Alison Gopnik
@alisongopnik.bsky.social
Cognitive scientist, philosopher, and psychologist at Berkeley, author of The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby and The Gardener and the Carpenter and grandmother of six.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Day Three of the #NaturalPhilosophy Symposium kicked off with Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social talking about Evaluating Cognitive Capacities in AI Systems, with commentary by Alison Gopnik @alisongopnik.bsky.social.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbe...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbe...
November 13, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Day Three of the #NaturalPhilosophy Symposium kicked off with Melanie Mitchell @melaniemitchell.bsky.social talking about Evaluating Cognitive Capacities in AI Systems, with commentary by Alison Gopnik @alisongopnik.bsky.social.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbe...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbe...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Join this free workshop on Nov 12 with Steven T. Piantadosi of Science Homecoming and learn the how-to's and beneficial impacts of communicating the importance of scientific research to your local community through opinion pieces. Register today. Link in comments.
November 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Join this free workshop on Nov 12 with Steven T. Piantadosi of Science Homecoming and learn the how-to's and beneficial impacts of communicating the importance of scientific research to your local community through opinion pieces. Register today. Link in comments.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
The National Institute of Social Sciences is delighted to announce Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and philosopher of mind at UC Berkeley, as one of the 2025 Honorees for its Gold Honor Medal for distinguished service to society and humanity.
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
The National Institute of Social Sciences is delighted to announce Alison Gopnik, developmental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and philosopher of mind at UC Berkeley, as one of the 2025 Honorees for its Gold Honor Medal for distinguished service to society and humanity.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
This was a really great event , amazingly good communication given the great range of disciplines, and a tribute to Sean and Jennan.
This year we folded the annual #NaturalPhilosophy Distinguished Lecture into the inaugural Symposium. Very honored to have Alison Gopnik @alisongopnik.bsky.social as this year's speaker, on The Evolution of Human Intelligences.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBmz...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBmz...
October 30, 2025 at 7:23 PM
This was a really great event , amazingly good communication given the great range of disciplines, and a tribute to Sean and Jennan.
An excellent new poscast on our care project - why caregiving is so important to human nature and so neglected in social science.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Uz...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Uz...
Dr. Alison Gopnik: Why Care Is the Heart of Human Flourishing
YouTube video by Stories of Impact
www.youtube.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
An excellent new poscast on our care project - why caregiving is so important to human nature and so neglected in social science.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Uz...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Uz...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
This seminar by @alisongopnik.bsky.social was really good. It's ostensibly about AI, but ventures into some fascinating topics about childhood development and caregiving, and what I really loved was how Alison tied all that together. If this is where AI research goes, it makes me much more hopeful.
Tomorrow: the final event in SFI’s 2025 Community Lecture Series!
Join us for Alison Gopnik's lecture, “Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an AI as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?” — 7:30 pm at The Lensic.
Free tickets: lensic.org/events
Livestream: youtube.com/@SFIScience
Join us for Alison Gopnik's lecture, “Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an AI as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?” — 7:30 pm at The Lensic.
Free tickets: lensic.org/events
Livestream: youtube.com/@SFIScience
Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an Al as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?
There is no such thing as general intelligence — artificial or natural — argues Alison Gopnik. Instead, there are multiple intelligences, each with its own trade-offs. Three different types of cogniti...
www.santafe.edu
October 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
This seminar by @alisongopnik.bsky.social was really good. It's ostensibly about AI, but ventures into some fascinating topics about childhood development and caregiving, and what I really loved was how Alison tied all that together. If this is where AI research goes, it makes me much more hopeful.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
What if care was never a soft skill, but the deepest form of intelligence?
Dr. Alison Gopnik makes the case that caregiving is core to what makes us human - biologically, emotionally, politically.
This episode explores care as connection, courage & a quiet kind of wisdom.
Listen: pod.link/1519411454
Dr. Alison Gopnik makes the case that caregiving is core to what makes us human - biologically, emotionally, politically.
This episode explores care as connection, courage & a quiet kind of wisdom.
