Third time's the charm - AI is finally here: AI Summit at MIT with Sam Altman and Stephen Wolfram

Last week's summit at MIT on Artificial Intelligence was a rousing success, bringing together industry experts and thought leaders to explore the advances in artificial intelligence.

I've been following AI since the 1990's back when we had 'expert systems' and then in the 2000's when we created the field of machine learning / data science. This time - it appears third time's the charm - and we may have arrived.

The stars of the show in my opinion were Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Stephen Wolfram of Wolfram Research/Wolfram Alpha, along with the many industry leaders across financial services and insurance.

Lex Fridman - btw is possibly one of the best interviewers I've met!

They shared crucial insights on the future of AI and how we should navigate this ever-evolving landscape. Our deepest gratitude goes out to all who contributed their knowledge and passion to make this event truly exceptional.

Surprising insights from Altman - (and most of the pundits are wrong)

Almost every pundit, analyst, and consulting firm proclaiming AI expertise has it wrong:

1. Altman stressed that parameter counts are not the crucial metric in AI development. Instead, he urged a focus on performance and usability, drawing a parallel to the GHz wars of the past.
2. He was also bemused by all the analysts and pundits crowing about OpenAI's 'overnight success'. He clearly doesn't see it this way - he and his team spent 7 very challenging years working tirelessly to build what he believes is a consumer application - and the OpenAI CEO recounted the moment they knew their AI technology would be a hit – just 48 hours after launch.
3. While the much-discussed AI singularity remains a distant reality, Altman envisions a future where humans are augmented by AI, rather than replaced as often depicted in science fiction - and the countless / breathless prognostication by investment bankers, consultants and journalists of a dystopian future of hundreds of millions are unemployed and replaced by bots.

Enterprises are getting ready:

Leaders from AXA, The Principal Financial Group, Wells Fargo, TIAA and MassMutual shared their expertise and insights from the Fortune 100 industry perspectives. They are not sitting still - and are answering the complex questions around how to safely and securely harness the power of generative AI while addressing future compliance and regulatory requirements. We heard from:

1. Roland Scharrer - Chief Data Officer of AXA, Fellow at MIT Connection Science Institute, and Advisory Board Member of Socotra
2. Dr. John Rares Almasan - Managing Director and Head of AI at TIAA
3. Tej Dhawan - Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer at The Principal Financial Group
4. Ra'ad Siraj - Head of AI Governance at MassMutual
5. Swarup Pogalur - SVP and CTO of Digital Engineering at Wells Fargo
6. Gautum Sukumar - GM at ADP

We need to accelerate the development of compliance, security, and regulatory protocols:

The following day, we had a closed-door, private session for Fellows and Sponsors of MIT Connection Science where discussed the need to accelerate the development of common protocols for data sharing, safety and security in this new world.

Discussions were led by Professor Sandy (Alex) Pentland, Tobin Smith, Keely Ehardt, Guy Ziskind, Thomas Hardjono, and Robert Mahari of MIT Connection Science, along with Gilbert Verdian, CEO Quant, Dr. Alex Lipton of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Chris Kay of M&T, Laurent Benichou of AXA, Gautam Sukumar of ADP and Swarup Pogalur of Wells Fargo

Special Guests:

We were also honored to host our friends Sam Schwartz - Chief Business Development Officer from Comcast, Sam Aborne from CBRE, Bhaskar Ghosh from 8VC and entrepreneurs Avinash Misra from Skan.ai and Apoorv Agrawal from TextIQ/Relativity who joined our panelists and speakers.

Their contributions made this event an engaging and educational experience, sparking crucial conversations about the direction and impact of AI on our society. We look forward to seeing how these dialogues will shape the development and application of AI technologies in the years to come.

Last but not least - special thanks to John Werner for all the hard work and collaboration to produce a spectacular, flawless, engaging event. Thank you!