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AI and neuroscience: The virtuous circle

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Google DeepMind: The Podcast

What is generative AI? How do you create safe and capable models? Where is the industry headed in the next decade?

Join Professor Hannah Fry as she uncovers the extraordinary way AI is transforming our world.

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Season 3

Catch up on the latest AI advancements directly from the people helping to shape our collective future.

Search for "Google DeepMind: The Podcast" on:

Season 2

Hear from the brilliant people building the technology of the future. Learn how AI is helping people with degenerative diseases, conserving the unique wildlife of the Serengeti, and taking football to the next level.

Season 1

World-class scientists and thinkers—many speaking publicly for the first time—explain the foundations of AI. They join Hannah as she explores the challenges the field wrestles with, and dives into research that’s led to breakthroughs like AlphaGo and AlphaFold.

I hope this series gives people a better understanding of artificial intelligence and a feeling for just how exhilarating an endeavour it is.

Demis Hassabis
Co-founder and CEO, Google DeepMind

Professor Hannah Fry posing outdoors. It's autumn – a tree in the background's leaves have turned golden brown.

About Hannah Fry

Professor Hannah Fry is an award-winning science presenter, public speaker, bestselling author, and academic known for her joyful ability to bring maths to life for audiences of all interests and abilities.

Hannah is a regular host of BBC programmes and podcasts and is a Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL.

Credits

A huge thank you to everyone who asked the questions that inspired us to make this podcast.

We’d also like to say thanks to our talented presenter, contributors and creative producers who helped craft the idea into the final programmes.

We really enjoyed making this podcast—and hope you enjoy listening to it.

Season 3

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

Season 2

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

Season 1

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

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AI and neuroscience: The virtuous circle

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Season 1, Episode 1

AI and neuroscience: The virtuous circle

Selected as “New and Noteworthy” by Apple Podcasts, the highly-praised, award-nominated first season of "DeepMind: The Podcast" explores the fascinating world of artificial intelligence (AI). Join mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry as she meets world-class scientists and thinkers as they explain the foundations of AI, explore some of the challenges the field is wrestling with, and dives into the research that's led to breakthroughs like AlphaGo and AlphaFold. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced researcher, join our journey into the past, present, and future of AI.

In this episode, mathematician Hannah Fry asks what the human brain can teach us about AI — and what AI can teach us about our own intelligence. These questions underpin much AI research, whether playing video games or working to improve health care.

Listen in as members of DeepMind’s neuroscience team explain the importance of memory, imagination, and rewards in building artificial general intelligence (AGI). And learn how our brains are like birds’ wings, what training a dog and an AI agent have in common, and why the simplest things for people to do are, paradoxically, often the hardest for machines.

Interviewees: DeepMind CEO and co-founder, Demis Hassabis; Matt Botvinick, Director of Neuroscience Research; research scientists Jess Hamrick and Greg Wayne; and Director of Research Koray Kavukcuoglu.

Find out more about the themes in this episode

  1. BBC: An AI playlist
  2. Wait But Why: The AI Revolution
  3. Coursera: AI for everyone
  4. Medium: Machine Learning for Humans
  5. Google Arts & Culture: 25 moments that have defined AI
  6. Royal Society: Developments in Machine Learning and AI
  7. The Algorithm: weekly AI email newsletter from MIT
  8. DeepMind blog: neuroscience and AI: a virtuous circle
  9. Nature magazine: far-sighted birds plan breakfast the evening before

If you know of other resources we should link to, please help other listeners by either replying to us on Twitter (#DMpodcast) or emailing us at podcast@deepmind.com. You can also use that address to send us questions or feedback on the series.

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)