Chris Summerfield: Natural General Intelligence

Chris Summerfield: Natural General Intelligence

Author: Helen and Dave Edwards October 1, 2023 Duration: 56:53

Chris Summerfield is a Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Oxford. His work is concerned with understanding how humans learn and make decisions. He is interested in how humans acquire new concepts or patterns in data, and how they use this information to make decisions in novel settings. He's also a research scientist at Deepmind.

Earlier this year, Chris released a book called Natural General Intelligence, How understanding the brain can help us build AI. This couldn’t be more timely given talk of AGI and in this episode we talk with Chris about his work and what he’s learned about humans from studying AI and what he’s learned about AI by studying humans. We talk about his aim to provide a bridge between the theories of those who study biological brains and the practice of those who are seeking to build artificial brains, something we find perpetually fascinating.

About Artificiality from Helen & Dave Edwards:

Artificiality is dedicated to understanding the collective intelligence of humans and machines. We are grounded in the sciences of artificial intelligence, collective intelligence, complexity, data science, neuroscience, and psychology. We absorb the research at the frontier of the industry so that you can see the future, faster. We bring our knowledge to you through our newsletter, podcast interviews with academics and authors, and video interviews with AI innovators. Subscribe at artificiality.world.

If you enjoy our podcasts, please subscribe and leave a positive rating or comment. Sharing your positive feedback helps us reach more people and connect them with the world’s great minds.

Subscribe to get Artificiality delivered to your email

Learn about our book Make Better Decisions and buy it on Amazon

Thanks to Jonathan Coulton for our music

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.artificiality.world

#ai #artificialintelligence #generativeai #airesearch #complexity #futureofai 


Hosted by Helen and Dave Edwards, Stay Human, from the Artificiality Institute is a conversation that lives in the messy, human space between our tools and our selves. Each episode digs into the subtle ways artificial intelligence is reshaping our daily decisions, our creative impulses, and even our sense of identity. This isn't a technical manual or a series of futuristic predictions; it's a grounded exploration of how we maintain our agency in a world increasingly mediated by algorithms. The podcast operates from a core belief: that our engagement with AI should be about more than just safety or efficiency-it needs to be meaningful and worthwhile. You'll hear discussions rooted in story-based research, where complex ideas about cognition and ethics are unpacked through relatable narratives and real-world examples. The goal is to provide a framework for thoughtful choice, helping each of us consciously design the relationship we want with the machines in our lives. Tuning in offers a chance to step back from the hype and consider how we can actively remain the authors of our own minds, preserving what makes us uniquely human even as the technology evolves. It's an essential listen for anyone curious about the personal and philosophical dimensions of our digital age.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Stay Human, from the Artificiality Institute
Podcast Episodes
Doyne Farmer: Making Sense of Chaos [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:46
We’re excited to welcome Doyne Farmer to the podcast. Doyne is a pioneering complexity scientist and a leading thinker on economic systems, technological change, and the future of society. Doyne is a Professor of Complex…
James Boyle: The Line—AI And the Future of Personhood [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:04
We're excited to welcome Jamie Boyle to the podcast. Jamie is a law professor and author of the thought-provoking book The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood. In The Line, Jamie challenges our assumptions about person…
Shannon Vallor: The AI Mirror [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:34
We're excited to welcome to the podcast Shannon Vallor, professor of ethics and technology at the University of Edinburgh, and the author of The AI Mirror. In her book, Shannon invites us to rethink AI—not as a futuristi…
Matt Beane: The Skill Code [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:34
We're excited to welcome to the podcast Matt Beane, Assistant Professor at UC Santa Barbara and the author of the book "The Skill Code: How to Save Human Ability in an Age of Intelligent Machines." Matt’s research invest…
Emily M. Bender: AI, Linguistics, Parrots, and more! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:18
We're excited to welcome to the podcast Emily M. Bender, professor of computational linguistics at the University of Washington. As our listeners know, we enjoy tapping expertise in fields adjacent to the intersection of…
John Havens: Heartificial Intelligence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:29
We're excited to welcome to the podcast John Havens, a multifaceted thinker at the intersection of technology, ethics, and sustainability. John's journey has taken him from professional acting to becoming a thought leade…
Leslie Valiant: Educability [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:41
We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Leslie Valiant, a pioneering computer scientist and Turing Award winner renowned for his groundbreaking work in machine learning and computational learning theory. In his seminal 1…
Jonathan Feinstein: The Context of Creativity [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:31
We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Jonathan Feinstein, professor at the Yale School of Management and author of Creativity in Large-Scale Contexts: Guiding Creative Engagement and Exploration. Our interest in creati…
Karaitiana Taiuru: Indigenous AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:01
We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Karaitiana Taiuru. Dr Taiuru is a leading authority and a highly accomplished visionary Māori technology ethicist specialising in Māori rights with AI, Māori Data Sovereignty and G…
Omri Allouche: Gong AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:47
We’re excited to welcome to the podcast Omri Allouche, the VP of Research at Gong, an AI-driven revenue intelligence platform for B2B sales teams. Omri has had a fascinating career journey with a PhD in computational eco…