February 20, 2025 • 15 mins
Discover how AI is revolutionizing education with insights from Siya Raj Purohit, the visionary leading OpenAI's Education Go-To-Market strategy. Learn how AI tools like ChatGPT are breaking new ground in personalized learning, shifting from initial skepticism to being embraced by innovative educators such as Ethan Mollick. We unravel the evolution of assignments and curricula, empowering both students and educators to unlock AI's potential for enhanced learning outcomes. Ethical considerations and privacy concerns are on the agenda, too, as we underscore OpenAI's commitment to making artificial intelligence both safe and accessible.
But the conversation doesn't stop at education. We venture into the broader potential of technology to transform professional careers and leadership roles. Whether you're looking to boost productivity or enhance critical thinking skills, AI offers tools that don't require expert-level knowledge to make a significant impact. We'll explore how AI is not just about replacing tasks but enhancing human capabilities, allowing for a more fulfilling and effective professional journey. Join us in this forward-looking exploration to understand how AI can be a game-changer in both learning and leadership.
#openai #ideagen #gls2025
View Siya's LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siyarajpurohit/
Learn more about OpenAi Education here: https://openai.com/chatgpt/education/
View the entire 2025 Global Leadership Summit here: https://www.ideagenglobal.com/2025globalleadershipsummit
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to IdeaGen TV live from Washington DC.
Today I am honored privilegedto have with me Sia Raj Parohit.
Education Go-To-Market fromOpenAI Welcome Sia.
Thanks soit.
Education Go-To-Market fromOpenAI Welcome Sia.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thanks so much for having me Really excited to
share what OpenAI is doing ineducation.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Well, you know, we're all hearing about OpenAI, we're
hearing about AI in general.
There's a lot of misconceptions.
Perhaps You're in education,which is really an exciting
arena for AI.
Obviously You're in education,which is really an exciting
arena for AI, obviously.
And so I'd like to ask you forour global audience, give us a
little bit about your backgroundso they know who you are and
(00:52):
specifically what your role isat OpenAI.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Absolutely so.
I've been working in educationsince I was 18.
When I was in college, I wasstudying computer engineering,
and now this is common knowledge.
But a lot of universities don'tteach STEM degrees in a way
that's accessible to everyone,and I started seeing that as a
student.
A lot of my classmates starteddropping out of the engineering
programs people who would havebecome really good engineers,
(01:15):
but they weren't able to learnin the way that engineering was
being taught.
So I did this research projectwhere I called emails from
really famous people to ask fortheir opinion on why someone
should study engineering.
This is 2010, 2011.
So before the whole learn tocode movement had taken off,
before people knew how powerfulSTEM careers could be, and I
turned my research into a bookabout America's job skills gap
(01:38):
that I published in 19.
So since then, I've been tryingto solve that problem, trying
to make these skills much moreaccessible for people so they
can move into new socioeconomicclasses.
In my career, I've been earlyat two high growth ed tech
companies, worked in venturecapital, investing companies
like Coursera and Course Hero,and then for the past three
years, I was at Amazon doingeducation partnerships.
(01:58):
I joined OpenAI about eightmonths ago to help build up our
education vertical and my job isto think about the future of AI
at universities and schooldistricts.
We're spending a lot of timeimagining the future of these
campuses and how AI plays in tohelp people learn skills better,
to help them grow in theirprofessional journeys.
That's the work I do at OpenAInow.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
How much more exciting could that be?
I'd love to follow up on that,which is incredibly exciting, to
ask how this technology atOpenAI intersects with the needs
, the broader needs, of theeducation sector.
And then, what are the biggestopportunities you see for AI in
transforming education acrossthe spectrum?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So ever since I started working in education as
a sector, our goal was toachieve personalized learning.
We always said that if we canprovide a personalized tutor for
every student, we have made itas a sector, because then it can
adapt to the students' needs,help them grow in their careers
and whatever skills they want todevelop.
And I think that with ChatGPTwe have achieved it.
Like I have a personalizedtutor that I talk to.
(03:02):
It knows my projects, it knowsmy aspirations, it knows my
manager's personality and how Ishould correspond with them.
Like it just helps me become amuch better knowledge worker.
And I'm really excited.
Like our vision is to be ableto provide this in the hands of
all students and learners andteachers and educators around
the world.
And we're at the very beginningof that journey, but excited to
kind of share what we've doneso far there it's just awesome
(03:24):
to be involved in anythingthat's transformative.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I've heard this being akin to the industrial
revolution or those moments inhistory where there's been so
much transformation happeningand, by the time you figure it
out, it's already happened.
So we're living through thistransformation.
