Tom McCoy
@rtommccoy.bsky.social
Assistant professor at Yale Linguistics. Studying computational linguistics, cognitive science, and AI. He/him.
Still waiting for Google to release Ge (the large version of Gemini)
November 18, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Still waiting for Google to release Ge (the large version of Gemini)
Come be my colleague!
The Yale Dept of Linguistics is hiring a 3-year Lecturer in Historical Linguistics. There's a great group here working on language change, and you could become part of it!
Application review begins Dec 14. For more info, see apply.interfolio.com/177395
The Yale Dept of Linguistics is hiring a 3-year Lecturer in Historical Linguistics. There's a great group here working on language change, and you could become part of it!
Application review begins Dec 14. For more info, see apply.interfolio.com/177395
Apply - Interfolio
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apply.interfolio.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Come be my colleague!
The Yale Dept of Linguistics is hiring a 3-year Lecturer in Historical Linguistics. There's a great group here working on language change, and you could become part of it!
Application review begins Dec 14. For more info, see apply.interfolio.com/177395
The Yale Dept of Linguistics is hiring a 3-year Lecturer in Historical Linguistics. There's a great group here working on language change, and you could become part of it!
Application review begins Dec 14. For more info, see apply.interfolio.com/177395
Do any languages have different forms of "and" for different phrase types?
English uses "and" no matter what's being joined: "bread and butter" (nouns), "divide and conquer" (verbs), "short and sweet" (adjs). Are there languages that vary the conjunction across these contexts?
English uses "and" no matter what's being joined: "bread and butter" (nouns), "divide and conquer" (verbs), "short and sweet" (adjs). Are there languages that vary the conjunction across these contexts?
November 18, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Do any languages have different forms of "and" for different phrase types?
English uses "and" no matter what's being joined: "bread and butter" (nouns), "divide and conquer" (verbs), "short and sweet" (adjs). Are there languages that vary the conjunction across these contexts?
English uses "and" no matter what's being joined: "bread and butter" (nouns), "divide and conquer" (verbs), "short and sweet" (adjs). Are there languages that vary the conjunction across these contexts?
🤖🧠I'll be considering applications for PhD students & postdocs to start at Yale in Fall 2026!
If you are interested in the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, & AI, I encourage you to apply!
PhD link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Postdoc link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
If you are interested in the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, & AI, I encourage you to apply!
PhD link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Postdoc link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
November 14, 2025 at 4:40 PM
🤖🧠I'll be considering applications for PhD students & postdocs to start at Yale in Fall 2026!
If you are interested in the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, & AI, I encourage you to apply!
PhD link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Postdoc link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
If you are interested in the intersection of linguistics, cognitive science, & AI, I encourage you to apply!
PhD link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Postdoc link: rtmccoy.com/prospective_...
Reposted by Tom McCoy
Who's up for a short thread demonstrating just how wrong this claim is by Mistral's CEO, using research by @rtommccoy.bsky.social (an co-authors) regarding crossword puzzles? Just me? Well whatever, let's dive into a mini-exploration of the Embers of Autoregression and why they singe...
flat out lies. these tech ceos take regulators and the masses for fools
![“If you want to know how a model will behave, the only way of doing it is to run it,” Mensch also suggested. “You do need to have some empirical testing, what’s happening. Knowing the input data that has been used for training is not going to tell you whether your model is going to behave well in [a healthcare use-case], for instance. You don’t really care about what’s in the training data. You do care about the empirical behaviour of the model. So you don’t need knowledge of the training data. And if you had knowledge of the training data, it wouldn’t even teach you whether the model is going to behave well or not. So this is why I’m saying it’s neither necessary nor sufficient.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:26hkfmtr7jrchexamh7hk6rz/bafkreibp7oaeovg7xt43dlk3qtmkft6irldgf44tz75sbaiqvoqdq4kpjy@jpeg)
November 12, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Who's up for a short thread demonstrating just how wrong this claim is by Mistral's CEO, using research by @rtommccoy.bsky.social (an co-authors) regarding crossword puzzles? Just me? Well whatever, let's dive into a mini-exploration of the Embers of Autoregression and why they singe...
