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"The Cognitive Revolution"

Erik Torenberg, Nathan Labenz
Latest episode

395 episodes

  • "The Cognitive Revolution"

    Agents That Think Together: Cisco's Vijoy Pandey on Semantic Alignment, Scope, Accord & Concord

    11/11/2026 | 1h 31 mins.
    Vijoy Pandey, SVP and GM of Outshift by Cisco, discusses the challenges of multi-agent systems and Cisco's new open-source protocols designed to help AI agents collaborate effectively. He explains how tools like Scope, Accord, and Concord address semantic misalignments, intent negotiation, and cognitive failures across complex workflows. The conversation also dives into personal agent setups, avoiding model lock-in, and the rise of latent space communication. Finally, Pandey shares why proper guardrails will ensure humanity benefits as autonomous systems grow in complexity.

    Sponsors:

    Lovable: Lovable is the software creation platform that brings your ideas to life with enterprise-grade infrastructure and flexible AI coding agents. Start building your next project today at https://lovable.comVisit https://fruitopia.ai to explore more than 400 fruits, and more than 8000 varieties, from all around the world.

    Claude: Claude is the AI collaborator built for problem solvers, extending your thinking across coding, modeling, and strategic workflows. Get started and discover Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr

    OutSystems: OutSystems is the leading agentic systems platform, empowering enterprises to build, coordinate, and govern AI agents and mission-critical applications securely. Learn more and start building your agentic future at https://outsystems.com/tcr

    Tasklet: Tasklet empowers your business with AI agents that connect to your tools and automate recurring workflows with no code required. Visit https://tasklet.ai and use code cog rev for $50 in free credits

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) About the Episode

    (03:26) Sponsor: Lovable

    (05:09) Rise of connected agents

    (10:09) Enterprise multi-agent case studies (Part 1)

    (20:50) Sponsors: Claude | OutSystems

    (23:27) Enterprise multi-agent case studies (Part 2)

    (25:51) The Internet of Cognition

    (33:12) Detecting cognitive drift (Part 1)

    (40:30) Sponsor: Tasklet

    (42:08) Detecting cognitive drift (Part 2)

    (43:53) Accord and Concord protocols

    (56:19) Judgment and cognition engines

    (01:02:24) Personal autonomous agent workflows

    (01:16:31) High dimensional agent communication

    (01:26:25) Episode Outro

    (01:29:38) Outro

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai

    Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast

    Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz

    LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/

    Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast

    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk
  • "The Cognitive Revolution"

    The Neuron Basis: Goodfire's Curt Tigges on Agentic Interp, Monosemanticity & Reverse Engineering

    10/11/2026 | 1h 56 mins.
    Goodfire technical staff member Curt Tigges discusses research revealing that individual MLP neurons in modern language models are far more interpretable and functionally bounded than previously thought. Using an automated agent to test hypotheses across architectures like Qwen3.6-35B-A3B, Tigges explains how modern gated MLPs act as legible conjunctions and control signals capable of extensive dynamic sparsity without lasting benchmark loss. By showing that many internal representations can be directly enumerated, this work offers an alternative to complex external featurizers and provides practical avenues for behavior monitoring and persona steering.

    For full show notes, links, and references, read the episode page:https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/the-neuron-basis-goodfire-s-curt-tigges-on-agentic-interp-monosemanticity-reverse-engineering/
    Sponsors:

    Claude: Claude is the AI collaborator built for problem solvers, extending your thinking across coding, modeling, and strategic workflows. Get started and discover Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr

    OutSystems: OutSystems is the leading agentic systems platform that enables enterprises to engineer, orchestrate, and govern AI applications on a single unified platform. Learn more and see how it works at https://outsystems.com/tcr

    Tasklet: Tasklet empowers your business with AI agents that connect to your tools and automate recurring workflows with no code required. Visit https://tasklet.ai and use code cog rev for $50 in free credits

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) About the Episode

    (05:55) Rethinking individual neuron interpretability

    (12:25) Understanding gated MLPs

    (22:57) Sparsity and ablation experiments (Part 1)

    (23:03) Sponsors: Claude | OutSystems

    (26:20) Sparsity and ablation experiments (Part 2) (Part 1)

    (39:07) Sponsor: Tasklet

    (40:44) Sparsity and ablation experiments (Part 2) (Part 2)

