Episode 012 | May 30, 2022Neeraj Kayal: It’s just a matter of time before we figure out how computers can themselves learn like humans do. Just human babies, they have an amazing ability to learn by observing things around them. And currently, despite all the progress, computers don't have that much ability. But I just think it's a matter of time before we figure that out, some sort of general artificial intelligence.Sridhar Vedantham: Welcome to the MSR India podcast. In this podcast, Ravishankar Krishnaswamy, a researcher at the MSR India lab, speaks to Neeraj Kayal. Neeraj is also a researcher at MSR India and works on problems related to or at the intersection of Computational Complexity and Algebra, Number Theory and Geometry. He has received multiple recognitions through his career, including the Distinguished Alumnus award from IIT Kanpur, the Gödel prize (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del_prize) and the Fulkerson Prize (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulkerson_Prize). Neeraj received the Young Scientist Award from the Indian National Science Academy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Science_Academy) (INSA) in 2012 and the Infosys Prize in Mathematical Sciences in 2021. Ravi talks to Neeraj about how he became interested in this area of computer science and his journey till now.For more information about the Microsoft Research India click here (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/microsoft-research-india/).Related* Microsoft Research India Podcast: More podcasts from MSR India (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/microsoft-research-india/articles/)* iTunes (https://feeds.blubrry.com/feeds/msrindiapodcast.xml): Subscribe and listen to new podcasts on iTunes* Android (https://subscribeonandroid.com/feeds.blubrry.com/feeds/msrindiapodcast.xml)* RSS Feed (https://feeds.blubrry.com/feeds/msrindiapodcast.xml)* Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/4z8l3ofB3tsL8i3JHxurkK)* Google Podcasts (https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ibHVicnJ5LmNvbS9mZWVkcy9tc3JpbmRpYXBvZGNhc3QueG1s)* Email (https://subscribebyemail.com/feeds.blubrry.com/feeds/msrindiapodcast.xml)TranscriptRavi Krishnaswamy: Hi Neeraj, how are you doing? It's great to see you after two years of working from home.Neeraj Kayal: Hi Ravi, yeah thank you.Thank you for having me here and it's great to be back with all the colleagues in office.Ravi Krishnaswamy: First of all, congratulations on the Infosys prize and it's an amazing achievement.And it's a great privilege for all of us to have you as a colleague here.So, congratulations on that.Neeraj Kayal: Thank you.Ravi Krishnaswamy: Yeah, so maybe we can get started on the podcast. So, you work in complexity theory, which is I guess one extreme of, I mean, it's very theoretical end of the spectrum in computer science almost bordering mathematics. So hopefully by the end of this podcast we can, uh, I mean, convince the audience that there's more to it than intellectual curiosity. Before that right, let me ask you about how you got into theoretical computer science and the kind of problems that you work on. So, could you maybe tell us a bit about your background and how you got interested into this subject?Neeraj Kayal: Yeah, so in high school I was doing well in maths in general and I also wrote some computer programs to play some board games,