Wed 02 Apr 11:00: Out-of-context reasoning/learning in LLMs and its safety implications Teams link available upon request (it is sent out on our mailing list, eng-mlg-rcc [at] lists.cam.ac.uk). Sign up to our mailing list for easier reminders via lists...
Beyond learning patterns within individual training datapoints, Large Language Models (LLMs) can infer latent structures and relationships by aggregating information scattered across different training samples through out-of-context reasoning (OOCR) [1, 2]. We’ll review key empirical findings, including Implicit Meta-Learning (models learning source reliability implicitly and subsequently internalizing reliable-seeming data more strongly [1]) and Inductive OOCR (models inferring other latent structures from scattered data [3]). We’ll explore potential mechanisms behind these phenomena [1, 4]. Finally, we’ll discuss the significant AI safety implications, arguing that OOCR coupled with Situational Awareness [5] underpins threats like Alignment Faking [6], potentially leading to persistent misalignment resistant to standard alignment techniques.
1. Krasheninnikov et al., “Implicit meta-learning may lead language models to trust more reliable sources” https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.15047 2. Berglund et al., “Taken Out of Context: On Measuring Out-of-Context Reasoning in LLMs” https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.00667 3. Treutlein et al., “Connecting the Dots: LLMs can Infer and Verbalize Latent Structure from Disparate Training Data” https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.14546 4. Feng et al., “Extractive Structures Learned in Pretraining Enable Generalization on Finetuned Facts” https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.04614 5. Laine et al., “Me, Myself, and AI: The Situational Awareness Dataset (SAD) for LLMs” https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.04694 6. Greenblatt et al., “Alignment faking in large language models” https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.14093
Teams link available upon request (it is sent out on our mailing list, eng-mlg-rcc [at] lists.cam.ac.uk). Sign up to our mailing list for easier reminders via lists.cam.ac.uk.
- Speaker: Dmitrii Krasheninnikov, Usman Anwar, University of Cambridge
- Wednesday 02 April 2025, 11:00-12:30
- Venue: Cambridge University Engineering Department, CBL Seminar room BE4-38..
- Series: Machine Learning Reading Group @ CUED; organiser: .
Fri 06 Jun 08:45: Title to be confirmed
Chaired by Olivier Restif
- Speaker: Abigail Caine, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 06 June 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Mon 31 Mar 17:00: Deterministic Neural Syllogistic Reasoning (Part 2) recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCHg-DAnEs
In my last talk (https://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/228844), I introduced the criterion of deterministic neural reasoning, the method of reasoning through model construction and inspection, and proposed a novel neural network, Sphere Neural Network (SphNN), which reasons syllogistic statements by constructing and inspecting Euler diagrams. SphNN does not use training data, instead, it uses a transition map of neighbourhood relations. In this talk, I will present three control process (1. neighbourhood transition without constraint; 2. constraint neighbourhood transition; 3. neighbourhood transition with restart) and prove that the whole control process will successfully construct an Euler diagram in one epoch (M=1). With this proof, SphNN becomes the first neural network that reaches the symbolic-level of syllogistic reasoning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCHg-DAnEs
- Speaker: Tiansi Dong
- Monday 31 March 2025, 17:00-17:45
- Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
- Series: Foundation AI; organiser: Pietro Lio.
Fri 06 Jun 08:45: Canine Myasthenia Gravis: Insights from 167 cases and the need for better diagnostics
An graduated from the University of Ghent in Belgium, she completed a rotating internship in small animal medicine and surgery at the National Veterinary School of Alfort in Paris. She pursued a residency in veterinary neurology at the University of Ghent and a research fellowship focused on congenital myasthenia at Oxford University.
- Speaker: An Vanhaesebrouck, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 06 June 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 11 Apr 08:45: Grand Rounds - Our experience treating cats with feline infectious peritonitis
Chaired by Katie McCallum
- Speaker: Claudia Grosso de Matos, Giulia Cattaneo, Dora Gkolomazou, Katie McCallum, Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 11 April 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Fri 04 Apr 15:00: Shape-shifting Elephants: Multi-modal Transport for Integrated Research Infrastructure
Data Acquisition (DAQ) workloads form an important class of scientific network traffic that by its nature (1) flows across different research infrastructure, including remote instruments and supercomputer clusters, (2) has ever-increasing throughput demands, and (3) has ever-increasing integration demands—for example, observations at one instrument could trigger a reconfiguration of another instrument.