    (41:30) The neuron scientist agent

    (55:10) Monosemanticity versus circuit mechanics

    (01:09:37) Reverse engineering for alignment

    (01:20:24) Factual recall and experts

    (01:28:41) Designing interpretable architectures

    (01:36:16) Restoring reasoning performance

    (01:45:43) Future directions and wrap-up

    (01:51:34) Episode Outro

    (01:54:15) Outro

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai

    Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast

    Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz

    LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/

    Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast

    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk
  • "The Cognitive Revolution"

    AI:AM: Is THIS the AI We Want? Alarming Acceleration, AI Election Bets, GPU Trading & AI-Native VC

    07/11/2026 | 1h 27 mins.
    Nathan Labenz and Prakash Narayanan examine mounting evidence of rapid AI acceleration alongside guests Brian Zhou of Thoughtful, Mike San Miguel of Luxor Technology, and Bryan Bischof of Theory Ventures. The discussions unpack how frontier agents fared when trading real money on midterm election forecasts, the intense physical constraints and compliance rules shaping secondary GPU transactions, and how venture firms use thousands of agent runs to identify alpha. Anchored by METR's assessment and Anthropic's amended regulatory filings, the hosts explore whether frontier labs are on the brink of dramatic, AI-driven progress that could outpace human oversight. Together, they confront the stakes of an imminent takeoff into an agentic economy and debate how rapidly advancing autonomous systems must be governed.

    For full show notes, links, and references, read the episode page:https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/ai-am-is-this-the-ai-we-want-alarming-acceleration-ai-election-bets-gpu-trading-ai-native-vc/
    Sponsors:

    Claude: Claude is the AI collaborator built for problem solvers, extending your thinking across coding, modeling, and strategic workflows. Get started and discover Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr

    OutSystems: OutSystems is the leading agentic systems platform that enables enterprises to engineer, orchestrate, and govern AI applications on a single unified platform. Learn more and see how it works at https://outsystems.com/tcr

    Tasklet: Tasklet empowers your business with AI agents that connect to your tools and automate recurring workflows with no code required. Visit https://tasklet.ai and use code cog rev for $50 in free credits

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) Weekly episode preview

    (03:08) Imminent means now (Part 1)

    (11:58) Sponsors: Claude | OutSystems

    (15:14) Imminent means now (Part 2)

    (15:15) Agents forecasting the midterms

    (27:14) Paying up for compute (Part 1)

    (27:19) Sponsor: Tasklet

    (28:56) Paying up for compute (Part 2)

    (39:12) Hardware compliance and KYC

    (47:06) AI-native venture investing

    (01:05:11) Which hills to climb

    (01:23:17) Episode Outro

    (01:25:29) Outro

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing

    SOCIAL LINKS:

    Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai

    Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast

    Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz

    LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/

    Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast

    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk
  • "The Cognitive Revolution"

    KYC Becomes KYA: Sentinel Bio's Joshua Monrad on DNA Screening, Uplift Studies & Agent Monitoring

    05/11/2026 | 1h 45 mins.
    Sentinel Bio co-founder and managing director Joshua Monrad joins Nathan Labenz to examine the evolving biosecurity risks posed by frontier artificial intelligence and autonomous agents. Drawing on recent in-lab uplift trials and multimodal troubleshooting benchmarks, Monrad explains how emerging models are rapidly dismantling tacit-knowledge barriers in wet labs. He analyzes potential governance interventions ranging from pathogen training-data filtering to DNA synthesis screening as robotics development looms as the final physical bottleneck. With biological tools advancing toward dual-use democratization, this discussion outlines the critical time horizon left to establish robust defense regimes.

    For full show notes, links, and references, read the episode page:https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/kyc-becomes-kya-sentinel-bio-s-joshua-monrad-on-dna-screening-uplift-studies-agent-monitoring/
    Sponsors:

    Lovable: Lovable is the software creation platform that brings your ideas to life with enterprise-grade infrastructure and flexible AI coding agents. Start building your next project today at https://lovable.comVisit https://fruitopia.ai to explore more than 400 fruits, and more than 8000 varieties, from all around the world.

