle in novel ones, questioning their true reasoning abilities versus reliance on memorization.

Rachel Gordon | MIT CSAIL • mit
July 11, 2024 ~6 min

MIT researchers introduce generative AI for databases

This new tool offers an easier way for people to analyze complex tabular data.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
July 8, 2024 ~7 min

Words such as racist slurs can literally hurt – here’s the science

Research has disproven the saying ‘sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me’.

Glenn Hadikin, Senior Lecturer of English Language and Linguistics, University of Portsmouth • conversation
July 3, 2024 ~6 min

The science of baby babbling – and why it can take on accents

Over time, baby babbling will increasingly resemble the sounds of their language, eventually morphing into recognisable words.

Andrew Jessop, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Liverpool • conversation
July 1, 2024 ~7 min

AI companies train language models on YouTube’s archive − making family-and-friends videos a privacy risk

Many videos people upload to YouTube aren’t really meant for public consumption, but they’re available for AI companies to vacuum up. Many of these personal videos are posted by children.

Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Communication, and Information, UMass Amherst • conversation
June 27, 2024 ~10 min

Technique improves the reasoning capabilities of large language models

Combining natural language and programming, the method enables LLMs to solve numerical, analytical, and language-based tasks transparently.

Adam Zewe | MIT News • mit
June 14, 2024 ~7 min


African elephants address one another with name-like calls − similar to humans

Humans aren’t the only animals that have names for each other − and studying animals that use names can teach researchers more about how human names evolved.

Mickey Pardo, Postdoctoral Fellow in Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University • conversation
June 11, 2024 ~9 min

How does the word ‘not’ affect your understanding of phrases?

When you're told "This coffee is not hot," does that mean it's cold? Just warm? New research dives into how the brain interprets negation.

James Devitt-NYU • futurity
June 3, 2024 ~6 min

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