In this episode, Libby and Owen interview Mike Frank, Professor at Stanford University and leading expert in child development. This episode has a different angle to the others, as it is more about AI as a scientific instrument rather than as a tool for learning. Libby and Owen have a fascinating discussion with Mike about language acquisition and what we can learn about language learning from large language models. Mike explains some of the differences between how large language models develop an understanding of human language versus how babies do this.

There are some big questions touched on here, including how much of the full human experience it’s possible to capture in data. Libby and Owen also make excellent use of Mike’s valuable time by asking for his expert view on why infants find unboxing videos - videos of other children opening gifts - so addictive.

Links

• Mike Frank’s biography
• New York Times piece about Mike’s work
• An interview with Mike about his research

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Credits: Sarah Myles for production support; Josie Hills for graphic design