Max S. Bennett

About me

I work on neural memory and continual learning, advised by Rich Zemel. My current research is on memory systems for language models that can be instructed, in natural language, what to learn and what to retain. Previously I worked in evolutionary neuroscience, on what the 600-million-year history of brains can tell us about building intelligent machines.

I also cofounded Bluecore, where I am Chief Product Officer, and Alby AI, acquired by Bluecore in 2024. I serve on the board of the Thousand Brains Project.

Books

A Brief History of Intelligence

Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains

Mariner Books, 2023

Book site / Amazon

A history of the five evolutionary breakthroughs that produced human intelligence, and what they suggest about building artificial intelligence.

A second book is in progress.

Publications

Featured Talks & Interviews

Your Brain Doesn’t Command Your Body. It Predicts It.

Machine Learning Street Talk, 2025

Cosyne 2025 Keynote

Computational and Systems Neuroscience (Cosyne), 2025

Max Bennett (on the history of intelligence)

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, 2024

The Evolution of Human Intelligence

GoldLab Symposium, University of Colorado Boulder, 2024

The Evolution of Intelligence: 5 Key Breakthroughs

Art of the Problem, 2024

An animated telling of the five breakthroughs, made with Art of the Problem.

A Brief History of Biological and Artificial Intelligence

The Cognitive Revolution, with Nathan Labenz, 2024

What Is Intelligence? A Brief History

Love & Philosophy, with Andrea Hiott, 2024

BI 181: A Brief History of Intelligence

Brain Inspired, with Paul Middlebrooks, 2023

Decoding How Intelligence Is Implemented in the Brain

Ai4, 2020