Issue #219
October 12, 2023
Welcome to the 218th issue of the Data Science Briefing!
This week we’re announcing the latest edition of the Natural Language Processing (NLP) for Everyone webinar coming up on Dec. 13th. Also don’t forget that on Nov 29th, we have the debut edition of ChatGPT and Competing LLMs, the follow-up to our super successful Generative Artificial Intelligence with the OpenAI API for Developers webinar series that just debuted last week.
We’re currently on hiatus from blogging, but you can catch up on the latest post in the Viz4Sci series: The effects of vaccination, where we reproduce one of the most famous WSJ visualizations. The latest Medium post, “Top 10 Books we read in 2022”, and the most recent post on the G4Sci series: Network Attacks: Breaking up a Network without Observing it Completely.
On our regularly scheduled content, we dive into the Handbook of Rationality, explore Tiny Language Models, and Why the world needs computational social science.
On the academic front, we learn what 1,600 researchers think about AI and science, explore the Effective Dynamics of Generative Adversarial Networks, and Map out the Nobel Network.
This week’s Data Science Book, “What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work?” by Stephen Wolfram. You can find all the previous book recommendations on our website. In the video of the week, we have a deep dive into the Attention Is All You Need paper.
Data shows that the best way for a newsletter to grow is by word of mouth, so if you think one of your friends or colleagues would enjoy this newsletter, go ahead and forward this email to them. This will help us spread the word!
Semper discentes,
The D4S Team
This week’s Data Science Book, "What Is ChatGPT Doing ... and Why Does It Work?" by Stephen Wolfram. Wolfram, a prominent figure in mathematics and computation, offers a compelling exploration of ChatGPT's success and the broader implications of artificial intelligence while delving into the inner workings of ChatGPT and its historical context.
The book stands out for its accessibility, making complex concepts understandable to non-computer scientists and non-mathematicians alike. Wolfram provides a high-level overview of ChatGPT's components, such as embeddings and transformers, without getting bogged down in technical details.
While acknowledging ChatGPT's successes, Wolfram candidly addresses its limitations, especially in real-world computational tasks. He critically examines ChatGPT's reliance on neural network weightings and raises intriguing questions about intelligence, drawing parallels with biological evolution.
In conclusion, "What Is ChatGPT doing ... and Why Does It Work?" is a thought-provoking read that demystifies AI for a wide audience. Wolfram's expertise and candid exploration make it a must-read for those interested in AI's frontiers and the complexities of intelligence.
- 1. The Handbook of Rationality [direct.mit.edu]
- 2. Tiny Language Models Come of Age [quantamagazine.org]
- 3. We can predict solar eclipses to the second. Here’s how. [popsci.com]
- 4. Why the world needs computational social science [petterhol.me]
- 5. Artificial General Intelligence Is Already Here [noemamag.com]
- 6. Decomposing Language Models Into Understandable Components [anthropic.com]
- 7. Role Of Algorithms [matklad.github.io]
- • AI and science: what 1,600 researchers think (R. Van Noorden, J. M. Perkel)
- • Hyper-cores promote localization and efficient seeding in higher-order processes (M. Mancastroppa, I. Iacopini, G. Petri, A. Barrat)
- • Effective Dynamics of Generative Adversarial Networks (S. Durr, Y. Mroueh, Y. Tu, S. Wang)
- • Exposing influence campaigns in the age of LLMs: a behavioral-based AI approach to detecting state-sponsored trolls (F. Ezzeddine, O. Ayoub, S. Giordano, G. Nogara, I. Sbeity, E. Ferrara, L. Luceri)
- • The structure of segregation in co-authorship networks and its impact on scientific production (A. M. Jaramillo, H. T. P. Williams, N. Perra, R. Menezes)
- • Genius Cliques: Mapping out the Nobel Network (M. Janosov)
- • The influence of coordinated behavior on toxicity (E. Loru, M. Cinelli, M. Tesconi, W. Quattrociocchi)
Attention Is All You Need
All our videos are also available in our
YouTube playlist.
Enjoy the newsletter?
Forward it to a friend, or subscribe to get it straight to your inbox.
Subscribe Free