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Artwork for Machine Learning Street Talk

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Deep Learning
Large Language Models
Neural Networks
Artificial General Intelligence
Transformers
AI Safety
Consciousness
Cognitive Science
Reinforcement Learning
Language Models
AI Ethics
Free Energy Principle
Cohere
Intelligence
Active Inference
Neuroscience
ARC Challenge
Agency

Welcome! We engage in fascinating discussions with pre-eminent figures in the AI field. Our flagship show covers current affairs in AI, cognitive science, neuroscience and philosophy of mind with in-depth analysis. Our approach is unrivalled in terms of scope and rigour – we believe in intellectual diversity in AI, and we touch on all of the main ideas in the field with the hype surgically removed... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes273Founded7 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
Technology

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Artwork for Machine Learning Street Talk

Latest Episodes

Joscha Bach is a cognitive scientist and the founder of the California Institute for Machine Consciousness.

SPONSOR:

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Parallel is a single platform for all your agentic research: web search built for AI agents, with Pareto-optimal quality, cost... more

Kevin Hartnett is the author of *The Proof in the Code*.SPONSOR:---Cyber Fund built the Monastery to help founders ship products that were impossible a year ago. Applications for Batch 1 are now open.Apply now: cyber.fund---In 1998 Thomas Hal... more

A lot of people in AI treat evolution as a dumb fallback, basically random search for when you can't take a gradient. Akarsh Kumar thinks that is wrong. Selection hangs on to partial solutions, so mutations only need to be useful about 1% of the time... more

Tsung-Hsien (Shawn) Wen, CTO of PolyAI, tells Tim Scarfe why voice agents are harder than text agents. Voice adds time, and a good conversation depends on adapting to the person on the line, not just on reasoning to the best answer. Shawn describes a... more

Key Facts

Accepts Guests
Accepts Sponsors
Contact Information
Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Recent Guests

Joscha Bach
Cognitive scientist and founder of the California Institute for Machine Consciousness
California Institute for Machine Consciousness
Episode: Why Leibniz Couldn't Find the Mind Inside the Mill (Joscha Bach)
Paul Lessard
Category theorist
Episode: Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Kevin Hartnett
Author of The Proof in the Code and journalist
Quanta Magazine
Episode: Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Kevin Buzzard
Number theorist at Imperial College London and an early Lean advocate
Imperial College London
Episode: Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Leonardo de Moura
Computer scientist at Microsoft Research and creator of Lean
Microsoft Research
Episode: Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Jeremy Avigad
Mathematician and philosopher at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Episode: Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Akarsh Kumar
MIT PhD student, Sakana AI collaborator, and first author of the Fractured Entangled Representation paper
MIT
Episode: What Most People Get Wrong About Evolution | Akarsh Kumar
Leo de Moura
Creator of Ling, chief architect and co-founder of the Ling Throw, a non-profit behind Ling and senior principal scientist at AWS
AWS
Episode: Who Checks a Proof No Human Can Read? — Leo de Moura
Zhengyao Jiang
Co-founder and CEO of Weco AI
Weco AI
Episode: When AI Research Starts Moving Faster Than Human Research - Zhengyao Jiang

Host

Tim Scarfe
AI researcher and interviewer focused on artificial intelligence, cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind

Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars from 755 ratings
  • Great

    This podcast is a gem. It is much more than ml

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Tosvarsan
    Sweden5 months ago
  • You let this happen?!

    The person who moderated (or failed to) the Wolfram and Yudkowsy conversation wasted both guests and the audience’s time

    Apple Podcasts
    1
    Leopold P Bloom
    United States10 months ago
  • quantum mechanics

    I really enjoy Machine Learning Street Talk, even when I don’t agree with every opinion.

    I’m curious what happens when we add quantum mechanics to the discussion.

    I’d love to hear your thoughts.

