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CSAIL Forum with Josh Tenenbaum

Speaker

Joshua Tenenbaum
Brain & Cognitive Sciences & CSAIL, MIT

Host

Daniela Rus
CSAIL

September 16 2025

12:00P - 1:00P

Location

TBD
Virtual Event

Please join us for the next CSAIL Forum, featuring Prof. Josh Tenenbaum

CSAIL Forum hosted by Daniela Rus

Speaker: Joshua Tenenbaum, Professor of Computational Cognitive Science

Date/time: Tuesday 12:00-1:00 EDT, September 16, 2025 

Venue: Live stream via Zoom: Registration required

Bio: https://bcs.mit.edu/directory/joshua-b-tenenbaum 

Title: Scaling Intelligence the Human Way: Rebuilding the Bridge between AI and Cog Sci 

Abstract: Today's leading AI systems have achieved one of the field's oldest dreams and promises: They can take in any language as input and produce reasonable responses – often very much like the responses that a reasonable (and knowledgeable and helpful) person would produce.  Yet the processes at work inside these systems, and how they are built, do not (at least obviously) have much in common with the mechanisms or origins of the human mind.  What would it take to build a model with something like the input-output behavior of ChatGPT but whose inner workings actually instantiated a theory of human cognition – and even our best current scientific theory?  I will discuss several possible routes to this goal, and the challenges and opportunities they present. I will argue that now more than ever is the time for a bidirectional exchange between the fields of AI and Cog Sci – fields that grew up together starting in the 1950s, but have followed very different trajectories recently.  AI tools and techniques have much to offer cognitive theories, but cognitive science has just as much if not more to offer back to AI.  Understanding and using AI tools in a framework guided by foundational thinking in cognitive science represents the best hope to deliver on the theoretical goals, dreams, and promises of both fields. 

Add to Calendar 2025-09-16 12:00:00 2025-09-16 13:00:00 America/New_York CSAIL Forum with Josh Tenenbaum Please join us for the next CSAIL Forum, featuring Prof. Josh TenenbaumCSAIL Forum hosted by Daniela RusSpeaker: Joshua Tenenbaum, Professor of Computational Cognitive ScienceDate/time: Tuesday 12:00-1:00 EDT, September 16, 2025 Venue: Live stream via Zoom: Registration requiredBio: https://bcs.mit.edu/directory/joshua-b-tenenbaum Title: Scaling Intelligence the Human Way: Rebuilding the Bridge between AI and Cog Sci Abstract: Today's leading AI systems have achieved one of the field's oldest dreams and promises: They can take in any language as input and produce reasonable responses – often very much like the responses that a reasonable (and knowledgeable and helpful) person would produce.  Yet the processes at work inside these systems, and how they are built, do not (at least obviously) have much in common with the mechanisms or origins of the human mind.  What would it take to build a model with something like the input-output behavior of ChatGPT but whose inner workings actually instantiated a theory of human cognition – and even our best current scientific theory?  I will discuss several possible routes to this goal, and the challenges and opportunities they present. I will argue that now more than ever is the time for a bidirectional exchange between the fields of AI and Cog Sci – fields that grew up together starting in the 1950s, but have followed very different trajectories recently.  AI tools and techniques have much to offer cognitive theories, but cognitive science has just as much if not more to offer back to AI.  Understanding and using AI tools in a framework guided by foundational thinking in cognitive science represents the best hope to deliver on the theoretical goals, dreams, and promises of both fields.  TBD

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