#AcademicRunPlaylist - 3/5/24

It wasn't the nicest day in Boston (photo is from earlier in the week), but amidst some writing I was still able to listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an interesting talk by Pierre Andre Chiappori on human capital and inequalities in America at the Paris School of Economics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeo8UaZ6-Tk

Next was a great conversation with Damien Geradin on all things DMA on Oles Andriychuk's Digital Markets Research Hub. Geradin goes into excellent detail on the promise and shortcomings of the DMA and its future impact, including his prognostication that Apple will be the first company that regulators go after here 👀🍿https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peqXAtjDsbU

Next was a fantastic talk by Michael Frank on investigating children's language learning at larger scales at the Santa Fe Institute. We know that children learn language far more effectively than any models we've built, and Frank goes about collecting data using GoPros on dozens of children to start to unpack more about how they learn and the insight this gives us into how to design better language models. Also loved the appearance of Deb Roy and Brandon Roy's work! Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NUCKfWX1pk

Next was an informative talk by Florence G'SELL on regulating generative AI at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center. G'Sell reviews the current state of the EU AI act, and as far as large models are concerned it seems that the regulatory capture has been nearly complete (another reason why I think a sectoral approach would have been so much better albeit less headline-grabbing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLPMCzVnu_I

Next was a nice panel on data sovereignty at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University with Anupam Chander and Haochen Sun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GEAzvmBnGY

Next was a fascinating talk by Gabriel Finkelstein on the neuroscientific origins of modern culture at the CU Center for Bioethics and Humanities. This is mostly an examination of the life and times of Emil du Bois-Reymond, which brings us on a whirlwind tour of the 19th century scientific scene, complete with the coining of the word "Americanization" (the original definition is 🔥) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzPjCuX3KQ0

Next was an intriguing talk by Shuran Song on using a diffusion model on actions to help robots learn at Stanford University https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6y3E0r4bMo

Last was an excellent talk by Arianto Patunru on how firms learn by exporting at the Crawford School of Public Policy. Patunru convincingly demonstrates that, at least in the case of Indonesia's garment industry, exposure to foreign competitors and markets significantly improved firm productivity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2poDJL71tHY