From Chicago Sun-Times · · 2m
Young Know AI Will Shape Lives Long Term
Illinois Math and Science Academy senior Soham Batra explains AI's role in daily life and future.
In brief
Illinois Math and Science Academy senior Soham Batra explains AI's role in daily life and future. Soham Batra, 17, an Illinois Math and Science Academy senior with three AI papers, says AI will be part of lives for a really, really long time but needs more safety research. Originally reported by Chicago Sun-Times.
Soham Batra
Soham Batra, a 17-year-old Illinois Math and Science Academy senior, has three published papers on machine learning and 3D reconstruction uncertainty.
“My interest in technology didn’t start with AI, I started with robotics.”
AI Research
Soham has designed a gambling simulator called 'Play the House' to teach about gambling risks and uses AI to improve it.
“I’ve had a couple family members succumb to gambling, I’ve seen what it can do, first-hand.”
AI Safety Concerns
Soham explains that AI safety degrades when models are fine-tuned for specific tasks, leading to misinformation and harmful behavior.
“It is kinda scary how easy it is to degrade the safety model.”
AI Alignment
Soham describes how AI alignment shifts when models are trained on specific data, causing safety behavior to degrade.
“When you take that same AI and you fine tune it on something else, you try to make the AI specific to medical records, or legal documents, the alignment shifts slightly and the safety behavior degrades.”
AI in Daily Life
Soham says AI is a really cool tool that makes a big difference in day-to-day tasks without it.
“You’ll really see a really big difference when you try to do your day-to-day tasks without AI, and with AI.”
Future of AI
Soham believes AI will be part of lives for a really, really long time but needs more research to be safer.
“The contributions, the strides we’ve made in AI, there’s no way that it’s not going to be part of our lives for a really, really long time.”
College Plans
Soham considers college but notes two former classmates dropped out to form companies worth $90 million.
“Two former classmates at IMSA went to college then immediately dropped out and formed companies now worth $90 million.”
AI Research Impact
Soham’s research on AI safety shows that no matter how much you fine-tune, AI can never be made to do something terrible.
“The thing I did find, no matter how you fine tune, you could never get it to do something so terrible.”
AI in Education
Soham attends Illinois Math and Science Academy, a residential school for bright students in Aurora, Illinois.
“High school for Soham being the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, a residential hive of some of the brightest kids in the state.”
AI Development
Soham started with robotics and coding in elementary school, then moved to AI as high school advanced.
“When I was a lot younger, around elementary school, I was very involved with Lego robotics.”
AI Safety Research
Soham’s research on AI safety shows that context windows cause AI to hallucinate misinformation when overloaded.
“It has something called a 'context window,' the amount of information it’s able to handle. Once it exceeds that, it hallucinates, meaning it provides misinformation.”
AI in Action
Soham uses AI to improve his gambling simulator to teach about gambling risks and casino advantages.
“I’ve had a couple family members succumb to gambling, I’ve seen what it can do, first-hand.”
AI Future
Soham believes AI will be part of lives for a really, really long time and needs more safety research.
“The contributions, the strides we’ve made in AI, there’s no way that it’s not going to be part of our lives for a really, really long time.”
AI in Education
Soham is an extrovert at Illinois Math and Science Academy, where students are introverts.
“He’s closer to your actual teenager than a lot of the students here, he jokes around. Very social, has a lot of friends here.”
AI in Daily Life
Soham says AI is a really cool tool that makes a big difference in day-to-day tasks without it.
“You’ll really see a really big difference when you try to do your day-to-day tasks without AI, and with AI.”
Here's the gist
Soham Batra, 17, an Illinois Math and Science Academy senior with three AI papers, says AI will be part of lives for a really, really long time but needs more safety research.
