Sunny Yu

Sunny Yu

Hi! I'm Sunny, an undergraduate student at Stanford University

Blog posts

2026

Rethinking Scaling

14 minute read

Published:

In “A Proposal For the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence”, the authors based the proposed research program on the central conjecture that “every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.” Today’s machines have successfully exhibited several aspects of intelligence – from language production to visual perception – and these successes invite us to reconsider what a “precise description” entails.

All the Places I’ve Hiked in Northern California

10 minute read

Published:

People often associate the Bay Area with its bustling tech culture, but one of its greatest treasures is the natural world surrounding it. Over the past few years, I’ve spent many weekends chasing ocean views, creeks, ridgelines, and post-hike meals with friends. Here are some of my favorite hikes in the Bay Area and beyond, loosely ranked according to a metric I just made up: the view-to-strenuousness ratio. This guide will be a personal documentation of some of my favorite memories during my college years and a reminder of how beautiful the world is. Hopefully it can also be a helpful guide for anyone looking for places to hike in Northern California!

What We Still Don’t Understand About AI—and Ourselves

13 minute read

Published:

Just a decade ago, hosts from the TV series Westworld or artificial friends (AFs) from the novel Klara and the Sun seemed like a distant future. These humanoids – with human-like cognitive capabilities – are designed to take care of or entertain humans in ways that humans do for one another. While speculative, science fiction works like such have explored what humanity looks like when AI systems possess and even excel our human abilities, ultimately raising the question of what it means for us as a civilization.