Google DeepMind: The Podcast

Building safe and capable models is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Can we make AI work for everyone? How do we prevent existential threats? Why is alignment so important? Join Professor Hannah Fry as she delves into these critical questions with Anca Dragan, lead for AI safety and alignment at Google DeepMind.

For further reading, search "Introducing the Frontier Safety Framework" and "Evaluating Frontier Models for Dangerous Capabilities".

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to:

Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry

Series Producer: Dan Hardoon

Editor: Rami Tzabar, TellTale Studios

Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif

Production support: Mo Dawoud

Music composition: Eleni Shaw

Camera Director and Video Editor: Tommy Bruce

Audio Engineer: Perry Rogantin

Video Studio Production: Nicholas Duke

Video Editor: Bilal Merhi

Video Production Design: James Barton

Visual Identity and Design: Eleanor Tomlinson

Commissioned by Google DeepMind

Want to share feedback? Why not leave a review on your favorite streaming platform? Have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.

The chart-topping podcast which uncovers the extraordinary ways artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming our world is back for a second season. Join mathematician and broadcaster Professor Hannah Fry behind the scenes of world-leading AI research lab DeepMind to get the inside story of how AI is being created – and how it can benefit our lives and the society we live in.

Recorded over six months and featuring over 30 original interviews, including DeepMind co-founders Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg, the podcast gives listeners exclusive access to the brilliant people building the technology of the future. Throughout nine original episodes, Hannah discovers how DeepMind is using AI to advance science in critical areas, like solving a 50-year-old grand challenge in biology and developing nuclear fusion.

Listeners hear stories of teaching robots to walk at home during lockdown, as well as using AI to forecast weather, help people regain their voices, and enhance game strategies with Liverpool Football Club. Hannah also takes an in-depth look at the challenges and potential of building artificial general intelligence (AGI) and explores what it takes to ensure AI is built to benefit society.

“I hope this series gives people a better understanding of AI and a feeling for just how exhilarating an endeavour it is.” – Demis Hassabis, CEO and Co-Founder of DeepMind

For questions or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter @DeepMind or email [email protected].

Credits
Presenter: Hannah Fry
Series Producer: Dan Hardoon
Production support: Jill Achineku
Sounds design: Emma Barnaby
Music composition: Eleni Shaw
Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton
Editor: David Prest
Commissioned by DeepMind

Want to share feedback? Why not leave a review on your favorite streaming platform? Have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.

AI needs to benefit everyone, not just those who build it. But fulfilling this promise requires careful thought before new technologies are built and released into the world. In this episode, Hannah delves into some of the most pressing and difficult ethical and social questions surrounding AI today. She explores complex issues like racial and gender bias and the misuse of AI technologies, and hears why diversity and representation is vital for building technology that works for all.

For questions or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter @DeepMind or email [email protected].

Interviewees: DeepMind’s Sasha Brown, William Isaac, Shakir Mohamed, Kevin Mckee & Obum Ekeke

Credits

Presenter: Hannah Fry

Series Producer: Dan Hardoon

Production support: Jill Achineku

Sounds design: Emma Barnaby

Music composition: Eleni Shaw

Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton

Editor: David Prest

Commissioned by DeepMind

Thank you to everyone who made this season possible!

Further reading:

What a machine learning tool that turns Obama white can (and can’t) tell us about AI bias, The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/21298762/face-depixelizer-ai-machine-learning-tool-pulse-stylegan-obama-bias

Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study

Ethics & Society, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/about/ethics-and-society

Row over AI that 'identifies gay faces', BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41188560

The Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

AI takes root, helping farmers identify diseased plants, Google: https://www.blog.google/technology/ai/ai-takes-root-helping-farmers-identity-diseased-plants/

How Can You Use Technology to Support a Culture of Inclusion and Diversity?, myHRfuture: https://www.myhrfuture.com/blog/2019/7/16/how-can-you-use-technology-to-support-a-culture-of-inclusion-and-diversity

Scholarships at DeepMind: https://www.deepmind.com/scholarships

AI, Ain’t I a Woman? Joy Buolamwini, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxuyfWoVV98

How to be Human in the Age of the Machine, Hannah Fry: https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/book-prizes/science-book-prize/2018/hello-world/

Want to share feedback? Why not leave a review on your favorite streaming platform? Have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.

