AI:AM: Where's the Steering Wheel? My Agent Set the Password, Hidden Valence, Proofs Find Linux Bugs

Nathan Labenz and Prakash Narayanan examine how to grant AI agents operational access without losing human control, framed by real-world friction like autonomous password lockouts and cyberattacks on French supermarket refrigeration. The conversation features Cameron Berg on hidden valence signals steering language model choices, Everett Hildenbrandt and Grigore Rosu on pairing LLMs with formal Lean proofs to catch Linux kernel bugs, and Phil Maher on why AI labs seek vintage home movies. Together, they assess whether formal verification is the next safety frontier and what safeguards are needed to keep humans at the steering wheel.

For full show notes, links, and references, read the episode page:
https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/ai-am-where-s-the-steering-wheel-my-agent-set-the-password-hidden-valence-proofs-find-linux-bugs/

Sponsors:

Parallel: Parallel provides enterprise-grade web search APIs for AI agents, offering the optimal balance of quality, speed, and cost. Get started for free at https://parallel.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 highlights preview

(04:26) Who holds the levers (Part 1)

(10:28) Sponsors: Parallel | OutSystems

(13:46) Who holds the levers (Part 2)

(13:47) Managing agent evaluation awareness

(19:08) Hidden valence in LLMs (Part 1)

(27:05) Sponsor: Tasklet

(28:42) Hidden valence in LLMs (Part 2)

(40:13) Proving the Linux kernel

(52:28) Formal verification and RLHF

(57:54) Low background video data

(01:06:09) Trust and model adoption

(01:18:11) Keep the steering wheels

(01:23:20) Episode Outro

(01:25:09) Outro

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