Inside the Black Box: Cracking AI and Deep Learning

By Arshavir Blackwell, PhD

How do Large Language Models like ChatGPT work, anyway?... more

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FAQs about Inside the Black Box: Cracking AI and Deep Learning:

How many episodes does Inside the Black Box: Cracking AI and Deep Learning have?

The podcast currently has 34 episodes available.

Inside the Black Box: Cracking AI and Deep Learning episodes:

January 26, 2026 Decoding GPTs Hidden Circuits
Explore how sparse autoencoders and transcoders unveil the inner workings of GPT-2 by revealing functional features and computational circuits. Discover breakthrough methods that shift from observing raw network activations to mapping the model's actual computation, making AI behavior more interpretable than ever.
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12min
January 14, 2026 Decoding Attention and Emergence in AI
Explore how attention heads uncover patterns through learned queries and keys, revealing emergent behaviors shaped by optimization. Dive into parallels with natural selection and psycholinguistics to understand how meaning arises not by design but through experience in both machines and brains.
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7min
January 07, 2026 When Knowledge Battles Noise in GPT Models
Explore how GPT-2 balances fleeting factual recall with generic responses through internal competition among candidate answers. Discover parallels with human cognition and how larger models navigate indirect recall to reveal hidden knowledge beneath suppression.
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8min
January 01, 2026 Inside Circuits: How Large Language Models Understand
Dive into the world of neural circuits within large language models. In this episode, Arshavir Blackwell unpacks how transformer circuits, attention mechanisms, and high-dimensional geometry combine to create the magic—and limits—of modern AI language systems.
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8min
December 29, 2025 Hallucinations, Interpretability, and the Seahorse Mirage
This episode dives into why advanced language models still generate hallucinations, how interpretability tools help us uncover their hidden workings, and what the seahorse emoji teaches us about model and human reasoning. Arshavir connects groundbreaking research, practical business importance, and the statistical quirks that shape AI's version of 'truth.'
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10min
December 19, 2025 How Transformers Stack Meaning Like Finnish Words
Explore how large language models build up meaning in ways strikingly similar to the layered grammar of Finnish. Arshavir Blackwell reveals why understanding Finnish morphology offers a powerful analogy for interpreting the compositional logic inside modern AI systems.
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14min
December 14, 2025 The Mandela Effect in AI: Why Language Models Misremember
Dive into how and why large language models like ChatGPT mirror the human Mandela Effect, reproducing our collective false memories and misquotations. Arshavir Blackwell examines the science behind errors in models and minds, and explores how new techniques can counteract these uncanny AI confabulations.
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12min
December 05, 2025 Bridging Circuits and Concepts in Large Language Models
How do millions of computations inside large language models add up to something like understanding? This episode explores the latest breakthroughs in mechanistic interpretability, showing how tools like representational geometry, circuit decomposition, and compression theory illuminate the missing middle between circuits and meaning. Join Arshavir Blackwell as he opens the black box and challenges what we really mean by 'understanding' in machines.
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15min
November 28, 2025 How Transformers Turn Words Into Meaning
Embark on a step-by-step journey through the inner workings of transformer models like those powering ChatGPT. Arshavir Blackwell breaks down how context, attention, and high-dimensional geometry turn isolated tokens into fluent, meaningful language—revealing the mathematics of understanding inside the black box.
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7min
November 19, 2025 Can Smaller Language Models Be Smarter?
Today we explore whether mechanistic interpretability could hold the key to building leaner, more transparent—and perhaps even smarter—large language models. From knowledge distillation and pruning to low-rank adaptation, we examine cutting-edge strategies to make AI models both smaller and more explainable. Join Arshavir as he breaks down the surprising challenges of making models efficient without sacrificing understanding.
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7min

FAQs about Inside the Black Box: Cracking AI and Deep Learning:

How many episodes does Inside the Black Box: Cracking AI and Deep Learning have?

The podcast currently has 34 episodes available.