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PODCAST

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders, Researchers, and Live Player Analysis

Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz

A biweekly podcast where hosts Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg interview the builders on the edge of AI and explore the dramatic shift it will unlock in the coming years. The Cognitive Revolution is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co

technology entrepreneurship

All Episodes

85:21

402 Payment Required: a New Way for AI Agents to Pay,...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/28

Nemil Dalal from Coinbase discusses the x402 protocol, a new open standard that enables AI agents to make cryptocurrency payments for online resources using the long-dormant HTTP 402 "Payment Required" status code. The conversation covers stablecoin fundamentals, including how they work and who maintains their stability, before exploring how crypto wallets with multi-signature capabilities could protect AI agents from adversarial attacks while keeping humans in control. They examine forward-looking

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85:21

2-Sigma in 2 Hours: How Alpha Schools are Using AI to...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/25

MacKenzie Price, founder of Alpha School & 2 Hour Learning, discusses her revolutionary educational model that uses AI to enable students to master traditional academics in just 2 hours per day while achieving 2.3x faster learning rates than statistical models predict. The conversation explores how Alpha School combines adaptive learning apps with personalized curriculum systems rather than giving students direct chatbot access, and how this frees up afternoons for field trips, independent projects,

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87:35

Living Lindy: a No-BS Conversation on AI Agents with...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/21

Flo Crivello, CEO of AI agent platform Lindy, provides a candid deep dive into the current state of AI agents, cutting through hype to reveal what's actually working in production versus what remains challenging. The conversation explores practical implementation details including model selection, fine-tuning, RAG systems, tool design philosophy, and why most successful "AI agents" today are better described as intelligent workflows with human-designed structure. Flo shares insights on emerging

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99:54

Embryology of AI: How Training Data Shapes AI...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/19

Jesse Hoogland and Daniel Murfet, founders of Timaeus, introduce their mathematically rigorous approach to AI safety through "developmental interpretability" based on Singular Learning Theory. They explain how neural network loss landscapes are actually complex, jagged surfaces full of "singularities" where models can change internally without affecting external behavior—potentially masking dangerous misalignment. Using their Local Learning Coefficient measure, they've demonstrated the ability to

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104:39

Embryology of AI: How Training Data Shapes AI...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/18

Jesse Hoogland and Daniel Murfet, founders of Timaeus, introduce their mathematically rigorous approach to AI safety through "developmental interpretability" based on Singular Learning Theory. They explain how neural network loss landscapes are actually complex, jagged surfaces full of "singularities" where models can change internally without affecting external behavior—potentially masking dangerous misalignment. Using their Local Learning Coefficient measure, they've demonstrated the ability to

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39:02

AI Scouting Report: AI Agents -vs- Agentic AI, from...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/14

This episode features Nathan's talk from Imagine AI Live, where he provides business leaders with a comprehensive overview of AI agents and agentic AI systems. He covers the evolution from simple task automation to more autonomous AI systems, delivers a practical roadmap for implementing AI agents in business while maintaining quality standards, and addresses concerning developments like reward hacking and scheming in frontier AI systems. The presentation balances accessible explanations for varying

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84:02

The Decade of May 15-22, 2025: Google's 50X AI Growth...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/12

Logan Kilpatrick from Google DeepMind returns for his fifth appearance to discuss Google’s transformation from "sleeping giant" to AI powerhouse, sharing insights from his year at the company as AI usage grew 50 times to 500 trillion tokens per month. He examines Google’s strengths, including superior compute infrastructure, frontier models like Gemini 2.5 Pro, viral products like NotebookLM, and the deepest AI research talent in the industry. The conversation covers whether leading AI companies

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63:40

a16z on Protecting Little Tech: The Techno-Optimist...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/09

In this episode, Matt Perault, Head of AI Policy at a16z, discusses their approach to AI regulation focused on protecting "little tech" startups from regulatory capture that could entrench big tech incumbents. The conversation covers a16z's core principle of regulating harmful AI use rather than the development process, exploring key policy initiatives like the Raise Act and California's SB 813. Perault addresses critical challenges including setting appropriate regulatory thresholds, transparency

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123:21

Don't Make Mirror Life: Synthetic Biologist Kate...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/07

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, University of Minnesota Professor of Genetics and Synthetic Biologist, Kate Adamala, offers insights into synthetic biology and its potential implications for humanity. The discussion begins with an overview of synthetic biology and its goal to expand the chemical repertoire of life. Adamala delves into 'mirror life'—biological systems made of mirror-image molecules—and the significant risks they pose. She highlights parallels to AI safety concerns and

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74:14

What did Google's AI Co-Scientist "Discover"? The...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/06/04

We're following up on our recent episode on Google's AI Co-Scientist with a special crossover episode from the Podovirus podcast. Hosts Dr Jessica Sacher and Dr Joe Campbell speak with José Penadés and Tiago Costa, scientists at Imperial College London who made a surprising discovery that Google's AI Co-Scientist later put forward as a hypothesis entirely on its own.The episode explores the fascinating world of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) and phage-inducible chromosomal islands