Step inside DeepMind's laboratories and you'll find researchers studying DNA to understand the mysteries of life, seeking new ways to use nuclear energy, or putting AI to the test in mind-bending areas of maths. In this episode, Hannah meets Pushmeet Kohli, the head of science at DeepMind, to understand how AI is accelerating scientific progress. Listeners also join Hannah on a [virtual] safari in the Serengeti in East Africa to find out how researchers are using AI to conserve wildlife in one of the world’s most spectacular ecosystems.

For questions or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter @DeepMind or email [email protected].

Interviewees: DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, Pushmeet Kohli & Sarah Jane Dunn; Meredith Palmer of the Princeton University

Credits

Presenter: Hannah Fry

Series Producer: Dan Hardoon

Production support: Jill Achineku

Sounds design: Emma Barnaby

Music composition: Eleni Shaw

Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton

Editor: David Prest

Commissioned by DeepMind

Thank you to everyone who made this season possible!

Further reading:

Using AI for scientific discovery, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/AlphaFold-Using-AI-for-scientific-discovery

DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis on its breakthrough scientific discoveries, WIRED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WRow9FqUbw

The AI revolution in scientific research, The Royal Society: https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/ai-and-society/AI-revolution-in-science.pdf

DOE Explains...Tokamaks, Office of Science: https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainstokamaks

How AI Accidentally Learned Ecology by Playing StarCraft, Discover: https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/how-ai-accidentally-learned-ecology-by-playing-starcraft

Google AI can identify wildlife from trap-camera footage, VentureBeat:
https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/17/googles-ai-can-identify-wildlife-from-trap-camera-footage-with-up-to-98-6-accuracy/

Snapshot Serengeti, Zooniverse:
https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/zooniverse/snapshot-serengeti

The Human Genome Project, National Human Genome Research Institute: https://www.genome.gov/human-genome-project

Exploring the beauty of pure mathematics in novel ways, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/exploring-the-beauty-of-pure-mathematics-in-novel-ways

Predicting gene expression with AI, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/enformer

Using machine learning to accelerate ecological research, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/using-machine-learning-to-accelerate-ecological-research

Accelerating fusion science through learned plasma control, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Accelerating-fusion-science-through-learned-plasma-control

Simulating matter on the quantum scale with AI, DeepMind: https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Simulating-matter-on-the-quantum-scale-with-AI

How AI is helping the natural sciences, Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02762-6

Inside DeepMind's epic mission to solve science's trickiest problem, WIRED: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/deepmind-protein-folding

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Science, Quanta:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-artificial-intelligence-is-changing-science-20190311/

Want to share feedback? Why not leave a review on your favorite streaming platform? Have a suggestion for a guest that we should...

AI researchers around the world are trying to create a general purpose learning system that can learn to solve a broad range of problems without being taught how. Koray Kavukcuoglu, DeepMind’s Director of Research, describes the journey to get there, and takes Hannah on a whistle-stop tour of DeepMind’s HQ and its research.

If you have a question or feedback on the series, message us on Twitter (@DeepMind using the hashtag #DMpodcast) or email us at [email protected].

Further reading:
OpenAI: An overview of neural networks and the progress that has been made in AI
Shane Legg, DeepMind co-founder: Measuring machine intelligence at the 2010 Singularity Summit
Shane Legg and Marcus Hutter: Paper on defining machine intelligence
Demis Hassabis: Talk on the history, frontiers and capabilities of AI
Robert Wiblin: Positively shaping the development of artificial intelligence
Asilomar AI Principles
Richard S. Sutton and Andrew G. Barto: Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction

Interviewees: Koray Kavukcuoglu, Director of Research; Trevor Back, Product Manager for DeepMind’s science research; research scientists Raia Hadsell and Murray Shanahan; and DeepMind CEO and co-founder, Demis Hassabis.

Credits:
Presenter: Hannah Fry
Editor: David Prest
Senior Producer: Louisa Field
Producers: Amy Racs, Dan Hardoon
Binaural Sound: Lucinda Mason-Brown
Music composition: Eleni Shaw (with help from Sander Dieleman and WaveNet)
Commissioned by DeepMind

Want to share feedback? Why not leave a review on your favorite streaming platform? Have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.