#148 – Charles Isbell and Michael Littman: Machine Learning and Education

Charles Isbell is the Dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. Michael Littman is a computer scientist at Brown University. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Athletic Greens : https://athleticgreens.com/lex and use code LEX to get 1 month of fish oil – Eight Sleep : https://www.eightsleep.com/lex and use code LEX to get special savings – MasterClass : https://masterclass.com/lex to get 2 for price of 1 – Cash App : https://cash.app/ and use code LexPodcast to get $10 EPISODE LINKS: Charles’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/isbellHFh Charles’s Website: https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~isbell/ Michael’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlittmancs Michael’s Website: https://www.littmania.com/ Michael’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/mlittman PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LexFridmanPage – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:51) – Is machine learning just statistics? (12:14) – NeurIPS vs ICML (14:30) – Data is more important than algorithm (20:14) – The role of hardship in education (28:57) – How Charles and Michael met (33:30) – Key to success: never be satisfied (36:47) – Bell Labs (48:15) – Teaching machine learning (58:25) – Westworld and Ex Machina (1:06:24) – Simulation (1:13:14) – The college experience in the times of COVID (1:41:52) – Advice for young people (1:48:44) – How to learn to program (2:00:07) – Friendship