#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:
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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

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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