David Sussillo

David Sussillo, Meta Reality Labs research scientist and Stanford adjunct who built RNN training methods and brain-computer interfaces. He argues that scaling transformers alone will not produce consciousness. He contrasts RNNs and transformers, explains Meta’s EMG wristband work, and discusses the FORCE algorithm, lock-in to GPU/LLM paradigms, and why brain-inspired approaches may be needed.

David Sussillo, technologist and computational neuroscientist at Stanford and author of Emergence, shares his journey from foster homes and childhood instability to Carnegie Mellon and AI research. He discusses how video games offered refuge, life inside group homes, the role of education as protection, and the switch from tech startup life to studying brains and neural networks.

David Sussillo, a neuroscientist who worked at Google Brain and Meta and teaches at Stanford, recounts an extraordinary life from orphanage and parental addiction to neural reverse engineering. He discusses emergence, how chance moments shaped him, the limits of neuroscience to explain personal history, AI optimism, therapy and recovery, and practical ideas to improve child care institutions.