Tom Griffiths | Mapping the jagged edges of AI with the tools of cognitive science
Foresight Institute’s Intelligent Cooperation Group
Mapping the jagged edges of AI with the tools of cognitive science
Abstract: Current artificial intelligence systems demonstrate surprising amount of heterogeneity in their abilities, displaying superhuman competence in some tasks but puzzling limitations in others. I will argue that the tools we need for understanding this heterogeneity can be found in cognitive science, where researchers have spent decades developing theoretical and empirical methods for making sense of the capabilities of intelligent systems. Work by cognitive scientists suggests two strategies for mapping the jagged edges of AI: identifying general properties of neural networks that might translate into limitations for current AI systems, and considering cases where human minds might provide a guide to problems that pose a challenge for AI. I will present examples of both strategies, discussing some surprising cases where large language models perform poorly in predictable ways and recent results using the limits of human cognition to predict cases where large language models and vision language models fail.
Speaker Bio: Tom Griffiths is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Information Technology, Consciousness and Culture in the Departments of Psychology and Computer Science at Princeton University. He is also the Director of the new Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence, which focuses on identifying areas where AI can have transformative impact on research. His work explores connections between human and machine learning, using ideas from statistics and artificial intelligence to understand how people solve the challenging computational problems they encounter in everyday life. He has made contributions to the development of Bayesian models of cognition, probabilistic machine learning, nonparametric Bayesian statistics, and models of cultural evolution, and his recent efforts have explored how methods from cognitive science can shed light on modern artificial intelligence systems. Tom completed his PhD in Psychology at Stanford University in 2005, and taught at Brown University and the University of California, Berkeley before moving to Princeton. He has received awards for his research from organizations ranging from the American Psychological Association to the National Academy of Sciences and is a co-author of the book Algorithms to Live By, introducing ideas from computer science and cognitive science to a general audience. His new book The Laws of Thought tells the story of the quest to find a mathematical theory of the mind and was published in February 2026.
Homepage: https://cocosci.princeton.edu/tom/tom.php
New book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250358363/thelawsofthought/
Foresight Institute’s Intelligent Cooperation Group
A group of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs in computer science, ML, cryptocommerce, and related fields who leverage those technologies to improve voluntary cooperation across humans, and ultimately AIs.
Nominate a seminar presenter/topic
Share this application with colleagues who’d like to join
Our book Gaming the Future: Technologies for Intelligent Voluntary Cooperation is now online on Substack.