E48: Mechanizing Mechanistic Interpretability with Arthur Conmy

Arthur Conmy sits down with Nathan Labenz for an accessible deep dive into the state of interpretability research online today. They discuss how pioneering researchers have painstakingly worked to isolate the sub-circuits within transformers that are responsible for different aspects of AI capabilities. Arthur also introduces us to a new ACDC approach that he and his co-authors have taken to automating some of the most time-consuming parts of this work. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics The Cognitive Revolution is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: Turpentine.co TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (04:40) What attracted Arthur to mechanistic interpretability? (07:49) LLM information processing: General Understanding vs Stochastic Parrot Paradigm (14:00) ACDC paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.14997  (14:45) Sponsors: NetSuite | Omneky (24:30) Putting together data sets  (32:39) How to intervene in LLMs network activity (36:00) Defining metrics to evaluate the production of correct completions (44:20) The future of the mechanistic interpretability research  (50:00) Extracting upstream activations in the ACDC project and evaluating impact on downstream components. (56:00) Anthropic research findings  (01:08:00) 3-Step process of the ACDC approach (01:22:00) Setting a threshold and validation (01:27:00) Goal of the approach (01:32:00) Compute requirements Correction: at (01:33:00), Arthur meant to say = "quadratic in nodes" (01:35:30) Scaling laws for mechanistic interpretability (01:40:00) Accessibility of this research for casual enthusiasts (01:46:00) Emergence discourse (01:56:00) Path to AI safety LINKS: https://arthurconmy.github.io/ https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.14997  X: @labenz (Nathan) @arthurconmy (Arthur) @cogrev_podcast SPONSORS: NetSuite | Omneky -NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform: NetSuite (http://netsuite.com/cognitive) and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. -Omneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that *actually work* customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data. Mention "Cog Rev" for 10% off. This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at [email protected].