HAI Weekly Seminar with Subutai Ahmad - Sparsity in the neocortex, and its implications for machine learning
Most deep learning networks today rely on dense representations. This is in stark contrast to our brains which are extremely sparse.
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Most deep learning networks today rely on dense representations. This is in stark contrast to our brains which are extremely sparse.
Sessions run Wednesdays from 4:30–5:30 PM in CoDa E160. Each session features a different Stanford speaker; talk titles are announced by the organizers.

Sessions run Wednesdays from 4:30–5:30 PM in CoDa E160. Each session features a different Stanford speaker; talk titles are announced by the organizers.
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.
The rapid acceleration of AI comes with a profound wave of anxiety. Across every sector of society, people are facing unsettling questions about their worth and their place in a shifting world.

The rapid acceleration of AI comes with a profound wave of anxiety. Across every sector of society, people are facing unsettling questions about their worth and their place in a shifting world.
In this talk, Subutai will first discuss what is known about the sparsity of activations and connectivity in the neocortex. He will also summarize new experimental data around active dendrites, branch-specific plasticity, and structural plasticity, each of which has surprising implications for how we think about sparsity. In the second half of the talk, Subutai will discuss how these insights from the brain can be applied to practical machine learning applications. He will show how sparse representations can give rise to improved robustness, continuous learning, powerful unsupervised learning rules, and improved computational efficiency.