Peering Into A.I.’s Black Box + Who’s The Real Techno-Optimist? + Reading Ancient Scrolls With A.I.

A.I. models are black boxes. You input a prompt and the model outputs nearly anything: a sonnet, an image or a legal brief riddled with lies. Today, a look at three ways that researchers are unlocking that black box in hopes of bringing transparency to A.I.Then, Marc Andreessen’s techno-optimist manifesto has left us asking, Is he OK?!Plus: decoding a 2,000-year-old ancient scroll with the help of A.I.Today’s Guest:Brent Seales is a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky.Additional Information:Kevin Roose on learning more about how A.I. works.Marc Andreessen’s 5,000-word manifestoUsing A.I. to decode a scroll that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.