    Boaz Kaizman, artist, Cologne

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Bzeev
    Germany10 months ago
  • 😎😎

    норм подкастик. много свежих инсайтов

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Вода Природная
    Russia10 months ago
  • Once-excellent podcast

    It used to be one of my favourite ML podcasts, with genuinely in-depth discussions and fascinating guests. Over time, though, it became increasingly clear that its primary goal had shifted to revenue generation, and the quality of the interviews declined accordingly. At its worst, entire episodes felt like thinly veiled sponsored ads for overhyped startups. It’s genuinely disappointing to watch such a once-excellent podcast lose its way.

    Apple Podcasts
    2
    DePrincipatibus
    Germanya year ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Several reviewers object to sponsored or promotional-feeling interviews, saying they can detract from the substance.
Expert guests and access to unusual perspectives are recurring strengths for listeners seeking informed conversations.
Production opinions are mixed: some appreciate audio improvements, while others find background music and editing distracting.
Listeners praise the depth, technical detail, and breadth of discussion across AI, machine learning, and related fields.
Some listeners find the material highly specialized or difficult to follow, and debate moderation can be divisive.

Chart Rankings

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

Apple Podcasts
#147
United States/Technology
Spotify
#43
United Kingdom/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#115
United Kingdom/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#200
Canada/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#153
Germany/Technology
Apple Podcasts
#194
France/Technology

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Why Leibniz Couldn't Find the Mind Inside the Mill (Joscha Bach)
Q: What would count as evidence that a machine is conscious?
Bach says stronger evidence would come from a self-organizing system, not trained by imitating text, that develops reports of conscious experience and requires that experience to perform its tasks.
Why Leibniz Couldn't Find the Mind Inside the Mill (Joscha Bach)
Q: What is the Machine Consciousness Hypothesis?
Bach describes two linked but independently falsifiable claims: consciousness is a biological learning algorithm that helps organize animal brains, and machines learning through self-organizing processes might discover a similar algorithm.
Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Q: Could that same machinery teach an AI to find proofs?
Hartnett says formal proof systems can provide clear correctness signals for training and help sort large sets of machine-generated proof candidates. However, machine search may not discover the abstractions humans find meaningful.
Mathematics Just Changed Forever — Kevin Hartnett
Q: So how do mathematicians know when a proof is correct, and they can trust a new theorem and then use that as an input into additional proofs?
Mathematical trust is partly social: mathematicians rely on a shared body of knowledge, assess the author's understanding, and inspect the argument without necessarily checking every line. A Lean proof adds a machine-checkable certificate of correctness.
What Most People Get Wrong About Evolution | Akarsh Kumar
Q: How can we leverage this type of technology to build AGI?
Kumar describes artificial life as a long-term bet on intelligence and says the goal is to extract efficient abstractions of natural evolution and simulation that can help produce general intelligence.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
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Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About Machine Learning Street Talk

What is Machine Learning Street Talk about and what kind of topics does it cover?

In-depth conversations with leading researchers, founders, authors, and other specialists explore artificial intelligence alongside mathematics, cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind. Discussions move between technical detail and broader questions about intelligence, consciousness, scientific discovery, safety, and AI's effects on society. Recurring host Tim Scarfe guides interviews that often examine how systems work, where current approaches fall short, and what evidence or practical experience supports competing claims. Topics range from formal proof verification and machine learning architectures to artificial life, speech technology, interpretability, and AI forecasting.

The emphasis is on technical substance and int... more

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Which podcasts are similar to Machine Learning Street Talk?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Machine Learning Street Talk:

1. Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast
2. The TWIML AI Podcast (formerly This Week in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence)
3. Dwarkesh Podcast
4. Training Data
5. No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

How many episodes of Machine Learning Street Talk are there?

Machine Learning Street Talk launched 7 years ago and published 273 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on Machine Learning Street Talk?

Recent guests on Machine Learning Street Talk include:

1. Joscha Bach
2. Paul Lessard
3. Kevin Hartnett
4. Kevin Buzzard
5. Leonardo de Moura
6. Jeremy Avigad
7. Akarsh Kumar
8. Leo de Moura

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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