Stanford's Surya Ganguli: From String Theory to Diffusion Models
ziv_ravid · x · 2026-08-19
New episode of The Information Bottleneck featuring Surya Ganguli, Stanford professor and VC at General Catalyst. Ganguli treats string theory, neuroscience, and AI as one subject: emergent behavior in complex systems.
Key topics include:
- Origin of Diffusion Models: How they were invented in his lab as an attempt to violate the second law of thermodynamics.
- Neural Scaling Laws: Deep dive into the principles behind scaling.
- Neuroscience & AI: The effect of ketamine on grid cells and out-of-body experiences.
- Future of AI: Decoding monkey visual cortex neurons and where AI is going wrong.
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