Can AI Rediscover General Relativity?
Dwarkesh Podcast · rss · 2026-07-11
This podcast invited Adam Brown to explain the core ideas of general relativity: how Einstein went from the coincidence that 'inertial mass equals gravitational mass' to the conclusion that 'gravity is the result of curved spacetime'. The show also uses black holes as examples to explain why they cannot be used as infinite energy sources, and why free-falling and distant observers see black holes differently.
The latter half discusses Adam Brown's team at Google DeepMind Blueshift, and a more AI-focused question: how far are we from an AI that can rediscover general relativity from scratch? The episode ends with a discussion on philosophy of science, exploring what AI can achieve without experimental validation.
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