Reposted by Tom McCoy
I’m excited to share our Findings of EMNLP paper w/ @cocoscilab.bsky.social , @rtommccoy.bsky.social, and @rdhawkins.bsky.social !
Language models, unlike humans, require large amounts of data, which suggests the need for an inductive bias.
But what kind of inductive biases do we need?
Language models, unlike humans, require large amounts of data, which suggests the need for an inductive bias.
But what kind of inductive biases do we need?
November 7, 2025 at 9:17 AM
I’m excited to share our Findings of EMNLP paper w/ @cocoscilab.bsky.social , @rtommccoy.bsky.social, and @rdhawkins.bsky.social !
Language models, unlike humans, require large amounts of data, which suggests the need for an inductive bias.
But what kind of inductive biases do we need?
Language models, unlike humans, require large amounts of data, which suggests the need for an inductive bias.
But what kind of inductive biases do we need?
An exciting postdoc opportunity for researchers in CogSci!
The deadline is coming up soon: Nov 10
The deadline is coming up soon: Nov 10
📣 Calling experimental, computational, or theoretical researchers!
WTI's Postdoc Fellowships application is now open, offering a competitive salary, structured mentorship, world-class facilities + more: wti.yale.edu/initiatives/...
Apply by November 10: apply.interfolio.com/174525
#KnowTogether
WTI's Postdoc Fellowships application is now open, offering a competitive salary, structured mentorship, world-class facilities + more: wti.yale.edu/initiatives/...
Apply by November 10: apply.interfolio.com/174525
#KnowTogether
November 2, 2025 at 12:24 AM
An exciting postdoc opportunity for researchers in CogSci!
The deadline is coming up soon: Nov 10
The deadline is coming up soon: Nov 10
Come be my colleague! The Wu Tsai Institute at Yale has two faculty searches ongoing:
- One in computational cognitive science (due Dec 1)
- One in neurodevelopment (rolling)
🧠🤖
- One in computational cognitive science (due Dec 1)
- One in neurodevelopment (rolling)
🧠🤖
📣 WTI is hiring faculty positions! Are you interested in advancing our understanding of the brain + how it gives rise to cognition?
Two calls are open:
Open-rank search, Neurocomputation, deadline: 12.1.25
Senior search, Neurodevelopment, rolling review
🔗 wti.yale.edu/opportunities
#KnowTogether
Two calls are open:
Open-rank search, Neurocomputation, deadline: 12.1.25
Senior search, Neurodevelopment, rolling review
🔗 wti.yale.edu/opportunities
#KnowTogether
November 2, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Come be my colleague! The Wu Tsai Institute at Yale has two faculty searches ongoing:
- One in computational cognitive science (due Dec 1)
- One in neurodevelopment (rolling)
🧠🤖
- One in computational cognitive science (due Dec 1)
- One in neurodevelopment (rolling)
🧠🤖
Much as "cupboard" is pronounced "cubberd", I think that "clipboard" should be pronounced "clibberd"
October 11, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Much as "cupboard" is pronounced "cubberd", I think that "clipboard" should be pronounced "clibberd"
Beginning a Grand Tour of California!
- Oct 6: Colloquium at Berkeley Linguistics
- Oct 9: Workshop at Google Mountain View
- Oct 14: Talk at UC Irvine Center for Lg, Intelligence & Computation
- Oct 16: NLP / Text-as-Data talk at NYU
Say hi if you'll be around!
- Oct 6: Colloquium at Berkeley Linguistics
- Oct 9: Workshop at Google Mountain View
- Oct 14: Talk at UC Irvine Center for Lg, Intelligence & Computation
- Oct 16: NLP / Text-as-Data talk at NYU
Say hi if you'll be around!
October 5, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Beginning a Grand Tour of California!
- Oct 6: Colloquium at Berkeley Linguistics
- Oct 9: Workshop at Google Mountain View
- Oct 14: Talk at UC Irvine Center for Lg, Intelligence & Computation
- Oct 16: NLP / Text-as-Data talk at NYU
Say hi if you'll be around!
