Hi! I am Gail Weiss, a researcher interested in understanding sequential neural networks (such as RNNs and transformers) through the lens of formal language theory, whether in order to extract more interpretable models (such as deterministic finite automata from RNNs), or understand what such interpretable models should even be (as in the case of transformers).
I did my postdoc at the EPFL NLP lab of Prof. Antoine Bosselut, and my PhD at the Technion under the guidance of Prof. Eran Yahav and Prof. Yoav Goldberg.
I am currently doing private things :).
Outside of computer science, my interests include baking, drawing, and chasing pigeons off my windowsill. For a glorious few years, I ran the kitchen
for the Technion CS faculty Mimuna—the end of Passover celebration—during which various helpful students and I made hundreds of mufleta for all of our students, faculty, and staff.
I am reachable at gail dot weiss dot research at gmail dot com.
Note: The Formal Languages and Neural Networks (FLaNN) Discord
(Oct 2022): This last year, we have grown a small discord group for people interested in the intersection of Formal Language Theory, Natural Language Processing, and Machine Learning, from which we organise and record a seminar. Recently some co-organisers even made us a website (!) : http://flann.super.site/
If you are interested in joining this group, you can send an email to me or one of my co-organisers (listed on the site), and we will be happy to get back to you with a link! And if you just want to listen from afar, we upload our recorded talks to this youtube channel, which you can enjoy at your leisure :)