OpenAI's Mira Murati on ChatGPT and the power of curiosity | Behind the Tech with Kevin Scott

Summary

Mira Murati, CTO of AI company OpenAI, discusses her journey into science and math as a curious child in communist Albania. She later studied engineering and worked at Tesla on projects like the Model X. Murati then joined OpenAI, attracted by their mission to ensure AI benefits humanity. She led teams in building innovative systems like GPT-3, DALL-E, and ChatGPT. The conversation covers OpenAI's process of rapid iteration, gathering public feedback to improve AI alignment and safety, and the profound societal impacts of their groundbreaking work.

Takeaways

• 😊 Mira Murati's intense curiosity and love for math led her to pursue science and technology from a young age.
• 👩‍💻 Her experience working at Tesla showed her the power of bringing together cross-functional teams to solve hard problems in new ways.
• 🧠 She was driven by a curiosity to understand intelligence and AI's potential to transform how we interact with information.
• 🔬 OpenAI's mission to ensure AGI benefits humanity aligned with her goals to work on something important.
• ⚙️ Key to OpenAI's progress was getting alignment on bets early and staying focused on their most important problems.
• 🤝 Releasing systems like GPT-3 and DALL-E let OpenAI gather real-world feedback to improve safety and alignment.
• 📝 Dialogue interfaces like ChatGPT help OpenAI learn how to make systems more robust and aligned before full deployment.
• 🌎 Enabling wide access empowers people's creativity to reveal new applications that researchers may not imagine.
• 💪 It's crucial to keep learning and iterating quickly as technology rapidly advances in the public eye.
• 🌳 Despite OpenAI's intense pace, Mira finds time for reading and hiking to nurture her curiosity.

Q & A

How did Mira first get interested in science and technology?

Mira first became interested in science and technology through her passion for mathematics. As a child in Albania, she would do math problem sets and Olympiads for fun. She was drawn to the certainty and truth of mathematics and science amidst a changing political environment.

What challenges did Mira face in pursuing science and technology in Albania?

Mira faced isolation and lack of resources in pursuing science in Albania. However, she had supportive teachers who nurtured her talents and gave her more advanced work. Getting a scholarship to study abroad in Canada opened up more opportunities to learn.

How did working at Tesla impact Mira's interest in AI?

Working on projects like the autopilot system at Tesla made Mira realize the potential of AI and computer vision to transform industries. This drove her curiosity to understand intelligence at an abstract level and pursue artificial general intelligence at OpenAI.

Why was OpenAI initially set up as a non-profit?

OpenAI was set up as a non-profit so they could focus on ensuring artificial general intelligence is built safely and its benefits are shared by all humanity. This mission remains unchanged even though the corporate structure has evolved.

How does OpenAI decide which research bets to focus on?

OpenAI focuses their top talent on a few key bets that they believe are most likely to advance them towards AGI. They get alignment early on regarding these bets even during recruitment. Saying no to other promising ideas is hard but important.

Why did OpenAI decide to release AI models via public APIs?

Releasing models publicly, even unfinished ones, allows OpenAI to get real-world feedback instead of building AI in an isolated lab. This information helps them make models more robust, aligned and beneficial when deployed.

How does OpenAI handle risks from publicly releasing AI models?

OpenAI takes an iterative approach to managing risks, constantly improving safety processes and tools at every stage of development. Rapid public cycles also help them respond quickly to emerging issues seen in real-world use.

What was Mira's motivation for working on AI systems?

Mira was driven by intellectual curiosity to understand intelligence at a theoretical level. She saw AI as a way to tackle extremely hard real-world problems and improve lives, which she had been passionate about since studying engineering.

How can boredom be a useful motivator?

Boredom drives people to explore, pursue knowledge deeply and exercise focus. Mira believes the lack of entertainment growing up in isolated Albania contributed to her hunger for learning.

What does Mira do for fun outside of work?

Outside of leading cutting-edge AI research, Mira enjoys relaxing through reading and going on hikes in nature.