- Oct 6: Colloquium at Berkeley Linguistics
- Oct 9: Workshop at Google Mountain View
- Oct 14: Talk at UC Irvine Center for Lg, Intelligence & Computation
- Oct 16: NLP / Text-as-Data talk at NYU
Say hi if you'll be around!
Reposted by Tom McCoy
Exciting talk in the linguistics department at UC Berkeley tomorrow!
@rtommccoy.bsky.social
@rtommccoy.bsky.social
October 5, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Exciting talk in the linguistics department at UC Berkeley tomorrow!
@rtommccoy.bsky.social
@rtommccoy.bsky.social
🤖 🧠 NEW BLOG POST 🧠 🤖
What skills do you need to be a successful researcher?
The list seems long: collaborating, writing, presenting, reviewing, etc
But I argue that many of these skills can be unified under a single overarching ability: theory of mind
rtmccoy.com/posts/theory...
What skills do you need to be a successful researcher?
The list seems long: collaborating, writing, presenting, reviewing, etc
But I argue that many of these skills can be unified under a single overarching ability: theory of mind
rtmccoy.com/posts/theory...
September 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
🤖 🧠 NEW BLOG POST 🧠 🤖
What skills do you need to be a successful researcher?
The list seems long: collaborating, writing, presenting, reviewing, etc
But I argue that many of these skills can be unified under a single overarching ability: theory of mind
rtmccoy.com/posts/theory...
What skills do you need to be a successful researcher?
The list seems long: collaborating, writing, presenting, reviewing, etc
But I argue that many of these skills can be unified under a single overarching ability: theory of mind
rtmccoy.com/posts/theory...
"Hello world!" sounds like a word followed by a crossword clue for that word: "Hell = Low world"
August 31, 2025 at 10:55 PM
"Hello world!" sounds like a word followed by a crossword clue for that word: "Hell = Low world"
A linguistic note about David Copperfield and Demon Copperhead 🧵
[very minor spoilers for both]
1/n
[very minor spoilers for both]
1/n
August 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
A linguistic note about David Copperfield and Demon Copperhead 🧵
[very minor spoilers for both]
1/n
[very minor spoilers for both]
1/n
Reposted by Tom McCoy
New position paper! We argue that symbolic and neural network models are not in opposition to each other, but occupy different levels of analysis, and also outline a new research agenda for better understanding the relationship between them. Please check out the paper / thread for more details!
🤖 🧠 NEW PAPER ON COGSCI & AI 🧠 🤖
Recent neural networks capture properties long thought to require symbols: compositionality, productivity, rapid learning
So what role should symbols play in theories of the mind? For our answer...read on!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2508.05776
1/n
Recent neural networks capture properties long thought to require symbols: compositionality, productivity, rapid learning
So what role should symbols play in theories of the mind? For our answer...read on!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2508.05776
1/n
August 15, 2025 at 4:40 PM
New position paper! We argue that symbolic and neural network models are not in opposition to each other, but occupy different levels of analysis, and also outline a new research agenda for better understanding the relationship between them. Please check out the paper / thread for more details!
🤖 🧠 NEW PAPER ON COGSCI & AI 🧠 🤖
Recent neural networks capture properties long thought to require symbols: compositionality, productivity, rapid learning
So what role should symbols play in theories of the mind? For our answer...read on!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2508.05776
1/n
Recent neural networks capture properties long thought to require symbols: compositionality, productivity, rapid learning
So what role should symbols play in theories of the mind? For our answer...read on!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2508.05776
1/n
August 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
🤖 🧠 NEW PAPER ON COGSCI & AI 🧠 🤖
Recent neural networks capture properties long thought to require symbols: compositionality, productivity, rapid learning
So what role should symbols play in theories of the mind? For our answer...read on!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2508.05776
1/n
Recent neural networks capture properties long thought to require symbols: compositionality, productivity, rapid learning
So what role should symbols play in theories of the mind? For our answer...read on!
