Causal Bandits Podcast
Alex Molak
Causal Bandits Podcast with Alex Molak is here to help you learn about causality, causal AI and causal machine learning through the genius of others.
The podcast focuses on causality from a number of different perspectives, finding common grounds between academia and industry, philosophy, theory and practice, and between different schools of thought, and traditions.
Your host, Alex Molak is an entrepreneur, independent researcher and a best-selling author, who decided to travel the world to record conversations with the most interesting minds in causality.
Enjoy and stay causal!
Keywords: Causal AI, Causal Machine Learning, Causality, Causal Inference, Causal Discovery, Machine Learning, AI, Artificial Intelligence
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Top 10 Causal Bandits Podcast Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Causal Bandits Podcast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Causal Bandits Podcast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Causal Bandits Podcast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Causality, LLMs & Abstractions || Matej Zečević || Causal Bandits Ep. 000 (2023)
Causal Bandits Podcast
11/06/23 • 70 min
Support the show
Video version of this episode available on YouTube
Recorded on Aug 14, 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany
Are Large Language Models (LLMs) causal?
Some researchers have shown that advanced models like GPT-4 can perform very well on certain causal benchmarks.
At the same time, from the theoretical point of view it's highly unlikely that these models can learn causal structures. Is it possible that large language models are not causal, but talk causality?
In our conversation we explore this question from the point of view of the formalism proposed by Matej and his colleagues in their "Causal Parrots" paper.
We also discuss Matej's journey from the dream of becoming a hacker to a successful AI and then causality researcher. Ready to dive in?
Links
- Events
- Causality Discussion Group (https://discuss.causality.link/)
- Eastern European Machine Learning Summer School (https://www.eeml.eu/home)
- Videos
- Prof. Moritz Helmstaedter on connectomics
- Books
- Molak (2023) - Causal Inference & Discovery in Python
- Pearl & Mackenzie (2019) - The Book of Why
- Papers
- For full list of papers see the episode's description here.
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Causal ML, Transparency & Time-Varying Treatments || Iyar Lin || Causal Bandits Ep. 008 (2024)
Causal Bandits Podcast
01/22/24 • 56 min
Support the show
Video version available on YouTube
Recorded on Sep 13, 2023 in Beit El'Azari, Israel
The eternal dance between the data and the model
Early in his career, Iyar realized that purely associative models cannot provide him with the answers to the questions he found most interesting.
This realization laid the groundwork for his search for methods that go beyond statistical summaries of the data.
What started as a lonely journey, led him to become a data science lead at his current company, where he fosters causal culture daily.
Iyar developed a framework that helps digital product companies make better decisions regarding their products at scale and at budget.
Here, causality is not just a concept, but a tool for change.
Ready to dive in?
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About The Guest
Iyar Lin is a Data Science Lead at Loops, where he helps customers make better decisions leveraging causal inference and machine learning methods. He holds master's degree in statistics from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Before Loops, he worked at ViaSat and SimilarWeb.
Connect with Iyar:
- Iyar on LinkedIn
- Iyar's web page
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality (https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4).
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Links
Papers
- Breiman (2001) - Statistical Modeling: The Two Cultures
Books
- Molak (2023) - Causal Inference and Discovery in Python
- Pearl et al. (2016) - Causal Inference in Statistics - A Pri
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
![Causal Bandits Podcast - [Extra]: Mosquitos, Pascal & Hedge Funds || A Walk with Darko Matovski, PhD (causaLens) in London (2024)](https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/episode_images/3aee1587e09ef7edff5ef76ab0c2ec4c82001bcd7ab47cfd711707b8e82cae82.avif)
[Extra]: Mosquitos, Pascal & Hedge Funds || A Walk with Darko Matovski, PhD (causaLens) in London (2024)
Causal Bandits Podcast
01/16/24 • 22 min
Support the showVideo version available on YouTube
Recorded on Sep 4, 2023 in London, UK
A causal bet
Darko's story begins in Eastern Europe, where his early attempts in building a business and the influence of early-stage role models shaped his attitudes and helped him move through challenging and lonely moments in his career.
