Building the GitHub for RL Environments: Prime Intellect's Will Brown & Johannes Hagemann
Will Brown and Johannes Hagemann of Prime Intellect discuss the shift from static prompting to "environment-based" AI development, and their Environments Hub, a platform designed to democratize frontier-level training.
The conversation highlights a major shift: AI progress is moving toward Recursive Language Models that manage their own context and agentic RL that scales through trial and error. Will and Johannes describe their vision for the future in which every company will become an AI research lab. By leveraging institutional knowledge as training data, businesses can build models with decades of experience that far outperform generic, off-the-shelf systems.
Hosted by Sonya Huang, Sequoia Capital
Distributed Training, Decentralized AI: Prime Intellect's Master Plan to Make AI Too Cheap to Meter
Vincent Weisser and Johannes Hagemann, founders of Prime Intellect, join a conversation on the Cognitive Revolution to delve into distributed training, decentralized AI, and their vision for a future where compute and intelligence are widely accessible. They discuss the technical challenges and advantages of distributed training, emphasizing how such systems can democratize AI technology and create a more equitable future. The founders also describe their broader goal of creating a public utility for compute and intelligence and touch on their collaborative work in biosafety and scientific research to illustrate the practical applications of their vision for decentralized AI.
SPONSORS:
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Oracle's next-generation cloud platform delivers blazing-fast AI and ML performance with 50% less for compute and 80% less for outbound networking compared to other cloud providers. OCI powers industry leaders like Vodafone and Thomson Reuters with secure infrastructure and application development capabilities. New U.S. customers can get their cloud bill cut in half by switching to OCI before March 31, 2024 at https://oracle.com/cognitive
NetSuite: Over 41,000 businesses trust NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud ERP, to future-proof their operations. With a unified platform for accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR, NetSuite provides real-time insights and forecasting to help you make quick, informed decisions. Whether you're earning millions or hundreds of millions, NetSuite empowers you to tackle challenges and seize opportunities. Download the free CFO's guide to AI and machine learning at https://netsuite.com/cognitive
Shopify: Shopify is revolutionizing online selling with its market-leading checkout system and robust API ecosystem. Its exclusive library of cutting-edge AI apps empowers e-commerce businesses to thrive in a competitive market. Cognitive Revolution listeners can try Shopify for just $1 per month at https://shopify.com/cognitive
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Teaser
(01:02) About the Episode
(05:43) Welcome to the Cognitive Revolution
(05:55) Exploring Decentralized AI
(06:46) A Positive Vision for the Future
(08:19) The Risks and Rewards of AI
(08:56) Superintelligence and Its Implications
(13:22) The Future of Work in an AI-Driven World
(17:09) The Role of Billionaires in an AI Future (Part 1)
(20:41) Sponsors: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | NetSuite
(23:21) The Role of Billionaires in an AI Future (Part 2)
(30:20) The Compute Market Landscape (Part 1)
(35:10) Sponsors: Shopify
(36:30) The Compute Market Landscape (Part 2)
(47:49) Decentralized Compute Fabrics
(51:25) Regulatory Challenges in Europe and the US
(53:28) Policy Regrets and the EU AI Act
(54:30) The Impact of Overregulation on AI
(57:00) Frontier AI Labs and Safety Plans
(01:00:02) Open Source vs. Closed Models
(01:06:19) Scientific Progress with AI
(01:14:56) Distributed Training in AI
(01:35:29) Challenges in Model Interpretability
(01:40:06) Supervised Fine-Tuning and Reinforcement Learning
(01:45:19) Future of Compute and Infrastructure
(02:01:02) NVIDIA's Market Dominance and Competition
(02:05:22) Decentralized Training and Open Source Collaboration
(02:09:58) Governance and Incentives in Decentralized AI
(02:14:19) Conclusion and Call for Collaboration