Links for 2025-02-10

AI:

1. Agency is fundamentally frame-dependent: Any measurement of a system's agency must be made relative to a reference frame. https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04403

2. Generating Symbolic World Models via Test-time Scaling of Large Language Models https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04728

3. CodeSteer: Symbolic-Augmented Language Models via Code/Text Guidance https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04350

4. “OpenAI o1 significantly outperforms other reasoning models that are on par on benchmarks that test specialized knowledge.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.01584

5. Exploring the possibility to enable models to correct errors immediately after they are made. https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.16293

6. Step Back to Leap Forward: Self-Backtracking for Boosting Reasoning of Language Models https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.04404

7. DexterityGen (DexGen): A new system that helps robots use their hands better. It improves how they grip, move, and handle objects… from holding a pen to using a screwdriver. DexGen learns in simulation and refines its skills in the real world, making robotic hands much more useful. https://zhaohengyin.github.io/dexteritygen/

8. MedRAX: Medical Reasoning Agent for Chest X-ray https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.02673

9. Verifiable agents are the next meta in crypto x AI - agents that don't require trust. https://www.blog.eigenlayer.xyz/introducing-verifiable-agents-on-eigenlayer/

10. Transforming Science with Large Language Models: A Survey on AI-assisted Scientific Discovery, Experimentation, Content Generation, and Evaluation https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.05151

11. Karina Nguyen, research & product at OpenAI, says pre-training was approaching a data wall, but now post-training scaling (o1 series) unlocks "infinite tasks." Says models were already "diverse and creative" from pre-training, but teaching AI real-world skills is paving the way to "extremely super intelligent" models. https://youtu.be/DeskgjrLxxs?si=kXjvn89Sdf5N-vF6&t=578

AI compute:

1. This AI chip is the size of a grain of salt https://www.popsci.com/technology/ai-fiber-optic-chip/

2. "How Intel ruined an Israeli startup it bought for $2b, Habana Labs—and lost the AI race" (the end of the Gaudi chips) https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1tra0sfye

AI politics:

1. How Sam Altman Sidestepped Elon Musk to Win Over Donald Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/technology/sam-altman-elon-musk-trump.html [no paywall: https://archive.is/5ERSg]

2. Human takeover might be worse than AI takeover https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FEcw6JQ8surwxvRfr/human-takeover-might-be-worse-than-ai-takeover

Science:

1. Children’s arithmetic skills do not transfer between applied and academic mathematics https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08502-w

2. Three Years After Experimental Vaccine, These Patients Are Still Cancer-Free https://gizmodo.com/three-years-after-experimental-vaccine-these-patients-are-still-cancer-free-2000559585

3. “What is it like to live in a society with an estimated median IQ around 70? A Nigerian psychologist explains.” https://woodfromeden.substack.com/p/guest-post-the-global-iq-debate-a