This episode is part of our “Summer Selects” series—curated archival episodes that shifted our perspective and are worth revisiting.

Hear the Godfather of AI Geoffrey Hinton reflect on the journey from the early days of neural networks to today’s breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, sharing unique insights from decades of pioneering research.

Discover why Hinton believes that scaling up AI models leads to creativity and reasoning that rivals (and may eventually surpass) human intelligence. Hear his candid thoughts on how language models learn, why intuition and training data matter, and what current models still have to learn from the human brain.

This conversation between Geoffrey Hinton and Joel Hellermark was originally recorded in April 2024 at the Royal Institute of Great Britain in London. An edited version was premiered at Sana AI Summit 2024 in Stockholm, Sweden.

What's in this episode

• The surprising similarities (and differences) between AI and the human mind

• Why multi-modality and fast weights could be the next frontiers in AI

• How AI models might develop subjective experience and even “feelings”

• Hinton’s advice to young researchers about trusting intuition and challenging consensus

• Reflections on leadership, collaboration, and building teams for breakthrough science

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Transcript: https://sanalabs.com/strange-loop/geoffrey-hinton

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About Strange Loop

Strange Loop is a podcast about how artificial intelligence is reshaping the systems we live and work in. Each episode features deep, unscripted conversations with thinkers and builders reimagining intelligence, leadership, and the architectures of progress. The goal is not just to follow AI’s trajectory, but to question the assumptions guiding it.

Subscribe for more conversations at the edge of AI and human knowledge.

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Timestamps

(00:00:00) Early inspirations

(00:05:05) Meeting Ilya Sutskever

(00:06:12) Ilya’s intuition

(00:09:00) Understanding of LLMs

(00:15:15) Scaling neural networks

(00:18:30) What is language?

(00:21:35) The GPU revolution

(00:25:05) Human Brain Insights

(00:29:05) Feelings & analogies

(00:32:58) Problem selection

(00:35:21) Gradient processing

(00:36:52) Ethical implications

(00:40:15) Selecting talent

(00:41:49) Developing intuition

(00:43:50) The road to AGI

(00:45:00) Proudest moment

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Where to find Geoffrey

• X: https://x.com/geoffreyhinton

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Where to find Joel

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-hellermark/

• X: https://x.com/joelhellermark