See how mosquitos, Pascal programming language, and problems with generalization in vision models inspired Darko to build a company that helps some of the world's top companies streamline and deploy causal inference workflows today.
Learn how his hedge fund experience shaped his thinking about business.
Causal Bandits Extra is a series of conversations with non-technically-focused people involved in or interested in causality from business, social and other perspectives.
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About The Guest
Darko Matovski, PhD is the co-founder and CEO of causaLens, a $50M venture-backed scaleup. He holds a PhD in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of Southampton.
Connect with Darko:
- Darko Matovski on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matovski/
- causaLens web page
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causal machine learning.
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Causal Bandits Team
Project Coordinator: Taiba Malik (https://www.instagram.com/taibasplay/) Video and Audio Editing: Navneet Sharma, Aleksander Molak *Action* Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/ Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io Causal Bandits: https://causalbanditspodcast.com The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4 *Sponsorship Disclaimer* This episode has been made possible with the support of causaLens. We appreciate their contribution to making
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Causal AI & Supply Chain || Ishansh Gupta || Causal Bandits Ep. 010 (2024)
Causal Bandits Podcast
02/19/24 • 58 min
Support the show
Video version available on YouTube
Recorded on Sep 27, 2023 in München, Germany
From supply chain to large language models and back
Ishansh realized the potential of data when he was just 10 years old, during his time as a junior cricket player.
His journey led him to ask questions about the mechanisms behind the observed events.
Can large language models (LLMs) help in building an industrial causal graph?
What inspires stakeholders to share their knowledge and which causal discovery algorithms have been most effective for Ishansh's supply chain use case?
Hear the insights from one of the BMW Group's fastest-rising young data science talents.
Ready?
About The Guest
Ishansh Gupta is a Lead Data Scientist at BMW Group. Previously, he worked for several companies, including a legendary German sports club SV Werder Bremen. He studied Computer Science, and co-founded an educational startup during his study years. He has supervised or supported students in various universities, including the Munich-based TUM and MIT.
Connect with Ishansh:
- Ishansh on Twitter/X
- Ishansh on LinkedIn
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Links
Papers
Full list of papers here
Books
- Molak (2023) - Causal Inference and Discovery in Python
- Pearl & Mackenzie (2019) - The Book of Why
Other
- causaLens
Causal Bandits Team
Project Coordinator: Taiba Malik
Video and Audio Editing: Navneet Sharma, Aleksander
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Why Hinton Was Wrong, Causal AI & Science | Thanos Vlontzos Ep 15 | CausalBanditsPodcast.com
Causal Bandits Podcast
05/06/24 • 65 min
Recorded on Jan 17, 2024 in London, UK.
Video version available here
What makes so many predictions about the future of AI wrong?
And what's possible with the current paradigm?
From medical imaging to song recommendations, the association-based paradigm of learning can be helpful, but is not sufficient to answer our most interesting questions.
Meet Athanasios (Thanos) Vlontzos who looks for inspirations everywhere around him to build causal machine learning and causal inference systems at Spotify's Advanced Causal Inference Lab.
In the episode we discuss:
- Why is causal discovery a better riddle than causal inference?
- Will radiologists be replaced by AI in 2024 or 2025?
- What are causal AI skeptics missing?
- Can causality emerge in Euclidean latent space?
Ready to dive in?
About The Guest
Athanasios (Thanos) Vlontzos, PhD is a Research Scientist at Advanced Causal Inference Lab at Spotify. Previousl;y, he worked at Apple, at SETI Institute with NASA stakeholders and published in some of the best scientific journals, including Nature Machine Learning. He's specialized in causal modeling, causal inferernce, causal discovery and medical imaging.
Connect with Athanasios:
- Athanasios on Twitter/X
- Athanasios on LinkedIn
- Athanasios's web page
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality.
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Links
The full list of links can be found here.