I mean, every single one of usare using ChatGPT or whatever AI
(03:48):
platform you prefer In my caseit's ChatGPT, of course and I
love it.
I mean, it learns, it's helpful,it helps you get a start.
If you're writing something andI can't even imagine you know
that even schools now ineducation are trying to figure
it out Do we ban it?
Do we embrace it?
Do we, you know?
(04:11):
Do we sign an ethics code?
I'm not using an AI platformfor education, but the smart
schools will embrace it, I think, and we'll say utilize it as a
tool, because it's all about theprompts, right, it's about
being able to utilize, like adictionary or a thesaurus or
whatever it may be, to help youget better, to accelerate.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Is that right?
So it's so interesting.
Chatgpt came out two years agoand for the first year, a lot of
schools, like you said, bannedit because they were trying to
figure out how to rethinkcurriculum and assignments and
learning in the age of AI.
But something changed about 10or 11 months ago.
My belief is that influencerslike Ethan Mollick, who's a
professor at Wharton, reallyhelped destigmatize AI in
(04:52):
education and started showingwhat the value could be in
classes.
And now we're getting closer tothe main part of that adoption
curve A lot more professors atuniversities, a lot more
teachers in school districtsstarting to think about how to
incorporate AI.
And that's where it gets superexciting, because that means
we're rethinking the assignmentsthat we give our students,
knowing that now they haveaccess to the super intelligence
(05:15):
that's outside of their brains.
So now we need to almost makethem like as great, like
orchestrators, and be able touse AI to produce really good
output, and that shift is justso exciting, I think.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think it's incredible to hear about
superintelligence.
I mean, we all think we'resomewhat intelligent, but when
you think aboutsuperintelligence, it takes it
to the next level.
Right, and so ethics,innovation.
How do you balance theseconsiderations when taking also
into account the issue ofprivacy?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Absolutely.
So a couple of things to unpackhere.
The first is around, like,accessibility of this technology
.
One of OpenAI's core goals isto make the safe, artificial
general intelligence accessibleto everyone around the world.
So one of the first things wasto launch a free product.
Many of you might have triedout the free product ChatGPT.
It's actually really good, like.
(06:05):
It provides a lot of thecapabilities for free to any
user on the world who hasinternet.
And then, just to double downon that, just about a month ago
we launched a 1-800 number forChatGPT, so older adults in the
US who are used to the 1-800numbers and being able to call
and talk are able to do that,which is like a really nice
unlock for a new demographic.
(06:26):
We also launched ChatGPT onWhatsApp, so now people in
developing countries who may nothave that much internet
bandwidth but can still get onWhatsApp can chat with ChatGPT.
So we're trying to solve foraccessibility in these ways.
I'm excited because I thinkthat's going to unlock the next
billion users in developingcountries with these kind of
platforms.
And on the privacy side, welaunched a product called
(06:48):
ChatGPT EDU.
This is designed for, like it'san enterprise grade security
platform designed for schooldistricts and universities.
So now professors can uploadtheir content, like the entire
year's case materials, ontoChatGPT and we don't train, like
our models, based on thatinformation.
It's secure.
It lives only in theirworkspace.
Only they and their admins havecontrol of it.
(07:10):
So it gives a lot more securityand privacy to that content,
which I'm excited about, becauseprofessors become much more
comfortable with it and sotaking that even a step further
in terms of collaboration witheducators and institutions.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
How do you ensure you've talked a little bit about
this, but how do you ensurethat OpenAI's models meet their
needs specifically, so initiallywe were.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Actually it's an interesting product because for
most products you do likedifferent types of user research
.
You develop the use cases, thenyou market those.
In our case, we actuallylearned the use cases from the
professors themselves.
So over the past year we'veseen a lot of interesting things
happen.
Some of the most likely waysthat professors are using this
and how we are now explaining tothe next generation of
(07:54):
professors how to think about itare one is around like
information retrieval, so whatprofessors call lecture recall.
So one of the most common usecases is professors can upload
their semester's.
One of the most common usecases is professors can upload
their semester's worth ofcontent and students can ask
questions to that content.
So a business school professorat Harvard Business School
uploaded all of his case studiesand now students ask questions
(08:15):
like did CEO handle layoff spelland get the exact examples to
help them understand thatconcept.
Or like I'm learning thisesoteric statistics concept when
will I ever use this in life?
And you can get practicalexamples.
So it's your ability toconverse with the knowledge of
the university in a much deeperway than ever before and that
makes it super interesting forstudents.
(08:36):
Most of the questions fromstudents come between 12 am and
3 a am, which is also when ahuman ta is not available.
So it's like been a greatsupport system for students
right, it's like a ta as well?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
yeah, absolutely so.
