In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores unconventional approaches to AI safety with Judd Rosenblatt and Mike Vaiana from AE Studio. Discover how this innovative company pivoted from brain-computer interfaces to groundbreaking AI alignment research, producing two notable results in cooperative and less deceptive AI systems. Join us for a deep dive into biologically-inspired approaches that offer hope for solving critical AI safety challenges.

Self-Modeling: https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.10188

Self-Other Distinction Minimization: https://www.alignmentforum.org/posts/hzt9gHpNwA2oHtwKX/self-other-overlap-a-neglected-approach-to-ai-alignment

Neglected approaches blog post: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qAdDzcBuDBLexb4fC/the-neglected-approaches-approach-ae-studio-s-alignment

Apply to join over 400 Founders and Execs in the Turpentine Network: https://www.turpentinenetwork.co/

SPONSORS:

WorkOS: Building an enterprise-ready SaaS app? WorkOS has got you covered with easy-to-integrate APIs for SAML, SCIM, and more. Join top startups like Vercel, Perplexity, Jasper & Webflow in powering your app with WorkOS. Enjoy a free tier for up to 1M users! Start now at https://bit.ly/WorkOS-Turpentine-Network

Weights & Biases Weave: Weights & Biases Weave is a lightweight AI developer toolkit designed to simplify your LLM app development. With Weave, you can trace and debug input, metadata and output with just 2 lines of code. Make real progress on your LLM development and visit the following link to get started with Weave today: https://wandb.me/cr

80,000 Hours: 80,000 Hours offers free one-on-one career advising for Cognitive Revolution listeners aiming to tackle global challenges, especially in AI. They connect high-potential individuals with experts, opportunities, and personalized career plans to maximize positive impact. Apply for a free call at https://80000hours.org/cognitiverevolution to accelerate your career and contribute to solving pressing AI-related issues.

Omneky: 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 https://www.omneky.com/

RECOMMENDED PODCAST:

This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel ft their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, and venture capital.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz

CHAPTERS:

(00:00:00) About the Show

(00:00:22) Sponsors: WorkOS

(00:01:22) About the Episode

(00:05:18) Introduction and AE Studio Background

(00:11:37) Keys to Success in Building AE Studio

(00:16:57) Sponsors: Weights & Biases Weave | 80,000 Hours

(00:19:37) Universal Launcher and Productivity Gains

(00:24:44) 100x Productivity Increase Explanation

(00:31:46) Brain-Computer Interface and AI Alignment

(00:38:05) Sponsors: Omneky

(00:38:30) Current State of NeuroTech

(00:44:00) Survey on Neglected Approaches in AI Alignment

(00:50:41) Self-Modeling and Biological Inspiration

(00:57:48) Technical Details of Self-Modeling

(01:06:17) Self-Other Distinction Minimization

(01:12:44) Implementation in Language Models

(01:19:00) Compute Costs and Scaling Considerations

(01:24:27) Consciousness Concerns and Future Work

(01:40:24) Evaluating Neglected Approaches

(01:55:56) Closing Thoughts and Policy Considerations

(01:59:25) Outro

The Runna Podcast Wrapped: Biggest Lessons, Funniest Moments & 2026 Goals

The Runna Podcast

Strava Year in Sport showdown

The AI-powered Podcast Player