Reading group dedicated to understanding the fundamental advances in generative modelling, identifying connections and new research directions.
When: Wednesdays at 11 am.
When: AI Institute meeting room.
Zoom link (only if you really cannot make it in person): https://mit.zoom.us/j/97422870792.
Recording: generally not recorded, but please ask the next presenter to record if you cannot make it.
Important: Zoom link and recording should not be a regular excuse not to attend.
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We pick papers of general interest (i.e., no heavy neuro or molecular biology papers unless they truly introduce a general idea)
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Everyone reads the paper beforehand
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One person presents with slides
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Everyone asks questions to understand the paper
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We break up into groups of 2-3 and collect subjective perspectives on the topic
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We reconvene to share ideas and identify promising research directions
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Communication works via GitHub issues (one issue per paper) and discussions (everything else). Make sure to enable notifications for these two parts in the repository
- Focus on the paper that was agreed on and take enough time to prepare adequately (e.g. 2+ hours every day in the week before the meeting).
- Say what you will say. Have an up-front slide describing the take-home messages and why the paper should be worth remembering.
- Link the paper to other papers (mathematically and conceptually), especially those that have already been covered in previous sessions.
- Either explain something properly or leave it out. This is especially true for mathematical innovations. A formula will be forgotten, but explaining the core idea and, in many cases, the proof can be very insightful.
- Examples, examples. Examples are essential to understanding any theory, but in ML, this is twice as true because experiments usually indicate the type of data the algorithm is designed to work on.
- Say what you have said. Conclude with a slide that describes how the innovations fit in the bigger picture.
- Raise points of discussion. If you have found something difficult to understand, chances are those bits are worth discussing.