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2508.05776
1/n
According to Jane Austen, linguists are extraordinarily cold-hearted.
(Though at least we're not as bad as mathematicians!)
(Though at least we're not as bad as mathematicians!)
August 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
According to Jane Austen, linguists are extraordinarily cold-hearted.
(Though at least we're not as bad as mathematicians!)
(Though at least we're not as bad as mathematicians!)
So much research is being done about LLMs that it's hard to stay on top of the literature.
To help with this, I've made a list of all the most important papers from the past 8 years:
rtmccoy.com/pubs/
I hope you enjoy!
To help with this, I've made a list of all the most important papers from the past 8 years:
rtmccoy.com/pubs/
I hope you enjoy!
Home
rtmccoy.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:35 PM
So much research is being done about LLMs that it's hard to stay on top of the literature.
To help with this, I've made a list of all the most important papers from the past 8 years:
rtmccoy.com/pubs/
I hope you enjoy!
To help with this, I've made a list of all the most important papers from the past 8 years:
rtmccoy.com/pubs/
I hope you enjoy!
July the 4th be with you!
July 4, 2025 at 2:45 PM
July the 4th be with you!
Reposted by Tom McCoy
New paper: "Large Language Models and Emergence: A Complex Systems Perspective" (D. Krakauer, J. Krakauer, M. Mitchell).
We look at claims of "emergent capabilities" & "emergent intelligence" in LLMs from the perspective of what emergence means in complexity science.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.11135
We look at claims of "emergent capabilities" & "emergent intelligence" in LLMs from the perspective of what emergence means in complexity science.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.11135
arxiv.org
June 16, 2025 at 1:15 PM
New paper: "Large Language Models and Emergence: A Complex Systems Perspective" (D. Krakauer, J. Krakauer, M. Mitchell).
We look at claims of "emergent capabilities" & "emergent intelligence" in LLMs from the perspective of what emergence means in complexity science.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.11135
We look at claims of "emergent capabilities" & "emergent intelligence" in LLMs from the perspective of what emergence means in complexity science.
arxiv.org/pdf/2506.11135
The word "laundry" contains both steps of the laundry process:
1. Undry
2. Dry
1. Undry
2. Dry
June 4, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The word "laundry" contains both steps of the laundry process:
1. Undry
2. Dry
1. Undry
2. Dry
Reposted by Tom McCoy
Happy to announce the first workshop on Pragmatic Reasoning in Language Models — PragLM @ COLM 2025! 🎉
How do LLMs engage in pragmatic reasoning, and what core pragmatic capacities remain beyond their reach?
🌐 sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/praglm/
📅 Submit by June 23rd
How do LLMs engage in pragmatic reasoning, and what core pragmatic capacities remain beyond their reach?
🌐 sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/praglm/
📅 Submit by June 23rd
PragLM @ COLM '25
IMPORTANT DATES
sites.google.com
May 28, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Happy to announce the first workshop on Pragmatic Reasoning in Language Models — PragLM @ COLM 2025! 🎉
How do LLMs engage in pragmatic reasoning, and what core pragmatic capacities remain beyond their reach?
🌐 sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/praglm/
📅 Submit by June 23rd
How do LLMs engage in pragmatic reasoning, and what core pragmatic capacities remain beyond their reach?
🌐 sites.google.com/berkeley.edu/praglm/
📅 Submit by June 23rd
Had a fun visit to UChicago/TTIC over the past couple days - really great group doing NLP/CompLing there!
May 24, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Had a fun visit to UChicago/TTIC over the past couple days - really great group doing NLP/CompLing there!
🤖🧠 Paper out in Nature Communications! 🧠🤖
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
May 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
🤖🧠 Paper out in Nature Communications! 🧠🤖
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
At MIT for the day to speak at the NLP seminar! Say hi if you're around and need a break from NeurIPS drafting!
May 14, 2025 at 2:32 PM
At MIT for the day to speak at the NLP seminar! Say hi if you're around and need a break from NeurIPS drafting!