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112:52

Mechanistic Interpretability: Philosophy, Practice &...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/29

In this episode, Daniel Balsam and Tom McGrath, at Goodfire, discuss the future of mechanistic interpretability in AI models. They explore the fundamental inputs like models, compute, and algorithms, and emphasize the importance of a rich empirical approach to understanding how models work. Balsam and McGrath provide insights into ongoing projects and breakthroughs, particularly in scientific domains and creative applications, as they aim to push the frontiers of AI interpretability. They also

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61:16

The Perfect Substrate for AGI, with Replit CEO Amjad...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/22

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Amjad Masad , founder and CEO of Replit, discusses the fast-paced growth of Replit, the concept of 'vibe coding', and the challenges and opportunities in the rapidly evolving AI-assisted coding space. He shares insights into Replit's competitive advantages, known as 'moats', and how they maintain their lead through innovation and excellence in execution. The conversation delves into the architectural complexities of building AI agents, their autonomy, and

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103:36

The RAISE Act: Minimum Standards for Frontier AI...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/20

In this episode, New York State Assembly Member Alex Bores discusses the RAISE Act, a proposed bill aimed at regulating frontier AI models with basic safety protocols. He explains his background in technology, his motivations for the bill, and the legislative process. He emphasizes the importance of having clear safety protocols, third-party audits, and whistleblower protections for AI developers. He explains the intricacies of the bill, including its focus on large developers and frontier models,

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107:38

Gemini Robotics – AI for the Physical World, with...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/17

In this engaging episode of the Cognitive Revolution, host Nathan Labenz welcomes guests Keerthana Gopalakrishnan and Ted Xiao to revisit significant advancements in robotics over the past year. Key themes discussed include the proliferation of new robotics companies, the emergence of humanoid robots, and the development of sophisticated foundation models. The conversation highlights the transformative potential of imitation learning, the evolution from simple lab-based tasks to complex, real-world

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131:25

Titans: Neural Long-Term Memory for LLMs, with author...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/15

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Ali Behrouz, a PhD student at Cornell University, delves into his research on enhancing memory mechanisms in large language models through his latest paper titled Titans. Behrouz discusses the limitations of current models in maintaining long-term coherence and introduces the concept of a neural network as a memory module. Highlighting architectures such as memory as context and memory as gate, he explains how these innovative approaches can significantly

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79:32

Luma Labs' Diffusion Revolution: from Dream Machine...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/11

In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution podcast, the host Nathan Labenz welcomes Amit Jain, CEO and Jiaming Song, Chief Scientist at Luma Labs, alongside co-host Stephen Parker. The conversation delves into the latest advancements and products from Luma Labs, makers of the Dream Machine, including cutting-edge models and features like camera motion and creative video generation tools. They explore technical aspects like pre-training for diffusion models and the development of concepts to improve

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123:13

OpenAI's Identity Crisis: History, Culture &...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/08

In this episode, former OpenAI research scientist Steven Adler discusses his insights on OpenAI's transition through various phases, including its growth, internal culture shifts, and the contentious move from nonprofit to for-profit. The conversation delves into the initial days of OpenAI's development of GPT-3 and GPT-4, the cultural and ethical disagreements within the organization, and the recent amicus brief addressing the Elon versus OpenAI lawsuit. Steven Adler also explores the broader

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149:21

AI Control: Using Untrusted Systems Safely with Buck...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/04

In this episode, we share a fascinating conversation from the 80,000 Hours Podcast between Rob Wiblin and Buck Shlegeris, CEO of Redwood Research. Buck dives deep into the emerging field of AI Control strategies for safely working with powerful AIs even if they’re not fully aligned. They explore innovative techniques like always-on auditing, honeypotting, re-sampling, and factored cognition to monitor and manage AI behaviors. This discussion highlights both the promise and challenges of controlling

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122:05

Blueprint for AI Armageddon: Josh Clymer Imagines AI...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/05/01

In this episode of the Cognitive Revolution, an AI-narrated version of Joshua Clymer's story on how AI might take over in two years is presented. The episode is based on Josh's appearance on the Audio Tokens podcast with Lukas Peterson. Joshua Clymer, a technical AI safety researcher at Redwood Research, shares a fictional yet plausible AI scenario grounded in current industry realities and trends. The story highlights potential misalignment risks, competitive pressures among AI labs, and the

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103:05

Fiverr Goes All-In on AI: Empowering Creators, Not...

"The Cognitive Revolution" | AI Builders,... ·

2025/04/26

In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, host Nathan Labenz speaks with Micha Kaufman, founder and CEO of Fiverr, about the company's new AI suite called Fiverr Go. Kaufman shares his unique values-based approach to AI implementation, which aims to empower human creators rather than replace them in the freelance marketplace. The conversation explores how Fiverr is attempting to build an AI-human hybrid model that maintains the incentives for human creativity while providing freelancers with

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339 results

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