François Charton | Transformers for maths, and maths for transformers

New Technologies in Mathematics Seminar 9/27/2023
Speaker: François Charton, Meta AI
Title: Transformers for maths, and maths for transformers
Abstract: Transformers can be trained to solve problems of mathematics. I present two recent applications, in mathematics and physics: predicting integer sequences, and discovering the properties of scattering amplitudes in a close relative of Quantum ChromoDynamics.
Problems of mathematics can also help understand transformers. Using two examples from linear algebra and integer arithmetic, I show that model predictions can be explained, that trained models do not confabulate, and that carefully choosing the training distributions can help achieve better, and more robust, performance.

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Curious if anyone on this channel is familiar with my great-grandfather, Professor Bartlett Jere Whiting. I’ve read his work except for “When Evensong and Morrowsong Accord: Three Essays on the Proverb”. I’d like to know if there is anything written that speaks to his personality or perspectives.