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🔬“We have foundation models for language, not for physics” — Anima Anandkumar, Bren Professor of Computing

Caltech professor Anima Anandkumar discusses Neural Operators and FourCastNet for physics modeling, arguing inductive biases beat pure token scaling.

Anima Anandkumar, Bren Professor at Caltech and co-founder of Accelerated Understanding, describes Fourier Neural Operators that learn in frequency and spherical-harmonic domains to model weather, fusion, and fluid or heat flow. Her team built FourCastNet 3, a global weather model competitive with physics-based simulations that runs on consumer-grade GPUs. She also introduced TorchLean, a framework for writing PyTorch-style networks inside the Lean proof assistant for formal verification, and was appointed to the United Nations Scientific Advisory Board. She argues physical domains resist scaling due to tiny datasets and context lengths in the hundreds of billions, so progress comes from built-in structure and physical priors.

Latent Space · 21d agoAI research1

The AI policy window is open. We need to act.

OpenAI calls for mandatory national AI safety regulation and backs four California AI safety bills as capabilities accelerate.

OpenAI argues the rapid pace of AI progress, including signs of AI-accelerated research, requires urgent policy action through mandatory, capability-based national regulation. The company endorses four California bills (SB 813, AB 1405, SB 1119, AB 1864) covering independent safety assessments, AI auditor standards, youth protections, and safeguards against AI-enabled biological threats. It also commits to industry-led frontier standards, international coordination, and strengthening internal safeguards such as universal trajectory monitoring and mandatory alignment-evaluation gates for its Astra model. The post references chief scientist Jakub Pachocki's warning about recursive self-improvement and Greg Brockman's "defenders window" concept.

OpenAI News · 7d agoAI policy

Cyberattack causes a flight delay? Airlines won’t owe you a hotel or meal

A new DOT rule exempts airlines from providing meal vouchers or hotels for cyberattack-caused delays if carriers comply with applicable cybersecurity regulations.

A Department of Transportation rule published in September 2026 adds "cybersecurity attacks" to a list of 10 "not controllable" flight disruption causes, creating a new delay tracking category and relieving compliant airlines of customer service obligations like meal vouchers and hotels. The rule stems from the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 and applies only when carriers demonstrate compliance with applicable cybersecurity regulations. Consumer groups reacted cautiously: FlyersRights criticized the lack of public comment, while the National Consumers League saw both certainty benefits and risks from ambiguous wording. The article cites prior aviation incidents including Scattered Spider's airline attacks and the 2024 Collins Aerospace hack that disrupted European flights.

CyberScoop · 5d agoPolicy & legal