Listen: pod.link/1519411454
October 22, 2025 at 11:00 AM
What if care was never a soft skill, but the deepest form of intelligence?
Dr. Alison Gopnik makes the case that caregiving is core to what makes us human - biologically, emotionally, politically.
This episode explores care as connection, courage & a quiet kind of wisdom.
Listen: pod.link/1519411454
Dr. Alison Gopnik makes the case that caregiving is core to what makes us human - biologically, emotionally, politically.
This episode explores care as connection, courage & a quiet kind of wisdom.
Listen: pod.link/1519411454
Will be fun to see who is as smart as a 4 year old
Join us TODAY for the 3rd Perception Test Challenge perception-test-challenge.github.io @iccv.bsky.social
Ballroom B, Full day
Amazing lineup of speakers: Ali Farhadi, @alisongopnik.bsky.social, Phlipp Krahenbul, @phillipisola.bsky.social
Ballroom B, Full day
Amazing lineup of speakers: Ali Farhadi, @alisongopnik.bsky.social, Phlipp Krahenbul, @phillipisola.bsky.social
October 19, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Will be fun to see who is as smart as a 4 year old
This should be a fascinating and exciting workshop
Guest track 2: Our one and only KiVA Challenge!!! kiva-challenge.github.io
Veo can (almost...) do it!!! can you?? video-zero-shot.github.io
With @euniceyiu.bsky.social, Anisa Noor Majhi, Maan Qraitem, Kate Saenko, @alisongopnik.bsky.social
Veo can (almost...) do it!!! can you?? video-zero-shot.github.io
With @euniceyiu.bsky.social, Anisa Noor Majhi, Maan Qraitem, Kate Saenko, @alisongopnik.bsky.social
KiVA Challenge @ ICCV 2025
kiva-challenge.github.io
October 19, 2025 at 9:14 PM
This should be a fascinating and exciting workshop
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Reserve your free tickets to SFI’s next Community Lecture with renowned developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik:
“Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an AI as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?”
October 21, 7:30 pm at The Lensic Performing Arts Center.
Tickets: lensic.org/events/aliso...
“Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an AI as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?”
October 21, 7:30 pm at The Lensic Performing Arts Center.
Tickets: lensic.org/events/aliso...
October 7, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reserve your free tickets to SFI’s next Community Lecture with renowned developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik:
“Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an AI as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?”
October 21, 7:30 pm at The Lensic Performing Arts Center.
Tickets: lensic.org/events/aliso...
“Transmission Versus Truth: What Will It Take to Make an AI as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?”
October 21, 7:30 pm at The Lensic Performing Arts Center.
Tickets: lensic.org/events/aliso...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.
www.nytimes.com
October 8, 2025 at 11:41 AM
"It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...
This is one of my favorite interviews, especially about how two-year-old Thalo revealed to me the total awesomeness of garbage trucks
·
See why here: templeton.org/news/what-ch...
·
See why here: templeton.org/news/what-ch...
What Children Can Teach Us About the Human Experience
templeton.org
October 5, 2025 at 11:30 PM
This is one of my favorite interviews, especially about how two-year-old Thalo revealed to me the total awesomeness of garbage trucks
·
See why here: templeton.org/news/what-ch...
·
See why here: templeton.org/news/what-ch...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine major universities “is extortion, plain and simple,” Erwin Chemerinsky writes in a guest essay. “It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it.”
Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine major universities “is extortion, plain and simple,” Erwin Chemerinsky writes in a guest essay. “It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it.”
Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion
There seems to be no limit to the president’s odious attempts to control higher education.
nyti.ms
October 3, 2025 at 1:50 PM
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine major universities “is extortion, plain and simple,” Erwin Chemerinsky writes in a guest essay. “It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it.”
Trump’s proposed “compact” with nine major universities “is extortion, plain and simple,” Erwin Chemerinsky writes in a guest essay. “It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it.”
