Xander Balwit

AI scientists could one day design experiments, test hypotheses, and make discoveries faster than humans. But what if their breakthroughs are so advanced we can't understand them? This is the "legibility problem." Much like chess engines play moves that grandmasters can't comprehend, AI scientists might generate knowledge beyond human understanding. To counteract this, we must build new scientific infrastructure. We will need new forums to store AI-generated findings so that they can be interrogated and communicated. We have partial precedents in preprint servers and structured databases like UniProt, but nothing designed for the scale and speed of AI-driven science. We will also need systems designed specifically for explication rather than discovery, capable of making AI-generated findings legible to human researchers so that they can be evaluated and prioritized for further study. New column by Matthew Carter

Why does an Ai “lab” have an editorial team 😬

Can computers understand smells? Smell is our most ancient, yet mysterious, sense. It arose at least 3 billion years ago, in bacteria adrift in the ocean. And yet, it resists formalization. Odorants vary in far more ways than photons or frequencies, and there is no shared vocabulary to describe all of them. Machines have learned to “see” and “hear,” but scent remains stubbornly analog. But now, a growing cadre of companies, including Google, Osmo, and fragrance houses like Givaudan, are working to digitize scent. These groups are building AI models to sort, filter, and predict which molecules will elicit which smells. They are building datasets that computers can understand, and then using these models to design entirely new, synthetic fragrances. Our latest piece, “Scent, In Silico,” explains the science. It was written by Taylor Rayne.

Over 5 years I've advised dozens of philanthropists on AI. I compiled the answers to all of the questions I've been asked in one report. 2024 Nobel Prize Geoffrey Hinton calls it “an extremely useful resource for philanthropists interested in funding AI safety and preparedness."

if you listen to the audio narration of this excellent article, you’ll also hear a musical accompaniment i composed for it i’m open to taking commissions for music projects related to podcasts, audiobooks, short films, and more. dms open for collabs!