This talk describes ongoing work on developing specialized transport protocols for DAQ workloads. It introduces a new transport feature for this kind of elephant flow: multi-modality involves the network actively configuring the transport protocol to change how DAQ flows are processed across different underlying networks that connect scientific research infrastructure. This idea takes advantage of programmable network hardware that is increasingly being deployed in scientific research infrastructure. The talk describes an initial evaluation through a pilot study on a hardware testbed and using data from a particle detector.
Bio: Nik Sultana is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Illinois Institute of Technology. He develops networking techniques to improve cybersecurity and research infrastructure. Before joining Illinois Tech, he was a post-doc at UPenn after completing his PhD at Cambridge University. In 2024 and 2023 he received VSP awards from the Universities Research Association, and in 2022 he received a Google Research Award.
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Friday 04 April 2025, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Online (Teams link will appear before the talk).
- Series: Computer Laboratory Systems Research Group Seminar; organiser: Richard Mortier.
Thu 22 May 11:30: TBC
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof Ljiljana Fruk ( Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology)
- Thursday 22 May 2025, 11:30-12:30
- Venue: Open Plan Area, Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ.
- Series: Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (IEEF); organiser: Catherine Pearson.
Fri 04 Apr 13:00: Deep convection and ocean overturning
The ocean’s circulation plays a pivotal role in Earth’s climate system, with its changes during climate transitions being of critical importance. This study, grounded in the principle of dynamical similarity, employs Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) in an idealized setup to dissect the complexities of ocean circulation, with a particular focus on the North Atlantic and the role of buoyancy and wind in shaping the hydrological cycle.
We begin with a simple system—a non-rotating ocean forced by a single scalar—then gradually introduce complexity by adding constant/variable rotation, wind forcing, and a second scalar. Surprisingly, our results show the spontaneous formation of gyres and a western boundary current, along with full-depth overturning, even without the introduction of wind. Wind forcing further localizes upwelling near the western boundary current and primarily strengthens the gyres while having less influence on overturning circulation. With the introduction of a second scalar (salinity), our results become more representative of the real ocean, reproducing key features such as mode water formation, mid-latitude deeper thermocline structures, and polar haloclines, both with and without wind forcing. Our DNS framework is well-suited for resolving convection processes, including diffusive convection near the poles and salt fingering in mid-latitudes, both of which are crucial for establishing mixed layers and pycnoclines in these regions.
A key highlight of our study is capturing ocean circulation across multiple scales—from basin-scale overturning and gyres to mesoscale eddies, submesoscale dynamics, and millimeter-scale convection. These multiscale interactions regulate heat, salt, and tracer transport. Our highresolution approach explicitly resolves the interplay between large-scale circulation and small-scale turbulent mixing, offering deeper insights into ocean stratification, ventilation, and buoyancy-driven flows, providing critical insights for forecasting the evolving dynamics of the North Atlantic.
- Speaker: Bishakh Gayen, University of Melbourne
- Friday 04 April 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Tue 01 Apr 11:00: Searching for light-dark matter with Spherical Proportional Counters
The precise particle nature of dark matter, which makes up most of the matter in the universe, remains elusive and is one of the leading open questions in physics. The NEWS -G collaboration is searching for light dark matter candidates with a novel gaseous detector concept, the spherical proportional counter. Access to the mass range from 0.05 to 10 GeV is enabled by the combination of low energy threshold, light gaseous targets (H, He, Ne), and highly radio-pure detector construction. Initial NEWS -G results obtained with SEDINE , a 60 cm in diameter spherical proportional counter operating at LSM (France), excluded for the first time WIMP -like dark matter candidates down to masses of 0.5 GeV. The collaboration currently operates a 140 cm in diameter spherical proportional counter, SNOGLOBE , constructed at LSM using 4N copper with 500 um electroplated inner layer, which is currently collecting data in SNOLAB (Canada). This seminar will discuss recent NEWS -G results and the developments in spherical proportional counter instrumentation and detector understanding that contributed to the first results with SNOGLOBE from its commissioning data. The next stage of the experiment, using detectors constructed from ultra-pure electroformed copper directly in the underground laboratory where they will be operated will be presented, with the construction of a 30 cm in diameter detector commencing this year in the Boulby underground laboratory, and the plans to construct a larger scale detector, DarkSPHERE – with both detectors having the potential to break new ground in the dark matter puzzle.
