Demystifying Claude’s Inner Workings and OpenAI’s Super App
▼ Summary
– Harvard engineering professor Vijay Janapa Reddi expresses skepticism that ambitious AI plans ever become practical reality.
– In 1943, psychologist B.F. Skinner led a secret project training pigeons to guide missiles by pecking at targets, but the military never deployed the system.
– Skinner’s experiments showed pigeons were reliable for studying learning through trial-and-error reward systems.
– The principles from Skinner’s pigeon training later helped power reinforcement learning, a key technology in modern AI.
– The article also includes a section with lighthearted content, such as architecture awards and a film recommendation.
When we hear about artificial intelligence, it’s easy to get swept up in the buzz. “We love the hype, we get excited about it,” says Vijay Janapa Reddi, a Harvard engineering professor, in an interview with Wired. His skepticism is blunt: “The damn thing never actually lands in practice.”
One More Thing
B. F. SKINNER FOUNDATION
Before AI became a household term, it was pigeons showing us the way. In 1943, psychologist B. F. Skinner ran a secret government project aimed at making bombs more accurate. His unconventional solution? Train pigeons to guide missiles by pecking at targets displayed on a screen inside a warhead. To shape this behavior, Skinner used trial and error rewarding the birds with food each time they made the correct choice.
The military never deployed Skinner’s feathered pilots. Still, his work convinced him that pigeons were “an extremely reliable instrument” for studying the mechanics of learning.
Fast forward to today, and those same principles underpin reinforcement learning, the engine behind many of the most advanced AI systems. Discover how these birds helped shape a powerful AI technique.
We can still have nice things
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+ Check out a stunning selection of this year’s NSW architecture award winners. + Photographers have captured the Strawberry Moon’s golden glow in remarkable detail. + According to a new poll, Idiocracy is the film that best captures the “American experience.” Revisit the prescient comedy with this Screen Junkies trailer. + Kick off your weekend with a psychedelic house journey from Jamie xx b2b Caribou.
(Source: MIT Technology Review)