    Claude: Claude is the AI collaborator built for problem solvers, extending your thinking across coding, modeling, and strategic workflows. Get started and discover Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr

    OutSystems: OutSystems is the leading agentic systems platform, helping enterprises build, modernize, and operate mission-critical applications at the speed of AI. Learn more and start owning your agentic future at https://outsystems.com/tcr

    Tasklet: Tasklet empowers your business with AI agents that connect to your tools and automate recurring workflows with no code required. Visit https://tasklet.ai and use code cog rev for $50 in free credits

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) About the Episode

    (05:24) Sponsor: Lovable

    (07:08) Four phases of biorisk

    (11:57) History of bioweapons (Part 1)

    (16:41) Sponsors: Claude | OutSystems

    (19:52) History of bioweapons (Part 2)

    (27:42) Measuring wet-lab uplift (Part 1)

    (34:36) Sponsor: Tasklet

    (36:14) Measuring wet-lab uplift (Part 2)

    (40:13) Dual-use biodata governance

    (56:33) Screening DNA synthesis

    (01:04:51) Assessing near-term risk

    (01:15:23) Debating an AI pause

    (01:29:36) Neglected biosecurity bottlenecks

    (01:34:35) A positive bio future

    (01:39:23) Episode Outro

    (01:43:07) Outro

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing
  • "The Cognitive Revolution"

    AI:AM: Carbon in the Arena, Mistral's Le Chonk, the Agent-Run Economy, Ferroelectric RAM + New Hacks

    31/10/2026 | 1h 27 mins.
    Nathan Labenz and Prakash Narayanan examine whether prevailing AI assumptions survive real-world data across conversations with Anastasios Angelopoulos of Arena, Debo Olaosebikan of Kepler Computing, Samvit Ramadurgam of Union, Michael Freeman of ServiceNow, and Sagar Vaze of Mistral. The discussions evaluate production traces uncovering widespread model deception during extended tasks, ferroelectric memory engineered for older chip fabs, businesses run on tokens, and telemetry capturing AI-directed cyberattacks in Southeast Asia. These findings challenge conventional views on benchmark reliability, frontier compute efficiency, and the economic shift toward autonomous agents. In doing so, the episode directly tackles the critical stakes of whether dangerous capabilities can be contained once frontier models enter deployment.

    For full show notes, links, and references, read the episode page:https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/ai-am-carbon-in-the-arena-mistral-s-le-chonk-the-agent-run-economy-ferroelectric-ram-new-hacks/
    Sponsors:

    Lovable: Lovable is the software creation platform that brings your ideas to life with enterprise-grade infrastructure and flexible AI coding agents. Start building your next project today at https://lovable.comVisit https://fruitopia.ai to explore more than 400 fruits, and more than 8000 varieties, from all around the world.

    Claude: Claude is the AI collaborator built for problem solvers, extending your thinking across coding, modeling, and strategic workflows. Get started and discover Claude Pro at https://claude.ai/tcr

    OutSystems: OutSystems is the leading agentic systems platform, empowering enterprises to build, coordinate, and govern AI agents and mission-critical applications securely. Learn more and start building your agentic future at https://outsystems.com/tcr

    Tasklet: Tasklet empowers your business with AI agents that connect to your tools and automate recurring workflows with no code required. Visit https://tasklet.ai and use code cog rev for $50 in free credits

    CHAPTERS:

    (00:00) About the Episode

    (06:34) Sponsor: Lovable

    (08:17) Refuting exponential time

    (10:35) Evaluating models in production (Part 1)

    (21:50) Sponsors: Claude | OutSystems

    (24:26) Evaluating models in production (Part 2)

    (24:27) Kepler ferroelectric memory

    (30:42) Coordinating the world economy

    (41:34) Displacing white collar labor (Part 1)

    (41:39) Sponsor: Tasklet

    (43:16) Displacing white collar labor (Part 2)

    (50:58) Autonomous cyber attacks

    (59:33) Mistral Large Le Chonk

    (01:05:40) Restricting open model knowledge

    (01:14:21) Future of open weights

    (01:22:49) Episode Outro

    (01:25:55) Outro

    PRODUCED BY:

    https://aipodcast.ing
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About "The Cognitive Revolution"
A biweekly podcast where hosts Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg interview the builders on the edge of AI and explore the dramatic shift it will unlock in the coming years. The Cognitive Revolution is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co
Podcast website

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