We've looked forward to today's episode since we launched the show! Andreas Stuhlmuller and Jungwon Byun are the co-founders of Ought, a product-driven research lab that develops mechanisms for delegating open-ended thinking to advanced machine learning systems. Their flagship product, Elicit (elicit.org), is an AI research assistant that helps researchers accelerate time-consuming workflows, starting with literature review.
We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.
LINKS REFERENCED IN EPISODE:
Ought: https://ought.org/
Elicit: https://elicit.org/
TIMESTAMPS:
(0:00) Preview
(2:00) Nathan introduces the founders of Ought
(4:20) Why doesn't AI serve better reasoning?
(6:55) What limits the current paradigm
(8:40) Reflections on the last six years of Ought’s research experiments of "composable thinking"
(13:10) Error elimination mechanism is a shared challenge between human and AI systems
(16:45) Sponsor: Omneky
(18:00) Interpretability by construction product philosophy
(25:00) Nathan’s personal experience using Elicit as a research assistant
(30:00) Explicit concerns about model reasonings, and the importance of going a step further
(36:00) What customers of OpenAI Foundry should consider
(43:15) Evaluation challenges
(48:15) Embeddings challenges
(51:00) Vision for a knowledge work assembly line corporate paradigm
(56:00) Ought's short-term approach to building: Understanding human ways of teaching the model to be more helpful
(59:00) Wishful thinking versus real helpfulness
(1:03:00) What's next for Elicit: expansion and new workflows
(1:17:00) Zapier for reasoning
(1:23:00) What are the most fundamental "magic questions" for all domains?
(1:31:43) Significant impact of GPT4
(1:36:00) How people are using Elicit
(1:44:00) AI Uncertainty and reason for hope
(1:48:00) 3 lightning-round questions
TWITTER:
@CogRev_Podcast
@jungofthewon
@stuhlmueller
@labenz (Nathan)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
SPONSORS:
Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of ALL eCommerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries.From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/cognitive
Thank you Omneky for sponsoring The Cognitive Revolution. Omneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that actually work, customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data. Mention "Cog Rev" for 10% off.
This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.
More show notes and reading material released in our Substack: https://cognitiverevolution.substack.com/
