The Philosophy of Deep Learning

[About · Speakers · Program · Livestream · Posters · Registration ]

A two-day conference (March 25-26) plus pre-conference debate (March 24) on the philosophy of deep learning, organized by Ned Block (New York University), David Chalmers (New York University) and Raphaël Millière (Columbia University), and jointly sponsored by the Presidential Scholars in Society and Neuroscience program at Columbia University and the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at New York University.

About

The conference will explore current issues in AI research from a philosophical perspective, with particular attention to recent work on deep artificial neural networks. The goal is to bring together philosophers and scientists who are thinking about these systems in order to gain a better understanding of their capacities, their limitations, and their relationship to human cognition.

The conference will focus especially on topics in the philosophy of cognitive science (rather than on topics in AI ethics and safety). It will explore questions such as:

• What cognitive capacities, if any, do current deep learning systems possess?
• What cognitive capacities might future deep learning systems possess?
• What kind of representations can we ascribe to artificial neural networks?
• Could a large language model genuinely understand language?
• What do deep learning systems tell us about human cognition, and vice versa?
• How can we develop a theoretical understanding of deep learning systems?
• How do deep learning systems bear on philosophical debates such as rationalism vs empiricism and classical vs. nonclassical views of cognition.
• What are the key obstacles on the path from current deep learning systems to human-level cognition?

A pre-conference debate on Friday, March 24th will tackle the question “Do large language models need sensory grounding for meaning and understanding ?”.

Registration

⚠️ REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED ⚠️

The debate and conference will be livestreamed (no registration required).

The conference and debate are free, but in-person attendance requires registration. Registration does not guarantee a seat. Seating is first-come/first-served.

REMINDER: ALL VISITORS MUST ADHERE TO NYU’S COVID VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS. NYU requires that you be able to show proof of covid vaccination including one booster if asked. You must register at least 24 hours in advance so that your name/email address can be sponsored in our system. You will need to show proof of government ID to our security guard.

Speakers

Pre-Conference Debate

• Jacob Browning (New York University)
• David Chalmers (New York University)
• Brenden Lake (New York University)
• Yann LeCun (New York University / Meta AI)
• Gary Lupyan (University of Wisconsin–Madison)
• Ellie Pavlick (Brown University / Google AI)

Lectures

• Cameron Buckner (University of Houston)
• Rosa Cao (Stanford University)
• Grace Lindsay (New York University)
• Raphaël Millière (Columbia University)
• Nicholas Shea (Institute of Philosophy, University of London)

Panel on Deep Learning and Cognitive Science

• Ishita Dasgupta (DeepMind)
• Nikolaus Kriegeskorte (Columbia University)
• Tal Linzen (New York University / Google AI)
• Robert Long (Center for AI Safety)
• Ida Momennejad (Microsoft Research)

Symposia

• Nuhu Osman Attah (University of Pittsburgh)
• Patrick Butlin (University of Oxford)
• Tony Chen (MIT)
• Jacqueline Harding (Stanford University)
• Anna Ivanova (MIT)
• Fintan Mallory (University of Oslo)
• Mitchell Ostrow (MIT)
• Anders Søgaard (University of Copenhagen)
• Philippe Verreault-Julien (Eindhoven University of Technology)
• Cedegao Zhang (MIT)

Poster presentations

• Atoosa Kasirzadeh (University of Edinburgh)
• Wai Keen Vong (New York University)
• Sreejan Kumar (Princeton University)
• Will Merrill (New York University)
• Julia Minarik (University of Toronto)
• Jared Moore (University of Washington)
• Nedah Nemati (Columbia University)
• Emin Orhan (New York University)
• Stephan Pohl (New York University)
• Hokyung Sung (MIT)
• Justin Tiehen (Puget Sound)

Program

The full program booklet, including abstracts, can be downloaded here.

Friday, March 24th (Cantor Film Center, Room 200)

• 5:30-7:30pm • Debate: Do Language Models Need Sensory Grounding for Meaning and Understanding?
  • Speakers: Jacob Browning (NYU), David Chalmers (NYU), Brenden Lake (NYU), Yann LeCun (NYU / Meta AI), Gary Lupyan (Wisconsin), Ellie Pavlick (Brown / Google AI)

Saturday, March 25th (19 West 4th Street, Room 101)

• 9:00-9:30am • Coffee/Registration
• 9:30-10:40am • Lecture: Cameron Buckner (Houston) – “Moderate Empiricism and Machine Learning”
• 10:40-11:00am • Coffee Break
• 11:00am-12:10pm • Lecture: Rosa Cao (Stanford) – “Are (apparently) successful DNN models also genuinely explanatory?”
• 12:10-1:20pm • Lunch Break
• 1:20-3:00pm • Symposium: Representation in Deep Learning Systems

  • Speakers • Tony Chen (MIT)

    Mitchell Ostrow (MIT)

    Cedegao Zhang (MIT), Jacqueline Harding (Stanford), Fintan Mallory (Oslo), Anders Søgaard (Copenhagen).

• 3:00-4:15pm • Poster Session
  • Presenters: Atoosa Kasirzadeh (Edinburgh), Wai Keen Vong (NYU), Sreejan Kumar (Princeton), Will Merrill (NYU), Julia Minarik (Toronto), Jared Moore (Washington), Nedah Nemati (Columbia), Emin Orhan (NYU), Stephan Pohl (NYU), Hokyung Sung (MIT), Justin Tiehen (Puget Sound)
• 4:15-6:15pm • Panel: What Can Deep Learning Do for Cognitive Science and Vice Versa?
  • Speakers: Ishita Dasgupta (DeepMind), Niko Kriegeskorte (Columbia), Tal Linzen (NYU / Google AI), Robert Long (Center for AI Safety), Ida Momennejad (Microsoft Research)

Sunday, March 26th (19 West 4th Street, Room 101)

• 9:30-10:00am • Coffee
• 10:00am-11:10pm • Lecture: Nick Shea (London) – “The Importance of Logical Reasoning and Its Emergence in Deep Neural Networks”
• 11:10-11:30am • Coffee Break
• 11:30am-12:40pm • Lecture: Raphaël Millière (Columbia) – “Compositionality in Deep Neural Networks”
• 12:40-2:10pm • Lunch Break
• 2:10-3:20pm • Lecture: Grace Lindsay (NYU) – “Developing Neural Systems Understanding”
• 3:20-4:00pm • Coffee Break
• 4:00-5:40 pm • Symposium: Linguistic and Cognitive Capacities of Large Language Models
  • Speakers • Nuhu Osman Attah (Pittsburgh), Patrick Butlin (Oxford), Philippe Verreault-Julien (Eindhoven), Anna Ivanova (MIT)

Livestream

The conference will be livestreamed and recorded via Zoom on phildeeplearning.github.io/streaming. Please note that this is not a hybrid conference, and viewers on the livestream will not be able to ask questions or participate remotely.