Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here?

From Philosophy to Machine Learning with Bruce Buchanan

Tom sits down with Bruce Buchanan, a PhD Philosopher turned machine learning researcher.  Bruce produced a key milestone for machine learning in the 1970s by creating the first program that discovered new symbolic knowledge publishable in a scientific journal. Bruce has held professorships at the University of Pittsburgh (Philosophy and Medicine) and Stanford University (Computer Science). Tom Mitchell is the Founders University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Produced by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

AI Agents to Model Human Cognition with John Laird

Tom chats with John Laird, who has spent the past 40 years trying to build an AI agent that accomplishes the full range of human cognitive abilities, beginning with his 1980s PhD research on the SOAR model of human cognition with Allen Newell and Paul Rosenbloom. John E. Laird received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985, and is John L. Tishman Emeritus Professor of Engineering at the University of Michigan. He is one of the original developers of the SOAR architecture and leads its continued development and evolution. He was a founder of Soar Technology. He is a AAAI, ACM, AAAS, and Cognitive Science Society Fellow. In 2018, he was co-winner of the Herbert A. Simon Prize for Advances in Cognitive Systems.

Machine Learning and Speech Recognition with Kai-Fu Lee

Tom meets with Kai-Fu Lee, a pioneer in using machine learning to significantly advance speech recognition. Kai-Fu, former president of Google China and now Chairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI, has led speech, machine learning and AI efforts at several top firms, and is now one of the top AI venture capitalists in China.

Machine Learning meets Cognitive Neuroscience with Jay McClelland

What is the relationship between neural network approaches in machine learning, and real neural networks in the brain? Today's guest Jay McClelland is a cognitive scientist who has spent decades studying this question. Jay is Lucie Stern Professor of Psychology and (by Courtesy) of Linguistics and Computer Science and Director of the Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology at Stanford University. He discusses his 50 year journey modeling cognition in the brain with artificial neural networks, and his role in the 1980s emergence of neural networks in machine learning.

Learning Probabilistic Models with Daphne Koller

Tom interviews Daphne Koller, a Stanford professor turned serial entrepreneur. Daphne is widely known for her research at the intersection of machine learning and probabilistic reasoning. Daphne is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and is currently CEO of Insitro, a company at the intersection of machine learning and human biology.