See what inspired your initialinterest in education and
technology.
You're marrying the two, whichis so exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Like what inspired you to get involved in this so,
as I mentioned at 18, it was apersonal problem.
I was was like is this a SIAproblem?
Is this a system problem?
Thankfully I realized or feltit was a system problem that was
preventing me from becoming agood engineer.
And now I think the aspirationis how can we use technology to
help anyone kind of get to thoseaspirations and not feel that
(09:18):
the system is rigged againstthem because they don't learn in
the way that classes used toteach content?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Right, right, exactly .
And so you also worked inventure capital and ed tech, and
this all influenced yourcurrent approach at OpenAI.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
So I worked as an investor at a fund called GSV
Ventures.
It's a billion dollar ed techVC fund.
And then I founded my own VCfund a couple of years ago with
my friend, taylor Stockton.
It's called Pathway Ventures.
So with Pathway, we invest inearly stage founders.
It's pre-seed and seed futureof learning and work and that's
been really exciting becausewe're able to think a lot about
(09:53):
economic mobility from differentangles.
Like initially we thought it waslike an education game.
I'm like OK, if you can teachonline in different ways, it's
going to solve the problems.
Like okay, if you can teachonline in different ways, it's
going to solve the problems.
But then you realize thatyou're fighting on so many
different dimensions.
Individuals who are hourlyworkers don't have the time to
learn a lot of times and thenafter a busy day of work, they
use Netflix instead of comingand learning on Coursera or
(10:15):
Udacity.
So these kind of elements weneed to fight to be able to give
people the opportunity to learnmore effectively are the types
of things we're trying to investin now.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And so examples.
We've talked a lot about yourbackground and your interests
and your journey.
What's an example of asuccessful project or
partnership that you'vespearheaded specifically at
OpenAI?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So at OpenAI we're working with a lot of
universities ranging from, likethe Ivy League, state schools,
community colleges, schooldistricts.
I think some of the mostinteresting conversations we're
having right now are withprofessors who are really
rethinking their curriculum.
There's a Wharton MBA professornamed Stefano Pantoni who was
talking to me about.
He's like what is the value ofan essay?
(10:57):
And, just for context, for the10 years he was teaching this
class, an essay was always thefinal submission from his MBA
students.
So he's like what is the valueof an essay?
The value of an essay is notnecessarily in its output, but
in the conversational skills andthe critical thinking skills
that get to that output.
So now he requires the studentsuse ChatGPT.
He's like they're going to useit anyway, might as well require
(11:19):
it and instead he measures thenumber of prompts it takes a
student to get to an essay thatthey're happy with.
Some students are so good atprompt engineering that it takes
like two or three prompts andthey have a really good essay.
And some students go back 19 or20 times to get to an essay
that they're happy with.
So this is super interestingbecause this is a measure of
your ability to clearlyarticulate what you're looking
(11:42):
for as an output and that'sgoing to become a really key
skill because, again, the superintelligence exists.
How can you orchestrate it andvisualize really good output
that you can get to with it?
And so really excited aboutthat shift.
And I guess one other thing I'dadd here is that, when I think
forward to the skills that Iwould want the next generation,
and like our children, to learn,it's two things.
(12:03):
One is this ability tovisualize that great output.
So you have to read really goodbooks, you have to be able to
see really good content andunderstand what that
extraordinary output can looklike.
And then the second is, like,the ability to inspire.
So how can you use these toolsto do some of the backend work
and you become the charismaticand inspiring figure who can,
like, rally a team or close apartnership and do all the human
(12:25):
things that AI can't.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That's really cool for the global audience to hear
that there's still a role forhuman beings within the context
of AI, and so it's all about.
The prompt is what I'm hearing.
Are you able to ask the rightquestions?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
The right questions yes.
And AI systems will get smarterdeducing what you're asking.
So I don't think promptengineering is a skill, but I do
think that the ability tovisualize the output, is To
visualize the output that is.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
That's just, it's mind blowing Leadership.
This is the Global LeadershipSummit.
How has your leadership andlet's add the overlay of OpenAI
on top of this evolved to whereyou are today?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So interesting.
I think that when I firstbecame a manager or a leader in
different companies, I used tothink that a really good manager
was the second best person onany team to do any job, and they
were able to kind of step in,fill in like a co-worker
completed project or has to gosick or something.
I thought that they weresupposed to be the back-end
(13:31):
replacement and now I think, 10years in, I think that a really
good manager or leader is ableto see things in an individual
that they can't see inthemselves, and that's also what
makes a human manager muchbetter than an AI manager in
some ways, because an AI knowswhat you tell it about yourself.