- Speaker: Prof./Dr. Patrick Knights, University of Birmingham
- Tuesday 01 April 2025, 11:00-12:00
- Venue: Seminar Room -- RDC D2.002 .
- Series: Cavendish HEP Seminars; organiser: Dr. Aashaq Shah.
Tue 01 Apr 11:00: Searching for light-dark matter with Spherical Proportional Counters
The precise particle nature of dark matter, which makes up most of the matter in the universe, remains elusive and is one of the leading open questions in physics. The NEWS -G collaboration is searching for light dark matter candidates with a novel gaseous detector concept, the spherical proportional counter. Access to the mass range from 0.05 to 10 GeV is enabled by the combination of low energy threshold, light gaseous targets (H, He, Ne), and highly radio-pure detector construction. Initial NEWS -G results obtained with SEDINE , a 60 cm in diameter spherical proportional counter operating at LSM (France), excluded for the first time WIMP -like dark matter candidates down to masses of 0.5 GeV. The collaboration currently operates a 140 cm in diameter spherical proportional counter, SNOGLOBE , constructed at LSM using 4N copper with 500 um electroplated inner layer, which is currently collecting data in SNOLAB (Canada). This seminar will discuss recent NEWS -G results and the developments in spherical proportional counter instrumentation and detector understanding that contributed to the first results with SNOGLOBE from its commissioning data. The next stage of the experiment, using detectors constructed from ultra-pure electroformed copper directly in the underground laboratory where they will be operated will be presented, with the construction of a 30 cm in diameter detector commencing this year in the Boulby underground laboratory, and the plans to construct a larger scale detector, DarkSPHERE – with both detectors having the potential to break new ground in the dark matter puzzle.
- Speaker: University of Birmingham
- Tuesday 01 April 2025, 11:00-12:00
- Venue: Seminar Room -- RDC D2.002 .
- Series: Cavendish HEP Seminars; organiser: Dr. Aashaq Shah.
Wed 09 Apr 12:00: Prevalence, Transitions and Access to Mental Health Services for Young People with Eating Disorders
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Tamsin Ford, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Head of Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
- Wednesday 09 April 2025, 12:00-13:00
- Venue: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87076030035?pwd=XUpJuh8jiR0mae1AhkV79qbg8MtlSM.1.
- Series: ARClub Talks; organiser: Simon Braschi.
Tue 20 May 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Sunoo Park, NYU
- Tuesday 20 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Webinar & LT2, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building..
- Series: Computer Laboratory Security Seminar; organiser: Anna Talas.
Fri 28 Mar 15:30: Mitigating the Risks of Metastable Failures in Distributed Systems
Metastable failures refer to a class of catastrophic system failures that cause a permanent, self-sustaining overload of the impacted system. Distinguishing characteristics of metastable failures are the initial trigger that temporarily overloads the system and the sustaining effect that kicks in due to such overload and keeps the systems in the overloaded state, even after the initial trigger is fixed. Once in this permanently overloaded state, called the metastable failure state, the system is perpetually busy but unable to complete any useful work until drastic manual measures, such as restarting the system, are taken. Metastable failures have led to several prominent cloud outages in recent years.
This seminar explores strategies for mitigating the risks of metastable failures in distributed systems. First, we focus on the practical robustness of algorithms and systems, accounting for the performance cost of fault tolerance and error handling. Then, we look at the importance of identifying and protecting vulnerable components in large distributed systems to tame the sustaining effects and prevent the sustaining mechanisms from developing into a positive feedback loop. Finally, we discuss “metastable failure poisoning”—a feedback mechanism that spreads the failure across seemingly isolated systems or components.
Bio: Aleksey Charapko is an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire. He received his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, working on consensus algorithms and state machine replication. Now, Aleksey is broadly interested in distributed systems’ performance, reliability, and efficiency. Aleksey has received several awards and research grants, most recently an NSF CAREER award for the “metastable failures” research. In addition to his academic endeavors, Aleksey has over a decade of engineering experience ranging from freelance to big tech to consulting.
- Speaker: Aleksey Charapko, University of New Hampshire
- Friday 28 March 2025, 15:30-16:30
- Venue: Computer Lab, FW11 and Online (Teams link will appear before the talk).