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Open Source Causal AI & The Generative Revolution | Emre Kıcıman Ep 16 | CausalBanditsPodcast.com
Causal Bandits Podcast
05/20/24 • 42 min
What makes two tech giants collaborate on an open source causal AI package?
Emre's adventure with causal inference and causal AI has started before it was trendy.
He's one of the original core developers of DoWhy - one of the most popular and powerful Python libraries for causal inference - and a researcher focused on the intersection of causal inference, causal discovery, generative modeling and social impact.
His unique perspective, inspired by his experience with low-level programming combined with his vivid interest in how humans interact with technology, is driven by a deep seated desire to solve problems that matter to people.
In the episode we discuss:
🔹 What makes Microsoft and Amazon collaborate on an open source Python package?
🔹 Causal AI and the core of science
🔹 Is language model a world model?
🔹 When modeling physics is useful?
Ready to dive in?
Join the insightful discussions at https://causalbanditspodcast.com/
About The Guest
Emre Kıcıman, PhD is a Senior Principal Research Manager at Microsoft Research. He's one of the core developers of the DoWhy Python package, alongside Amit Sharma. He holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University. Privately, he loves to climb and spend time with his family.
Connect with Emre:
- Emre on Twitter/X
- Emre on LinkedIn
- Emre's web page
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality.
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Links
Libraries
- DoWhy (https://www.pywhy.org/dowhy/v0.11.1/)
- EconML (https://econml.azurewebsites.net/)
- CausalPy (https://causalpy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
Books
- Molak, A. - "Causal Inference and Discovery in Python"
- Pearl, J. - "Causality"
Causal Bandits Team
Project Coordinator:
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
From Physics to Causal AI & Back | Bernhard Schölkopf Ep 17 | CausalBanditsPodcast.com
Causal Bandits Podcast
06/03/24 • 34 min
Causal AI: The Melting Pot. Can Physics, Math & Biology Help Us?
What is the relationship between physics and causal models?
What can science of non-human animal behavior teach causal AI researchers?
Bernhard Schölkopf's rich background and experience allow him to combine perspectives from computation, physics, mathematics, biology, theory of evolution, psychology and ethology to build a deep understanding of underlying principles that govern complex systems and intelligent behavior.
His pioneering work in causal machine learning has revolutionized the field, providing new insights that enhance our ability to understand causal relationships and mechanisms in both natural and artificial systems.
In the episode we discuss:
- Does evolution favor causal inference over correlation-based learning?
- Can differential equations help us generalize structural causal models?
- What new book is Bernhard working on?
- Can ethology inspire causal AI researchers?
Ready to dive in?
About The Guest
Bernhard Schölkopf, PhD is a Director at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. He's one of the cofounders of European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) and a recepient of the ACM Allen Newell Award, BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, and more. His contributions to modern machine learning are hard to overestimate. He's a an affiliated professor at ETH Zürich, honorary professor at the University of Tübingen and the Technical University Berlin. His pioneering work on causal inference and causal machine learning inspired thousands of researchers and practitioners worldwide.
Connect with Bernhard:
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality.
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet: https://bit.ly/aleksander-molak
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Causal Inference & Reinforcement Learning with Andrew Lampinen Ep 13 | CausalBanditsPodcast.com
Causal Bandits Podcast
04/01/24 • 55 min
Love Causal Bandits Podcast?
Help us bring more quality content: Support the show
Video version of this episode is available here
Causal Inference with LLMs and Reinforcement Learning Agents?
Do LLMs have a world model?
Can they reason causally?
What's the connection between LLMs, reinforcement learning, and causality?
Andrew Lampinen, PhD (Google DeepMind) shares the insights from his research on LLMs, reinforcement learning, causal inference and generalizable agents.
We also discuss the nature of intelligence, rationality and how they play with evolutionary fitness.
Join us in the journey!
Recorded on Dec 1, 2023 in London, UK.
