4 minute read

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to apply ML and LLMs to real-world problems. A recent episode of the Dwarkesh Podcast featuring Gwern Branwen pushed my brain in a different direction. Gwern is a researcher and writer who’s had a big impact on how people think about AI, scaling laws, and more. Listening to him talk about writing, curiosity, and burnout got me thinking about the bigger picture — not just the tools we build, but how we approach the work itself.

Here are four takeaways from the conversation that stuck with me.

1. Your Writing Impacts LLMs - How Do You Want To Shape Them?

Gwern argues that writing on the internet has never been more critical. Why? Because LLMs — today’s and tomorrow’s — are training on the data we put out there. In his words:

“By writing, you are voting on the future of the Shoggoth using one of the few currencies it acknowledges: tokens it has to predict. If you aren’t writing, you are abdicating the future or your role in it.”

It’s a thought-provoking way to think about the act of writing — not just as sharing ideas but as actively influencing the trajectory of AI systems and, by extension, the world. Gwern also points out that writing can shape your digital “self,” the persona these models understand and interact with.

This makes me want to keep leaning into my writing practice. Whether it’s sharing technical insights or exploring new ideas, writing is a way to shape how the tools we build perceive and interact with the world.

2. LLM Behavior Reflects the Data They Train On In Very Strange Ways

One of the podcast’s most fascinating stories was about journalist Kevin Roose, who found himself “mistreated” by LLMs after his widely publicized interaction with Microsoft’s Sydney chatbot:

“Current LLMs — all of them, not just GPT-4 — now mistreat him because of his interactions with Sydney, which ‘revealed’ him to be a privacy-invading liar, and they know this whenever they interact with him or discuss him.”

It’s a reminder that what we write and how it’s interpreted matters deeply in an era where AI models retain a memory of public discourse. For someone like me - who is interested in both applying the technology and writing about it - this underscores the importance of thinking carefully about the ethical implications of the data we generate and train on.

3. Finding Your Rabbit Holes

Gwern is unapologetically curious. He describes falling into “rabbit holes” as his favorite thing to do, where a small question grows into a cascade of exploration. He shared an example of discovering his cat was immune to catnip:

“Why are some cats catnip-immune? Is this a common thing in other countries? How does it differ in other countries? What alternative catnip drugs are there? How can I possibly predict which drug my cat would respond to? Why are they reacting in these different ways?”

This series of questions isn’t just delightful — it’s inspiring. It’s a model for how curiosity leads to insight, even in unexpected areas. And it made me realize the importance of giving air to my own rabbit holes. Don’t ignore the questions that energize me and pull me toward exploration. It makes me want to shrink my surface area and expand my depth.

Gwern also posed a series of open questions he hopes humanity answers by 2050:

  • Why do we sleep or dream?
  • Why do humans age?
  • Why did humans take so long to develop technological civilization?
  • Where are all the aliens?

For me, this reinforced the importance of staying curious and open to the kinds of questions that might not have obvious answers — yet.

4. What To Do About Burnout

Gwern’s take on burnout hit home. He believes burnout often comes from a mismatch in your “reward function” and that the way out isn’t rest — it’s doing something radically different:

“When people experience burnout, you just feel a lack of reward for what you’re doing or what you’re working on. You just need to do something different. Something as different as possible.”

As someone who’s experienced a few bouts of burnout, this perspective felt clarifying. When the work you love starts feeling like a chore, it might not be about taking a break — it might be about finding an entirely different outlet that recharges you in a new way.

Key Takeaways

This podcast made me reflect on a few things I want to lean into and continue thinking about:

  1. Find my true rabbit holes. Pursue the questions that light me up, even if they seem tangential. Make the time to do so.
  2. Keep writing. Writing isn’t just a way to clarify thoughts — it’s a way to shape the tools and systems of the future. This was a new perspective for me.
  3. Stay curious. Curiosity is a renewable resource. The more I follow it, the more I find. I want to keep this idea more central to my actions and choices.
  4. Recognize when my reward function is broken. When work feels stale, it might be time to switch gears and try something radically different. Look for - and be intentional about finding - these radically different opportunites.

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