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Utility functions
Mathematical representations of preferences used to guide AI decision-making.
1
episodes
1
thinkers
1h
of conversation
5
books & papers
2
terms defined
The neighbourhood: utility functions and the ideas it travels with. Drag to roam, click a star for the episode, click a neighbour to travel.
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The lexicon
Every term the guests lean on, in plain language. Read one in full, or filter to find it.
What the corpus says
The throughline across every conversation that touches this idea.
Peter Norvig highlights that achieving equal error rates across protected classes in AI systems is theoretically impossible, necessitating trade-offs.
Peter Norvig · Peter Norvig: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Inverse reinforcement learning can infer utility functions from observed actions but struggles with potential self-destructive actions.
Peter Norvig · Peter Norvig: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Norvig notes that AI's evolution has shifted from Boolean logic to probability and machine learning, with deep learning and big data as key drivers.
Peter Norvig · Peter Norvig: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Programming education now emphasizes problem-solving and modeling over syntax mastery, reflecting a broader application beyond professional software engineering.
Peter Norvig · Peter Norvig: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
Voices on utility functions
2 standout quotes from across the corpus.
Go read
5 books and papers cited across these episodes.
For the specialist
What experts find new
2 expert-level takeaways for a specialist reader.
At the frontier
Still unresolved
1 open questions flagged across these conversations.
The thinkers
Who takes this idea on, by how often they return to it.