Personal takeaways from “Conversation with Sam Altman”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaking at “Conversation with Sam Altman”. Jakarta, June 15 2023. Image by me.

Quick life update that no one asked for: I attended “Conversation with Sam Altman” yesterday because it’s summer break and I genuinely have nothing better to do (oh, and I finally graduated from MYP!).

I think it’s fair to assume that the majority of the tech-savvy population has shared interactionsnwith ChatGPT (or has, at least, heard of it). To say the least, it’s an advanced language model developed by OpenAI that was designed to understand and generate human-like responses to text-based prompts. It has a wide range of applications such as content generation, language translation, and even the ability to engage in conversation. It’s amazing to think that technology has developed to the point that it can be my very own personal therapist.

I can certainly thank OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (as well as what I believe to be teams of brilliant AI developers and scientists) for that. In addition to leading such advancements, Altman has been a vocal advocate for responsible AI development and has repeatedly emphasised the importance of ensuring that AI technologies align with human values, ethics, and safety. I think it would be okay for me to conclude that he’s a very big deal in AI development.

Do I think he’s inspirational? Yeah. Do I think he’s a cool guy? Maybe. I don’t know what he’s like personally but so far he seems okay. Here are a few takeaways from his session yesterday that helped shape my relatively positive perception of him,

1. When asked “what is the other direction that is most promising for AGI (artificial general intelligence) apart from large language models?”, Altman responded with a question that went along the lines of “what is the most valuable thing in the world that these large language models can’t offer?”. He proceeded to explain that OpenAI is training their models to ‘learn’ from pre-existing resources and, at the same time, come up with something new. Altman repeatedly emphasised that OpenAI aims to “contribute knowledge back to society”.
2. During a discussion on the various cases of mistaken implications by GPT detectors alleging students to use GPT in their work, Altman mentioned that the only solution is to figure out how to incorporate like technologies into education instead of completely shutting them down. Similarly, during a prior question (asked by the Indonesian minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim) on Altman’s take of the future of education with all the AI systems potentially shifting students’ progress, he shared that “education is certainly going to change, and it’s happened so many times before with technologies such as calculators and search engines”. Altman emphasised that many things will remain the same, although the evaluation, assessment, and teaching processes will eventually have to adapt to technological developments, hence “the importance of familiarising students with like technologies so that they can utilise them in an effective way”.
3. Altman also shared what I’d consider to be a life lesson, particularly regarding tolerating failure. According to him, failure is always okay, and normalising it will only push people to pursue ideas with even higher potential of success.
4. Additionally, Altman briefly introduced GPT 5’s potential in linguistic diversity and inclusivity, stating that “it would be very good at even smaller languages and dialects”.

So that’s four.

Four among the many other things I heard Sam Altman say. And what I, as a 15-year-old highschool student on a summer break whose experience with computer science is restricted to Python 3, personally believe to be the most interesting and impactful towards either me as an individual or as whole communities.

So, what do I think?

Of Sam Altman? He’s a very brilliant person. Of ChatGPT (and OpenAI)? Really helped me through tough times (summative week). Keeps me company when no one else is online. Of artificial intelligence? Has a vast potential in tackling complex problems, advancing research, and creating opportunities for innovation, but there’s this whole discourse on it “surpassing human intelligence” and posing “existential risk to humanity”, and I’m not sure what my stance is on that issue.

All I have to say is it was a privilege to be able to attend “Conversation with Sam Altman” and to have the opportunity to hear his personal takes on certain (and sometimes controversial) AI-related issues. It’s definitely a great way to learn more about the field as a whole, especially considering Altman’s expertise. Shout-out to my dad for getting me the ticket and to everyone else involved in the event. And to end this article, here’s what Altman had to say as his closing remark,

“We need to guide it (artificial intelligence) quite a lot; [and] it’s one of the biggest challenges, but very exciting.”