#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