How Businesses, Creators, and Researchers are Building the “Generative Generation" w/ Mira Murati, Naveen Gavini & Vijay Karunamurthy #140

This episode features one of our most fascinating sessions from ELC Annual 2022 – we explore how businesses, creators, and researchers are building the “generative generation” & harnessing generative AI’s potential  – featuring Mira Murati, CTO @ OpenAI, Naveen Gavini, SVP, Products @ Pinterest & moderated by Vijay Karunamurthy Head of Engineering @ Scale AI. This session covers the current state & future of generative AI, its potential impacts, what is being done to mitigate potential risks, how smaller companies can take advantage of open-source generative AI technology, and the factors impacting future generative AI innovation.

Interested in topics like this, and beyond? #ELCAnnual2023 is happening 8/30 & 8/31! You can get your ticket to join your peers, check out all our speakers + explore additional topics at sfelc.com/annual2023

ABOUT MIRA MURATI

Mira Murati (@miramurati) is the CTO of OpenAI. Mira and her teams are pushing the frontiers of what neural networks can do, seeking to better understand the behavior of powerful AI systems and make them safer, and align them with human intentions and human values. Prior to joining OpenAI, she led the product and engineering teams at Leap Motion (VR/AR startup), and led the design, development, and launch of vehicle products at Tesla, including Model X.

"We've always wanted human helpers. We've always tried to build tools like since the beginning of life we've created tools. They're just such a natural thing and now this is different because it extends the range of our mental capabilities, of our creativity and intuition and imagination. So we are sort of exploring this new era where tools are helping us extend the range of our minds.”

- Mira Murati   

ABOUT NAVEEN GAVINI

Naveen Gavini (@ngavini) is the SVP of Products at Pinterest, where he oversees all design and product efforts for both consumer and advertiser products. He is incredibly passionate about building great user experiences and creating environments that stimulate creativity and innovative thinking. Prior to this role Naveen led both the design and engineering functions and was one of Pinterest's earliest engineers, joining in 2012. Since then, he played a critical role in scaling the engineering team, and was involved in almost every major new product initiative the company has developed for users.

ABOUT VIJAY KARUNAMURTHY

Vijay Karunamurthy (@vjkaruna) is Scale’s Head of Engineering. He was the Director of Engineering at Apple for 5 years. He was the Co-Founder and CEO of Nom Labs, a community for food lovers to create, share and watch their favorite stories in real-time, and Co-Founder of AVOS Systems.

Additionally, he was an Engineering Manager at Google and Youtube.

Vijay is an expert in data-centric AI and building Machine Learning teams. He believes that the next decade of AI achievement is going to be built by teams that take on outsized ambitions, and understand that it is not always a straight line to get there.

Join us at ELC Annual 2023!

ELC Annual is our flagship conference for engineering leaders. You’ll learn from experts in engineering and leadership, gain mentorship and support from like-minded professionals, expand your perspectives, build relationships across the tech industry, and leave with practical prove strategies.

Join us this August 30-31 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco

For tickets, head to https://sfelc.com/annual2023

SHOW NOTES:

• Introducing Mira, Naveen & Vijay (3:33)
• Mira discusses the current state & future of generative AI (3:51)
• Naveen’s perspective on how these changes impact curation (7:12)
• How engineering teams can bring generative AI into their own practice (10:27)
• Strategies for smaller companies to incorporate this technology into their work (12:54)
• Marketing & creative industries’ views on generative AI & its potential impact (14:32)
• Naveen shares his experience with guided search @ Pinterest & generative AI’s role w/ the act of discovery (17:05)
• The intersection of art & generative AI (19:57)
• Mira & Naveen’s opinions on if generative AI will replace or enhance current jobs (21:47)
• How generative AI is being used in highly skilled industries (25:55)
• Risks of generative AI, such as perceived generation of misinformation (28:13)
• Mira explains how OpenAI mitigates risks & spread of misinformation (31:14)
• Three pillars of future innovation for generative AI (33:39)
• Naveen answers what he sees “next week” in generative AI development (35:04)
• What’s in store for OpenAI (37:32)
• What’s next for Pinterest & ML (39:25)
• Audience Q&A: how to democratize AI & make it beneficial for humanity (40:11)
• Quantum computing / other computing considerations @ OpenAI (42:31)
• Weighing the pros & cons of generative AI adoption (43:49)
• The future of ML & mathematical / scientific discovery (46:42)4

This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/