Pretraining is central planning-coded, RL is Hayek-coded: mapping AI concepts to economics
akbirthko · x · 2026-10-18
akbirthko argues LLM concepts map one-to-one onto core economic ideas because AI progress is where theories of intelligence (mind) and practical knowledge (hand) converge: pretraining is central-planning-coded with its top-down scaling 'laws', while RL is Hayek-coded with decentralized signal-driven learning. Generalizing this sociological notion of AI progress, he suggests, might yield the platonic ideal of what 'AGI' actually is. The post plays off yacineMTB's jab that RL is unpretentious compared to pretraining scaling laws.
Related event: Yacine Praises RL as Unpretentious Engineering Versus Scaling Laws(3 posts)→
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