- Series: Computer Laboratory Systems Research Group Seminar; organiser: Richard Mortier.
Wed 16 Apr 15:00: Proline metabolism and the tumour microenvironment – essential lessons from a non-essential amino acid
Why do tumour cells synthesise non-essential amino acids when they are readily available in the microenvironment? This is a question that has led much of our research over the past few years, and brought us to study the metabolism of proline, an amino acid whose synthesis is intertwined with cellular redox homeostasis. In this talk, I will discuss how proline synthesis is important for maintaining mitochondrial redox homeostasis, how this is perturbed by oncogenic mutation and a hostile tumour microenvironment.
- Speaker: Professor Daniel Tennant, University of Birmingham, UK
- Wednesday 16 April 2025, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: MRC MBU, Level 7 Lecture Theatre, The Keith Peters Building, CB2 0XY.
- Series: MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit Seminars; organiser: Lisa Arnold.
Wed 18 Jun 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Wednesday 18 June 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Wed 07 May 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Wednesday 07 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Wed 04 Jun 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Wednesday 04 June 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
- Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.
Mon 31 Mar 15:00: DNA-Encoded Chemical Libraries - A BIOLOGICAL RIG SEMINAR
The discovery of small organic ligands, capable of specific recognition of protein targets of interest, is a central problem in Chemistry, Pharmacy, Biology and Medicine. Traditionally, small organic ligands to proteins are discovered by screening, one by one, individual compounds from chemical libraries. However, the technology is cumbersome, very expensive and is typically limited to the testing of up to one million compounds. DNA -encoded chemical library (DEL) technology allows the construction and screening of much larger compound libraries, without the need for expensive instrumentations and logistics. DELs are collections of molecules, individually coupled to distinctive DNA fragments, serving as amplifiable identification barcodes. Binding compounds can be selected using affinity capture procedures, with the protein target of interest immobilised on magnetic beads. After this “fishing” experiment, the DNA barcodes can be PCR amplified and quantified using high-throughput DNA sequencing [1]. In this lecture, I will present theory and applications of DEL technology. I will also show examples of DEL -derived ligands, isolated in our laboratories, which have been tested in patients with cancer, with promising clinical results.
- Speaker: Professor Dario Neri - CEO and CSO of Philogen, Professor of ETH Zürich, Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow, Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge (UK)
- Monday 31 March 2025, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Department of Chemistry, Cambridge, Pfizer LT.
- Series: Biological Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Xani Thorman.
Tue 08 Apr 13:30: Recent aspects of chaperone functions in health and disease - A BIOLOGICAL RIG SEMINAR
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Ulrich Hartl - Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry
- Tuesday 08 April 2025, 13:30-14:30
- Venue: Department of Chemistry, Cambridge, Pfizer LT.
- Series: Biological Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Xani Thorman.
Fri 23 May 14:00: Joint ChemBio and Synthesis RIG Seminar - Chemical Biology Tools for Measuring Drug Delivery
Large-molecule therapeutics including peptides, oligonucleotides, and proteins make up a large and growing portion of the drug development pipeline. One of the greatest barriers to developing these drugs is cell penetration. Most enter the cell through a complex pathway involving endocytosis followed by endosomal escape. This process is so poorly understood and difficult to study that it is challenging simply to measure how much compound has actually accessed the cytosol at any given point. The Kritzer Lab has developed new tools for making these and related measurements. The Chloroalkane Penetration Assay (CAPA) is a versatile assay that measures cell penetration using cellularly expressed HaloTag protein and a small chloroalkane tag on the molecule-of-interest. CAPA has been used by the Kritzer group to measure cell penetration for many classes of peptide and oligonucleotide therapeutics, to measure penetration to different subcellular compartments, and to measure relative penetration in different cell types. CAPA has also been adopted by academic and industrial groups all over the world to investigate cell penetration. The Kritzer group has also used molecular evolution to produce new HaloTag variants which work optimally with a fluorogenic benzothiadiazole dye. The resulting “BenzoTag” system allows for turn-on, no-wash cell labeling in seconds. BenzoTag is currently being applied to produce a “turn-on” version of CAPA for continued investigation of drug delivery and mechanisms of endosomal escape
- Speaker: Joshua Kritzer (Tufts University)
- Friday 23 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Dept. of Chemistry, Wolfson Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Synthetic Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Jasmine Mitchell.