Sam Altman & OpenAI | 2023 Hawking Fellow | Cambridge Union

Sam Altman accepts the 2023 Hawking Fellowship Award on behalf of the team behind OpenAI on Wednesday 1st November 2023 at 7:15pm in The Debating Chamber. The Union and the Professor Hawking Fellowship Committee are delighted to announce that the team behind OpenAI, the creators of Chat-GPT and DALL-E, have been jointly awarded the 2023 Professor Hawking Fellowship. The Fellowship Lecture was delivered by Mr Sam Altman, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenAI, and took place in the Union chamber on the evening of Wednesday 1st November 2023. The Hawking family commented the following: “We are very excited that the Hawking Fellowship at the Cambridge Union has been awarded to OpenAI this year. Our father Stephen was deeply engaged with issues around AI and its potential impact on all aspects of society in the future. Many of his early comments on the new technology were extremely prescient and have been often quoted over the past year. We believe he would have been strongly in support of this award which brings the founders of OpenAI to Cambridge to debate their work and share their insights with students.“ ............................................................................................................................ Awarding of the Fellowship: 00:00 Address by Sam Altman: 02:45 What differentiates OpenAI from other companies: 12:27 What differentiates Elon Musk’s approach to yours: 16:17 Can you reflect on the progress towards AGI so far: 17:19 In 10 years time, what does success look like: 19:14 What is your advice to young people in the face of an AI revolution: 19:52 How do universities need to adapt: 21:45 What was happening at Bletchley (UK AI Summit): 24:02 What is the British Government getting right and wrong: 26:27 What qualities do you look for in founders of companies: 27:47 Should we keep open the University website to AI crawlers: 30:14 What steps are you taking to make sure AI remains accessible to people with disabilities: 31:28 What do we do to prevent a worst-case scenario: 32:50 How do you decide which values make AI ethical: 35:07 Where would you advise young people to go to make scientific discoveries: 37:28 How can you mitigate against losing critical thinking: 39:20 How can we ensure experts are distributed across development, alignment and policy: 42:36 Do you worry you’ve sacrificed democracy: 44:15 What is your take on open source models: 47:30 When can we expect OpenAI to launch hardware: 49:02 What is your definition of consciousness and how far are we from a conscious model: 50:44 What is your view of smaller models: 52:53 Do you think the safety of AI is compatible with more abundant energy: 53:47 What is your approach to responsible scaling in the coming months: 55:05 Interest in longevity science: 57:39 Do you want AI to be descriptive or prescriptive with respect to human rights: 59:08 Is there another breakthrough that’s needed to reach AGI: 1:01:45 ............................................................................................................................ The Professor Stephen Hawking Fellowship was founded in 2017 by the Union in conjunction with the Hawking family to honour his legacy and celebrate his relationship with the students of Cambridge. The fellowship is awarded to an individual or team who has made significant impact on science, technology and its communication, with an emphasis on impacts affecting young people. The fellowship is presented at this event in our debating chamber during Michaelmas term, during which the fellow gives an address and to which we also welcome the scientific advisory panel and members of the Hawking family. ............................................................................................................................ Thumbnail Photographer: Nordin Catic ............................................................................................................................ SUBSCRIBE for more speakers: ............................................................................................................................ Connect with us on: Facebook: Instagram: Twitter: LinkedIn: