In our final episode for the year, we explore Project Astra, a research prototype exploring future capabilities of a universal AI assistant that can understand the world around you. Host Hannah Fry is joined by Greg Wayne, Director in Research at Google DeepMind. They discuss the inspiration behind the research prototype, its current strengths and limitations, as well as potential future use cases. Hannah even gets the chance to put Project Astra's multilingual skills to the test.

Further reading / listening:

• Gemini 2.0
• Project Astra
• Decoding Google Gemini with Jeff Dean
• Gaming, Goats & General Intelligence with Frederic Besse

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to:

• Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry
• Series Producer: Dan Hardoon
• Editor: Rami Tzabar, TellTale Studios
• Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif
• Music composition: Eleni Shaw
• Camera Director and Video Editor: Bernardo Resende
• Audio Engineer: Perry Rogantin
• Video Studio Production: Nicholas Duke
• Video Editor: Bilal Merhi
• Video Production Design: James Barton
• Visual Identity and Design: Eleanor Tomlinson
• Commissioned by Google DeepMind

Please like and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Want to share feedback? Or have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.

In this episode, Hannah is joined by Oriol Vinyals, VP of Drastic Research and Gemini co-lead. They discuss the evolution of agents from single-task models to more general-purpose models capable of broader applications, like Gemini. Vinyals guides Hannah through the two-step process behind multi modal models: pre-training (imitation learning) and post-training (reinforcement learning). They discuss the complexities of scaling and the importance of innovation in architecture and training processes. They close on a quick whirlwind tour of some of the new agentic capabilities recently released by Google DeepMind.

Note: To see all of the full length demos, including unedited versions, and other videos related to Gemini 2.0 head to YouTube.

Future reading/watching:

• Gemini 2.0
• Decoding Google Gemini with Jeff Dean
• Gaming, Goats & General Intelligence with Frederic Besse

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to:

Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry

Series Producer: Dan Hardoon

Editor: Rami Tzabar, TellTale Studios

Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif

Music composition: Eleni Shaw

Camera Director and Video Editor: Bernardo Resende

Audio Engineer: Perry Rogantin

Video Studio Production: Nicholas Duke

Video Editor: Bilal Merhi

Video Production Design: James Barton

Visual Identity and Design: Eleanor Tomlinson

Commissioned by Google DeepMind

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Please like and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Want to share feedback? Or have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.

There is broad consensus across the tech industry, governments and society, that as artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in every aspect of our world, regulation will be essential. But what does this look like? Can it be adopted without stifling innovation? Are current frameworks presented by government leaders headed in the right direction?

Join host Hannah Fry as she discusses these questions and more with Nicklas Lundblad, Director of Public Policy at Google DeepMind. Nicklas emphasises the importance of a nuanced approach to regulation, focusing on adaptability and evidence-based policymaking. He highlights the complexities of assessing risk and reward in emerging technologies, advocating for a focus on harm reduction.

Further reading/watching:

• AI Principles: https://ai.google/responsibility/principles/
• Frontier Model Forum: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/public-policy/google-microsoft-openai-anthropic-frontier-model-forum/
• Ethics of AI assistants with Iason Gabriel https://youtu.be/aaZc-as-soA?si=0ThbYY30FlO31kKQ

Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to:

• Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry
• Series Producer: Dan Hardoon
• Editor: Rami Tzabar, TellTale Studios
• Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif
• Music composition: Eleni Shaw
• Camera Director and Video Editor: Bernardo Resende
• Audio Engineer: Perry Rogantin
• Video Studio Production: Nicholas Duke
• Video Editor: Bilal Merhi
• Video Production Design: James Barton
• Visual Identity and Design: Eleanor Tomlinson
• Commissioned by Google DeepMind

Please like and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. Want to share feedback? Or have a suggestion for a guest that we should have on next? Leave us a comment on YouTube and stay tuned for future episodes.