The team that invented Dall-E and ChatGPT, as well as engineers, investors, marketers, and other representatives of the world’s Most Innovative Companies, gathered on April 19 at the Hall des Lumières in New York City to celebrate, compare notes, and talk about the mentors who helped them develop their skills. Fast Company‘s exclusive annual ranking of innovative companies in now in its 16th year.
As part of the program, OpenAI CTO and 2023 cover subject Mira Murati sat down with senior writer Ainsley Harris for a conversation about what has surprised her and OpenAI about GPT-4 (its reasoning ability); her feelings about the calls to pause AI development for six months (she noted that OpenAI spent six months adding safeguards to GPT-4 before releasing more widely in March); and whether Elon Musk is trolling us all with his concerns about AI and humanity while starting his own AI initiative (she didn’t engage her former employer, but she also didn’t protest the suggestion).
Several honorees at the event shared stories of their innovation mentors. Anastasia Volkova, CEO of Regrow Ag, inspired the audience with the story of how an early mentor told her to fall in love with a problem and not a solution. Jonathan Soros, cofounder of Athletes Unlimited, connected his experience working with law professor Lawrence Lessig on copyright and Creative Commons and how it informed his incorporating “mission equity” into his innovative sports company. Madhavi Vemireddy, co-CEO of the global caregiving platform Cleo, heartrendingly conveyed how her neurodivergent son led her to help all families get vital support. And Lauren Flanagan, CEO of Sesame Solar, which makes green energy nanogrids to support communities hit with catastrophic events, paid tribute to legendary entrepreneur and investor Kay Koplovitz and how her history of innovations and tireless spirit inspires her—and should inspire us. Isabella Kensington, a Tunecore artist, provided a performance to cap the evening.
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