When they say experiments, do they mean using physics simulators?
Discovery Loop
61–70 of 630 posts
Re: Discovery Loop
#62The problem is all these new labs don't have any competitive advanatge amongst each other, talent can only take one so far, though Jeff is a legend no doubt. Models are commodities the applications eg. BaseTen, OpenRouter should capture the value. https://taikhooms.substack.com/p/why-openrouter-can-be-the-n...
Model routers - send all of your data through a third party who totally swears not to peek at it.
If youre doing anything high value (advanced research, classified work, high value industrial research, health data) then sending your data through a third party like that is insane.
Re: Discovery Loop
#63I’ve always felt that the idea that science is bottlenecked and therefore needs more automation only works for a very narrow definition of what science is, and entails a very specific view on what it should be.
> only works for a very narrow definition of what science is And so does academia. It's just that instead of AI and robotics, PhD students are thrown onto problems that are in large parts slightly tweaked reconfigurations of similar experiments. Especially in chemistry, biochemistry, material sciences there is a large space of discoveries that are barely "novel" in an intellectually stimulating way, but still highly…
Yep. A communications professor where I did my MS says a 200usd/mo claude sub (which ant gives for free) does as much work as 5 grad students. It's mostly like you said, trying out new ideas rapidly.
Re: Discovery Loop
#64From Jeff's twitter post: > Our general approach is to automate the experimental loop. We think this approach is broadly applicable across many different fields of science and engineering. We’ll initially focus on ML research and engineering, but believe the approach can help with important subproblems in nearly every one of the fourteen NAE Grand Challenge problems. We think doing this well requires strong expertise…
Acquisition back by Google in 3 years, with nothing to show for it. VCs will make a ton.
For all we know, they could have been successfully working on "10. Prevent Nuclear Terror" for the last 80+ years.
Re: Discovery Loop
#65The site itself is really leaning into the “made with Fable” aesthetic
Why are people so sour about this?? I can read the site easily, its clear, performs well on mobile, what else do you want? Why is so offensive to people that models trained on tailwind or whatever?
Re: Discovery Loop
#66I’ve always felt that the idea that science is bottlenecked and therefore needs more automation only works for a very narrow definition of what science is, and entails a very specific view on what it should be.
> only works for a very narrow definition of what science is And so does academia. It's just that instead of AI and robotics, PhD students are thrown onto problems that are in large parts slightly tweaked reconfigurations of similar experiments. Especially in chemistry, biochemistry, material sciences there is a large space of discoveries that are barely "novel" in an intellectually stimulating way, but still highly…
That is true, I’ve seen people do biochemistry and geology work, and it did look very mind-numbing.
Then again, gassing rats and taking biopsies is not something you can do with AI.
Re: Discovery Loop
#67The site itself is really leaning into the “made with Fable” aesthetic
let me rephrase that:
"The site itself demonstrates the team is spending their money in the places that matter, and using quick solutions for the stuff they need but isn't mission critical"
Re: Discovery Loop
#68By the middle of the 2030's the world we live in will be unrecognizable.
It will not be owned by top 1%?
Re: Discovery Loop
#69"Our mission is straightforward" continued by the most complex sentence on that page. Wondering what the definition of straightforward is now
Right. What about the scientific hardware (instruments, sensors, robotics)? Partnerships with existing research institutions? Dealing with restricted data?
Modernizing science is a lot more complicated than just optimizing the inner experimental loop, but their hiring page implies it's a pure ML lab focused mainly on model development.
Re: Discovery Loop
#70This looks like a realization of "benevolent self conscious AIs agreeing to cooperate with mankind to do great stuff". Often in these tales, there is a hidden cost to it: the AI has its own agenda, or does crazy experiments with humans mind/brain. I'm wondering what shape will take that plot twist in reality :)