Yosef Grodzinsky, "How Deeply Human Is Language?: Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy" (MIT Press, 2026)
About this episode
Yosef Grodzinsky explores the intersection of linguistic theories and AI in his book, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between linguists and technology experts.
How Deeply Human Is Language? Chomsky, the Brain, and the AI Fantasy (MIT Press, 2026) is Yosef Grodzinsky’s exploration of the criticality of the linguistic theories to the design of LLMs. The book dwells on the significance of the marriage between computational and theoretical fields, specifically “engineering and science” on the development of unique Language Learning Models. Yosef maintains that leveraging linguistic theories for the development of Gen AI chatbots and training of Language Learning Models will help the growing Gen-AI revolution. In the book, LLMs are evaluated from the neurolinguistic perspective, comparing how the human brain works with different LLMs’ reactions to prompts, highlighting how a collaboration between the core linguists and the experts in the technology-related fields could make a change. Yosef Grodzinzky’s positions in the book is grounded in contemporary linguistics, founded and inspired by Noam Chomsky, the father of the “mentalist” linguistic perspective to language acquisition. In the book, the author employs the historical approach to tell different significant stories to communicate multiple messages of success of interdisciplinary…
More episodes of The MIT Press Podcast
- Aymar Jèan Escoffery, "Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal Our Culture" (MIT Press, 2025)
- Silvia Danielak, "Peace Infrastructures: How UN Peace Operations Build Roads, Bridges, and Solar Farms in the Pursuit of Sustainability" (MIT Press, 2026)
- Nikki Luke, "Electric Life: Utility Regulation and the Fight for Energy Democracy" (MIT Press, 2026)
- Adrian Woolfson, "On the Future of Species: Authoring Life by Means of Artificial Biological Intelligence" (MIT Press, 2026)
- Kathryn Nave, "A Drive to Survive: The Free Energy Principle and the Meaning of Life" (MIT Press, 2025)
- Eivind Røssaak, "The Cory Arcangel Hack: Digital Culture and Aesthetic Practice" (MIT Press, 2025)
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The MIT Press Podcast podcast page.