Yaakov Belch

Yaakov Belch is an AI researcher with strong ideas about the role of humans in AI systems. Instead of "human in the loop," he argues, we should put "humans in control."

Yaakov's research looks at business contracts and how knowledge graphs and AI systems can both capture their meaning more accurately and help managers make better business decisions.

We talked about:

his assertion that we need humans in control, not just in the loop

his research on applying AI technology to business contracts, in particular the issue of resolving inconsistencies in language model results

reasons to put human concerns ahead of any particular technology

the importance of having humans in control when interpreting ambiguous business decisions

the importance of both accounting for business intent and asking the right questions of your data and how the loop between the two tightens over time

the responsibility of human users to understand how LLMs work and to prompt and otherwise interact with them accordingly

why he doesn't use the term "hallucination" when talking about LLM outputs

the role and implications of applying different kinds of logic in the use of knowledge graphs

an analogy that shows how the concept of a Git fork can help knowledge graph engineers account in their models for different versions of reality

the real-world applications of his research, especially how the practices he is exploring can create new business value

the importance of building any model off of real data and always thinking about which human needs to be in control

Yaakov's bio

As a mathematician and data scientist, Yaakov Belch brings a unique perspective to the world of AI and knowledge graphs. With a strong background in mathematics, including participation in prestigious International Mathematical Olympiads, Yaakov went on to earn a Ph.D. in pure mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

Yaakov's career has spanned both research and industry roles. He has worked as an Algorithm Programmer, collaborating with researchers in bioinformatics and economics, co-authoring academic papers. Yaakov also served as a Senior Data Scientist at Israeli e-commerce startups, where he tackled challenges in symbolic and semantic search from different angles.

Currently, Yaakov is on a sabbatical, working as an independent Data Scientist to develop his method of reliable business reasoning, precise contract understanding, and humans-in-control.ai. He sees an interesting connection between the problems from the International Mathematics Olympiads and taming the inconsistencies of large language models: "At one hand, the problems are hard and just don't open up to the known, standard methods of the field. But you know that there is a beautiful solution. You need to find the right perspective to appreciate the problem and to see that beautiful solution."

Connect with Yaakov online

humans-in-control.ai

LinkedIn

Video

Here’s the video version of our conversation:

https://youtu.be/ZS9r0bfkGQc

Podcast intro transcript

This is the Knowledge Graph Insights podcast, episode number 17. Machine learning architects often talk about the "human in the loop." Yaakov Belch thinks that when it comes to language models the right approach is to put "humans in control." Yaakov's research looks at how knowledge graphs and large language models can help put humans in control of business contracts, capturing the actual intent that underlies them and facilitating better business decision-making based on the discoveries that they enable.

Interview transcript

Larry:

Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 17 of the Knowledge Graph Insights podcast. I am really delighted today to welcome to the show Yaakov Belch. Yaakov is an independent senior data scientist and he’s made this really provocative statement about … There’s all this talk in the AI world in general about humans in the loop. And Yaakov says, “No.