<div dir="auto">I hope this is a joke, I really do. “I asked Google” is bad enough, but to take the answer seriously just goes to show what a fanatical cult the “AI” movement is.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Also, Lex Fridman was 8 when the Iron Curtain came down and was 11 when his family moved to the US. He grew up in Illinois.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">But more importantly, he platforms nazis and lunatics and should be shunned.</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">El dv 8. 8. 2025 a les 8:37 Stela MANOVA via Lingtyp <<a href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>> va escriure:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)"><div style="line-break:after-white-space"><div><span id="m_-7625968495704593030docs-internal-guid-3028bd09-7fff-0de7-4537-bb326832e678"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Dear Emily, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Based on your reaction and the interdisciplinary nature of Hassabis’ research, I asked Google: </span><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Has anybody in physics, chemistry, or biology accused Demis Hassabis of teaching them how to conduct research in their fields?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Here’s the AI Overview answer:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:11pt;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(14,14,14)">“No, there have been no public accusations or reports of Demis Hassabis teaching individuals how to conduct research in physics, chemistry, or biology. While he is a prominent figure in AI and his company DeepMind has made significant contributions to fields like protein structure prediction (a topic within chemistry), there’s no indication that he has been accused of improperly influencing or instructing researchers in those areas.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">I’d be interested to hear why you see Hassabis as a potential danger to linguists.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">As for Alexei (Lex) Fridman — born behind the Iron Curtain, he has managed to build a successful career in the US. He’s not my favorite interviewer, but I listen to his podcast from time to time. This is my way of supporting him, because I’m aware of how hard life can be in Western Europe and the US for people of his background.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Best, </span></p></span></div></div><div style="line-break:after-white-space"><div><span id="m_-7625968495704593030docs-internal-guid-3028bd09-7fff-0de7-4537-bb326832e678"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:9pt;margin-bottom:9pt"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Stela</span></p></span><br></div>
<div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On 07.08.2025, at 15:25, Emily M. Bender <<a href="mailto:ebender@uw.edu" target="_blank">ebender@uw.edu</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div dir="ltr">Dear all,<div><br></div><div>I would hope that few on the lingtyp mailing list would fall for the "AI hype" going around, let alone the idea that someone as deep in the sauce of "AGI" mania as Hassabis would have anything insightful to tell us about how language works. Also, in case you're not familiar, Lex Fridman's podcast is an absolute cesspool.</div><div><br></div><div>Emily</div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Aug 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM Stela MANOVA via Lingtyp <<a href="mailto:lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org" target="_blank">lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)"><div><br><div>
<div dir="auto" style="letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div dir="auto" style="letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div dir="auto" style="letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div dir="auto" style="letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div dir="auto" style="letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;text-decoration:none"><div><div style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Dear Colleagues, </span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">I would like to draw your attention to an interview with Demis Hassabis, </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:rgb(19,19,19)">CEO of Google DeepMind and </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The interview is featured on Lex Fridman’s podcast and is titled </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Future of AI, Simulating Reality, Physics and Video Games”</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, available here:</span><a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HzgcbRXUK8&t=860s__;!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!iHdE8g7J-P8Yd_hBcvQ5UAPPihBQxEJVsgU1qvmrjEw8OZWPAn0RrlY4qokR0GuqMziqVW-_eUUfe44BLb-faxIeprr-hNp_TA$" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:rgb(17,85,204)">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HzgcbRXUK8&t=860s</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Although the conversation does not focus specifically on language, it offers valuable insights into large language models (LLMs), particularly how they can model language without possessing linguistic competence—relying instead on patterns derived from observation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Notably, many computer scientists consider LLMs to represent the first and most accessible step toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).</span></p><div style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Best regards, </span></div><div style="line-height:1.2;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Stela Manova, PI Gauss:AI Global</span></div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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