user avatar
Ben Recht
@beenwrekt
optimization. machine learning. uc berkeley. I blog at argmin.substack.com The world won't end.
Berkeley, CA
eecs.berkeley.edu/~brecht
Joined August 2011
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34.1K
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  • Pinned
    user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    May 30, 2023
    It's going to be one of those really stupid days on Twitter.
    user avatar
    Kevin Roose
    @kevinroose
    May 30, 2023
    Breaking: 350+ leading AI researchers (including the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind) have signed a remarkable statement warning that AI poses a “risk of extinction,” and comparing it to pandemics and nuclear weapons. nytimes.com/2023/05/30/tec…
    142K
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Jan 11, 2022
    Just got the announcement that Berkeley Unified School District will demand all students wear N95s all day. Unscientific madness continues to punish our kids.
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Feb 12, 2023
    I have a recommended reading list for Artificial Intelligence, and it hasn't changed since 2019. I give this list to my grad students, but all of the articles are broadly accessible if you're interested. Very short 🧵.
    573K
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Dec 4, 2022
    It's deeply depressing that the killer app of contemporary machine learning is bullshit generation.
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Feb 11, 2021
    I’m excited to share a new textbook @mrtz and I wrote: "Patterns, Predictions, and Actions: A Story about Machine Learning." 1/5 mlstory.org
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    May 21, 2022
    Today I have received multiple emails from local health officials claiming "Wearing high-quality masks indoors is still an effective measure for reducing the spread." This is an earnest question: can anyone point me to the evidence showing that this is true? 1/x
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Jan 11, 2022
    Replying to @beenwrekt
    Cloth masks, weekly testing, and a 92% vaccination rate didn't stop the spread, so let's now move to N95s, biweekly testing, and praying to the gods. Quite the strategy.
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Jan 7, 2023
    We don’t talk enough about how game theory, as a means to understanding humans and human economies, was a total failure.
    381K
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Dec 19, 2023
    Since we just wrapped up an AI megaconference, it felt like a good day to plead for fewer papers.
    Too Much Information
    From argmin.net
    529K
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Feb 22, 2022
    Just learned UC Berkeley extended its mask mandate for a week because some are "apprehensive about sharing a space with unmasked people." Colleagues, all of this is nonsensical. Just take your masks off if you want to, keep your masks on if you want to. dailycal.org/2022/02/17/uc-…
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Aug 29, 2024
    This semester, I’m back to live blogging my course lectures. I’m teaching Convex Optimization in the Age of LLMs.
    Convex Optimization in the Age of LLMs
    From argmin.net
    68K
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Feb 14, 2023
    Terrifyingly hilarious overview of an insane number of mistakes in last week’s Bing/ChatGPT demo. Why did Google lose 10% of their value for a technicality, but Microsoft threw up 50 minutes of bullshit and no one noticed?
    user avatar
    dmitri
    @dkbrereton
    Feb 13, 2023
    The people who are hyped about Bing AI must have seen a different demo than I did. It made several mistakes during the demo, much worse than Google's Bard mistake. Here's what Bing AI got wrong:
    235K
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Feb 22, 2019
    For folks looking for a thorough intro to the mathematical foundations of reinforcement learning: Video lectures for Bertsekas’ course on RL and control are now available here: web.mit.edu/dimitrib/www/R…
  • user avatar
    Ben Recht
    @beenwrekt
    Oct 8, 2019
    Unreasonably excited by the package I received today! I never get anything good in my work mailbox. So cool that this book is out.