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Artwork for Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here?
Neural Networks
Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning
Deep Learning
Decision Tree Learning
JEPA (joint Embedding Predictive Architecture)
PAC Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Graphical Models
Convolutional Networks
Self-Supervised Learning
ID3
Ross Quinlan
Statistics
Self-Driving Cars

Tom Mitchell literally wrote the book on machine learning. In this series of candid conversations with his fellow pioneers, Tom traces the history of the field through the people who built it. Behind the tech are stories of passion, curiosity, and humanity. Tom Mitchell is the University Founders Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and the... more

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Artwork for Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here?

Latest Episodes

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 Engineerin... more

Tom meets with Dr. Dean Pomerleau, who as a CMU PhD student in the 1980s was the first person to demonstrate that a neural network could be trained to automatically steer a self-driving vehicle.

Dean's results shocked the research community, and pav... more

Tom sits down with Michael I. Jordan, Director of Rearch at Inria and Professor Emeritus of the Departments of EECS and Statistics, University of California, Berkeley. Michael has been a major contributor to machine learning, especially at the inters... more

What would a "theory" of machine learning tell us? In this episode Tom meets with the person who invented what is now the widely accepted definition of supervised machine learning: Turing Award recipient and Harvard Professor Leslie Valiant.

Leslie ... more

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Recent Guests

Dean Pomerleau
Pioneering researcher in neural networks for autonomous driving
CMU/NavLab
Episode: Self-Driving Cars in the 1980s (!) with Dean Pomerleau
Michael Jordan
Pioneer in machine learning and statistics; professor and researcher
Berkeley / MIT
Episode: Machine Learning Meets Statistics with Michael I. Jordan
Leslie Valiant
Pioneer in machine learning theory; Turing Award winner
Harvard University
Episode: Machine Learning Theory with Leslie Valiant
Ross Quinlan
Pioneer of decision tree learning; developed ID3 and C45; founder of RuleQuest Research
RuleQuest Research (commercial venture)
Episode: Decision Tree Learning with Ross Quinlan
Rich Sutton
Pioneer of reinforcement learning
University of Alberta; Collaboration with Andrew Barto; ACM Turing Award recipient
Episode: Reinforcement Learning with Rich Sutton
Tom Dietterich
Pioneer of machine learning, former president of AAAI
Oregon State University (collaborator on projects)
Episode: The Chaotic Evolution of the Field with Tom Dietterich
Yann LeCun
Pioneer in neural networks, currently exploring world models and hierarchical planning
Facebook/Meta AI Research (past), NYU, NYU Center for Data Science (past)
Episode: A University and Corporate Perspective with Yann LeCun
Geoffrey Hinton
Pioneer in neural networks and deep learning
Geoffrey Hinton's own affiliations mentioned in episode (CMU, Google past, etc.)
Episode: Five Decades of Neural Networks with Geoffrey Hinton

Host

Tom Mitchell
Host of the series and interviewer, affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University; also connected to Stanford Digital Economy Lab as a producing entity.

Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars from 6 ratings
  • How Refreshing

    Almost all podcasts have been overrun by LLM discussions for years now; so it's incredibly refreshing to listen to a review on the wider world of machine learning from the experts involved in the world building.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    jhy1101
    United Kingdom2 months ago
  • Pretty amazing lineup

    Judging from the first episode, there will be a great set of guests on this show

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    c(e)m
    United States2 months ago

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

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#75
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Apple Podcasts
#177
Mexico/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#200
South Korea/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#223
Finland/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#241
India/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#248
Israel/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Decision Tree Learning with Ross Quinlan
Q: What does Quinlan view as the major long-term developments in decision trees and AI more broadly?
The major shifts include preventing overfitting through information-theoretic approaches to grow right-sized trees, recognizing that overfitting reduces generalization. He also discusses the broader history of ML, including how hardware and data scale transformed neural networks, while decision trees stayed rooted in simple, efficient criteria that could be scaled and commercialized.
Decision Tree Learning with Ross Quinlan
Q: How did Quinlan transition from academia to commercialization and what were early commercial wins?
He describes taking a sabbatical to develop a successor to ID3, which evolved into C45, and eventually forming RuleQuest Research to commercialize the technology. Early successes included licenses to the US Department of Agriculture for forestry and crops, and later big pharma for in silico drug property prediction, laying a foundation for ongoing licensing with IBM and other firms.
Decision Tree Learning with Ross Quinlan
Q: What was in Ross Quinlan's head back in the early 80s and why did decision trees appeal to him as a direction for learning?
Quinlan explains that, at the time, perceptrons and neural networks were seen as the baseline, but his exposure to Earl Hunt and a simple approach to decision trees led him to focus on information gain as a more sensitive criterion for building tests in a tree. He also notes the influence of work across psychology, statistics, and computer science and recalls the origin of ID3 and its lack of pruning, which performed well on early problems.
The Chaotic Evolution of the Field with Tom Dietterich
Q: Final question. If there's a new PhD student just entering right now, and they just heard you talk about these different thesis topics, what advice do you have for them on how to get started, how to conduct themselves?
The guidance emphasizes building a broad toolbox of techniques, identifying a personal 'secret weapon' such as ability to explain and frame field developments, and solving problems in a staged way—start with small problems, gradually tackle larger, more complex ones, while keeping an eye on fundamental questions and real-world impact.
Reinforcement Learning with Rich Sutton
Q: What were the things going on at the time in your head that made you think this was an interesting direction to look?
He discusses the motivation rooted in learning from experience and rewards/penalties, contrasted with supervised approaches, and the historical shift from reinforcement to supervised framing before returning to RL as a distinct field.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here?

What is Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here? about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This series curates candid conversations with early pioneers and current leaders in machine learning, tracing the field's evolution from symbolic and rule-based ideas to data-driven approaches. Episodes thread together foundational concepts, key breakthroughs, and the sociotechnical shifts that shaped modern AI—covering neural networks, reinforcement learning, kernel methods, and the transformer era—while weaving in personal stories, collaborations, and interdisciplinary influences. Notable throughlines include the tension between theory and practice, the role of large-scale experimentation and industry labs, and thoughtful discussions on AI safety, governance, and societal impact. The format tends to blend historical context with technical... more

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What guests have appeared on Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here??

Recent guests on Machine Learning: How Did We Get Here? include:

1. Dean Pomerleau
2. Michael Jordan
3. Leslie Valiant
4. Ross Quinlan
5. Rich Sutton
6. Tom Dietterich
7. Yann LeCun
8. Geoffrey Hinton

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