HAI Weekly Seminar with Chris Re
Software 2.0: Machine Learning is Changing Software
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Software 2.0: Machine Learning is Changing Software
AI is advancing rapidly at the cognitive tasks that make up knowledge work, raising fears among firms, policymakers, and, not least, workers of a “China shock” for white-collar jobs. Neil Thompson will present new research on whether those fears are warranted.

AI is advancing rapidly at the cognitive tasks that make up knowledge work, raising fears among firms, policymakers, and, not least, workers of a “China shock” for white-collar jobs. Neil Thompson will present new research on whether those fears are warranted.
Scientific progress is a key driver of economic growth and prosperity. There is great excitement- but also concerns- about the impacts of AI on science, but so far little data. We provide early insights on this from three data sources: a sample of 15 million Gemini interactions, an inventory of over 2,600 specialized AI models across disciplines, and a survey of over 600 scientists.

Scientific progress is a key driver of economic growth and prosperity. There is great excitement- but also concerns- about the impacts of AI on science, but so far little data. We provide early insights on this from three data sources: a sample of 15 million Gemini interactions, an inventory of over 2,600 specialized AI models across disciplines, and a survey of over 600 scientists.
Software has been "eating the world" for the last ten years. In the last few years, a new phenomenon has started to emerge: machine learning is eating software. That is, machine learning is radically changing how one builds, deploys, and maintains software--leading some to use the loosely defined phrase Software 2.0. Rather than conventional programming, Software 2.0 systems often accept high-level domain knowledge or are programmed by simply feeding them copious amounts of data. We describe the foundational challenges that these systems present including a theory of weak supervision, guiding self-supervised systems, and high-level abstractions to monitor these systems over time. This builds on our experience with systems including Snorkel, Overton, and Bootleg, which are in use in flagship products at Google, Apple, and many more.