The Retort AI Podcast

Tom and Nate sit down to discuss Claude 3 and some updates on what it means to be open. Not surprisingly, we get into debating some different views. We cover Dune 2's impact on AI and have a brief giveaway at the end. Cheers!

More at retortai.com. Contact us at mail at domain.

Some topics:
- The pace of progress in AI and whether it feels meaningful or like "progress fatigue" to different groups

- The role of hype and "vibes" in driving interest and investment in new AI models 

- Whether the value being created by large language models is actually just being concentrated in a few big tech companies

- The debate around whether open source AI is feasible given the massive compute requirements

- The limitations of "open letters" and events with Chatham House rules as forms of politics and accountability around AI

- The analogy between the AI arms race and historical arms races like the dreadnought naval arms race

- The role of narratives, pop culture, and "priesthoods" in shaping public understanding of AI

Chapters & transcript partially created with https://github.com/FanaHOVA/smol-podcaster.

00:00 Introduction and the spirit of open source
04:32 Historical parallels of technology arms races
10:26 The practical use of language models and their impact on society
22:21 The role and potential of open source in AI development
28:05 The challenges of achieving coordination and scale in open AI development
34:18 Pop culture's influence on the AI conversation, specifically through "Dune"