About The Guest
Andrew Lampinen, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist at Google DeepMind. He holds a PhD in PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University. He's interested in cognitive flexibility and generalization, and how these abilities are enabled by factors like language, memory, and embodiment.
Connect with Andrew:
- Andrew on Twitter/X
- Andrew's web page
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality (https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4).
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Links
Papers
- Lampinen et al. (2023) - "Passive learning of active causal strategies in agents and language models" (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2305.16183.pdf)
- Dasgupta, Lampinen, et al. (2022) Language models show human-like content effects on reasoning tasks" (https://arxiv.org/abs/2207.07051)
- Santoro, Lampinen, et al. (2021) - "Symbolic behaviour in artificial intelligence" (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349125191_Symbolic_Behaviour_in_Artificial_Intelligence)
- Webb et al. (2022) - “Emergent Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Models” (https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.09196)
Books
- Tomasello (2019) - “Becoming Human” (ht
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Causal Inference & Financial Modeling with Alexander Denev Ep 14 | CausalBanditsPodcast.com
Causal Bandits Podcast
04/15/24 • 64 min
Video version available here
Are markets efficient, and if not, can causal models help us leverage the inefficiencies?
Do we really need to understand what we're modeling?
What's the role of symmetry in modeling financial markets?
What are the main challenges in applying causal models in finance?
Ready to dive in?
About The Guest
Alexander Denev is the CEO of Turnleaf Analytics. He's an author of multiple books on financial modeling and a former Head of AI (Financial Services) at Deloitte. He lectures at the University of Oxford and has worked for organizations like IHS Markit, The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and the European Investment Bank. He has over 20 years of experience in finance, data science, and modeling. His first book about causal models was published well ahead of its time.
Connect with Alexander:
- Alexander on LinkedIn
- Alexander's web page
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality.
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Full list of links can be found here.
#machinelearning #causalai #causalinference #causality #finance #CauslBanditsPodcast
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
Causal AI & Individual Treatment Effects | Scott Mueller Ep. 20 | CausalBanditsPodcast.com
Causal Bandits Podcast
07/22/24 • 52 min
Can we say something about YOUR personal treatment effect?
The estimation of individual treatment effects is the Holy Grail of personalized medicine.
It's also extremely difficult.
Yet, Scott is not discouraged from studying this topic.
In fact, he quit a pretty successful business to study it.
In a series of papers, Scott describes how combining experimental and observational data can help us understand individual causal effects.
Although this sounds enigmatic to many, the intuition behind this mechanism is simpler than you might think.
In the episode we discuss:
🔹 What made Scott quit a successful business he founded and study causal inference?
🔹 How a false conviction about his own skills helped him learn? 🔹 What are individual treatment effects?
🔹 Can we really say something about individual treatment effects?
Ready to dive in?
About The Guest
Scott Mueller is a researcher and a PhD candidate in causal modeling at UCLA, supervised by Prof. Judea Pearl. He's a serial entrepreneur and the founder of UCode, a coding school for kids. His current research focuses on the estimation of individual treatment effects and their bounds. He works under the supervision of professor Judea Pearl.
Connect with Scott:
- Scott on Twitter/X
- Scott's webpage
About The Host
Aleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality.
Connect with Alex:
- Alex on the Internet
Causal Bandits Podcast
Causal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & Discovery
Web: https://causalbanditspodcast.com
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/
Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io
The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4
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FAQ
How many episodes does Causal Bandits Podcast have?
Causal Bandits Podcast currently has 26 episodes available.
What topics does Causal Bandits Podcast cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts, Technology, Science, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
What is the most popular episode on Causal Bandits Podcast?
The episode title 'Causality, Bayesian Modeling and PyMC || Thomas Wiecki || Causal Bandits Ep. 001 (2023)' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Causal Bandits Podcast?
The average episode length on Causal Bandits Podcast is 55 minutes.
How often are episodes of Causal Bandits Podcast released?
Episodes of Causal Bandits Podcast are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Causal Bandits Podcast?
The first episode of Causal Bandits Podcast was released on Nov 6, 2023.
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