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
I suggested that play is an example where the metric maximized by adults in the ARC games (task completion) is precisely the metric minimized by children during play: the ideal imaginative play is never completed. "Success" is failure. Learning "efficiency" in this setting is irrelevant.
September 28, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I suggested that play is an example where the metric maximized by adults in the ARC games (task completion) is precisely the metric minimized by children during play: the ideal imaginative play is never completed. "Success" is failure. Learning "efficiency" in this setting is irrelevant.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
A good piece in the NYT that pairs well with my own recent post on "magical thinking" about AI.
NYT (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...
My post: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...
NYT (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...
My post: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...
Opinion | A.I. Isn’t Magic. Lots of People Are Acting Like It Is.
www.nytimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM
A good piece in the NYT that pairs well with my own recent post on "magical thinking" about AI.
NYT (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...
My post: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...
NYT (gift link): www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...
My post: aiguide.substack.com/p/magical-th...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
OpenAI's "what is ChatGPT, anyway?" study is a little weird, sort of funny, but actually illuminating nymag.com/intelligence...
September 16, 2025 at 2:36 PM
OpenAI's "what is ChatGPT, anyway?" study is a little weird, sort of funny, but actually illuminating nymag.com/intelligence...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
vindicating I think for @himself.bsky.social, @alisongopnik.bsky.social, et al, particularly the drift toward GPT-as-reference-librarian usage
September 16, 2025 at 2:36 PM
vindicating I think for @himself.bsky.social, @alisongopnik.bsky.social, et al, particularly the drift toward GPT-as-reference-librarian usage
Understanding AI as a social technology
www.programmablemutter.com/p/understand...
www.programmablemutter.com/p/understand...
Understanding AI as a social technology
Speed, shoggoths, social science
www.programmablemutter.com
September 12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Understanding AI as a social technology
www.programmablemutter.com/p/understand...
www.programmablemutter.com/p/understand...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Mark your calendars and tell your friends: No Kings 2.0 on October 18.
The sequel will be (and HAS to be) even bigger.
The sequel will be (and HAS to be) even bigger.
September 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Mark your calendars and tell your friends: No Kings 2.0 on October 18.
The sequel will be (and HAS to be) even bigger.
The sequel will be (and HAS to be) even bigger.
Nice video of Laura Lewis et al.s paper on social curiosity in chimps and children, from our lab. Paper is here.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2024.2242
www.nbcbayarea.com/video/news/n...
www.nbcbayarea.com/video/news/n...
Why it's good to be a little nosy, according to science
It’s not eavesdropping, it’s social curiosity. A new study on chimpanzees and children reveals that being interested in others is essential to who we are— and there’s a lot we can learn by leaning int...
www.nbcbayarea.com
August 24, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Nice video of Laura Lewis et al.s paper on social curiosity in chimps and children, from our lab. Paper is here.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2024.2242
www.nbcbayarea.com/video/news/n...
www.nbcbayarea.com/video/news/n...
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Alvy is one of the good ones - I can't wait to listen to this conversation.
Mindscape 325 | Alvy Ray Smith on Pixar, Pixels, and the Great Digital Convergence. Many fun stories on the route to founding Pixar and making digital cinema. #MindscapePodcast
www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025...
www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025...
August 18, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Alvy is one of the good ones - I can't wait to listen to this conversation.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
www.programmablemutter.com/p/large-lang... Gopnikism, interactionism, structuralism and role play.
Large language models are cultural technologies. What might that mean?
Four different perspectives
www.programmablemutter.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM
www.programmablemutter.com/p/large-lang... Gopnikism, interactionism, structuralism and role play.
Reposted by Alison Gopnik
Please sign! Science funding got strong support from the Senate but is now in the House! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
CE-Letter to Congress Requesting Protection of Science Funding in the FY26 Budget
To: The Honorable Members of the United States Congress
Dear Honorable Senators and Representatives,
We write in our individual capacities as U.S. citizens to urge you to prevent the far-reaching cons...
docs.google.com
August 17, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Please sign! Science funding got strong support from the Senate but is now in the House! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...