#AcademicRunPlaylist - 3/9/24

It was a bit of a crazy Saturday, but I was still able to listen to some talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was a fantastic talk by Sangbae Kim on the biases against physical intelligence at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing. Kim systematically goes through how the most successful robotic systems are built today and what they need to be successful, and why the approaches taken to developing generative AI tools are highly likely to not work for building embodied intelligence. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_T5cKLRuZ4

Next was a trio of AI-related talks at MIT by:

Tim Kraska - towards learned data systems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWjiTAuDvdE

Leslie Kaelbling - building adaptable robots - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrB7Vs4CzLQ

Dylan Hadfield-Menell - multimodal AI and reward design - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nogBsEXE6x0

Next was an excellent talk by Katharina Pistor on how the law creates wealth and inequality at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, with an eye-opening discussion from Seth Rockman. I've listened to other talks by Pistor on her vital book, but this is probably the best one due to the fascinating historical perspective provided by Pistor and Rockman. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m81pkJs5fcY

Next was a great talk by Pierre Andre Chiappori on human capital and inequality in the US at the Paris School of Economics. André-Chiappori provides important context around how to interpret the economic data on inequality and what is likely driving it in the US and globally https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwg6yrSPfzo

Next was a short talk by Erik Brynjolfsson on the impact of advances in AI on the workforce at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. This is from when Erik was still at MIT (😢) but is still instructive to consider given the rapid advances in the space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR7WZY_sKSc

Next was an insightful talk by Daniela Simone on copyright and collective authorship at the UCL Faculty of Laws. This is pre-generative AI, but the points brought up here are still incredibly relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU1SHR1B16o

Next was an all-star panel on inequality and technological change at the Peterson Institute for International Economics with Daron Acemoglu, Philippe Aghion, and Laura D. Tyson. This panel gets feisty, and covers a lot of ground in rich detail. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHSxX9Myymk

Next was an important talk by Sukhadeo Thorat on the economics of cast at the Boston Study Group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JODnSblKM94

Last was an interesting talk by Christopher Yoo on competition law and big data at the Melbourne Law School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUF_c47WC8A