But a human manager, especiallya really good one, can see
(13:53):
things you don't articulateabout yourself and help you
double down on the things thatmake you extraordinary and help
you hopefully become a muchbetter version of yourself or a
much higher thinking individualon who you can become.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
You know this has been such a profound interview.
We could go on for days, daysand days.
I have many prompts that Icould ask you, just like I do
with OpenAI, but I'd like to saywhat is your call to action for
our global audience here todayfrom open AI.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, one thing I just want to call out is a lot
of people reach out to me beingafraid that they're behind the
AI curve.
In some ways they're likethere's so much happening, how
do I stay up to date?
And I just want to kind ofreassure them.
Not all of us have to becomeexperts on the sector as a whole
and don't feel the need to dothat almost.
You don't need to understandall the nuances of the
technology.
You need to understand how youcan use the product to become a
(14:44):
better knowledge worker, betterat your profession, whatever
that may be.
And that's a much easier ask totake on, because in the future,
I think your ability to use AIin your job will help you become
more productive and hopefully,like I hear from a lot of people
that they're much morefulfilled in their careers
because they can use AI.
So that's our like, that's thegoal I think we should be
(15:04):
striving for Not to all of usbecome like Ethan Mollick level
of experts in AI.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That's right.
That's right.
See you, raj Rohit, go tomarket for education at OpenAI,
inspiring the world.
Thank you so very much.
Thanks so much.
Welcome to IdeaGen TV live from Washington DC.
Today I am honored privilegedto have with me Sia Raj Parohit.
Education Go-To-Market fromOpenAI Welcome Sia.
Thanks soit.
Education Go-To-Market fromOpenAI Welcome Sia.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thanks so much for having me Really excited to
share what OpenAI is doing ineducation.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Well, you know, we're all hearing about OpenAI, we're
hearing about AI in general.
There's a lot of misconceptions.
Perhaps You're in education,which is really an exciting
arena for AI.
Obviously You're in education,which is really an exciting
arena for AI, obviously.
And so I'd like to ask you forour global audience, give us a
little bit about your backgroundso they know who you are and
(00:52):
specifically what your role isat OpenAI.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Absolutely so.
I've been working in educationsince I was 18.
When I was in college, I wasstudying computer engineering,
and now this is common knowledge.
But a lot of universities don'tteach STEM degrees in a way
that's accessible to everyone,and I started seeing that as a
student.
A lot of my classmates starteddropping out of the engineering
programs people who would havebecome really good engineers,
(01:15):
but they weren't able to learnin the way that engineering was
being taught.
So I did this research projectwhere I called emails from
really famous people to ask fortheir opinion on why someone
should study engineering.
This is 2010, 2011.
So before the whole learn tocode movement had taken off,
before people knew how powerfulSTEM careers could be, and I
turned my research into a bookabout America's job skills gap
(01:38):
that I published in 19.
So since then, I've been tryingto solve that problem, trying
to make these skills much moreaccessible for people so they
can move into new socioeconomicclasses.
In my career, I've been earlyat two high growth ed tech
companies, worked in venturecapital, investing companies
like Coursera and Course Hero,and then for the past three
years, I was at Amazon doingeducation partnerships.
(01:58):
I joined OpenAI about eightmonths ago to help build up our
education vertical and my job isto think about the future of AI
at universities and schooldistricts.
We're spending a lot of timeimagining the future of these
campuses and how AI plays in tohelp people learn skills better,
to help them grow in theirprofessional journeys.
That's the work I do at OpenAInow.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
How much more exciting could that be?
I'd love to follow up on that,which is incredibly exciting, to
ask how this technology atOpenAI intersects with the needs
, the broader needs, of theeducation sector.
And then, what are the biggestopportunities you see for AI in
transforming education acrossthe spectrum?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
So ever since I started working in education as
a sector, our goal was toachieve personalized learning.
We always said that if we canprovide a personalized tutor for
every student, we have made itas a sector, because then it can
adapt to the students' needs,help them grow in their careers
and whatever skills they want todevelop.
And I think that with ChatGPTwe have achieved it.
Like I have a personalizedtutor that I talk to.
(03:02):
It knows my projects, it knowsmy aspirations, it knows my
manager's personality and how Ishould correspond with them.
Like it just helps me become amuch better knowledge worker.
And I'm really excited.
Like our vision is to be ableto provide this in the hands of
all students and learners andteachers and educators around
the world.
And we're at the very beginningof that journey, but excited to
kind of share what we've doneso far there it's just awesome
(03:24):
to be involved in anythingthat's transformative.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I've heard this being akin to the industrial
revolution or those moments inhistory where there's been so
much transformation happeningand, by the time you figure it
out, it's already happened.
So we're living through thistransformation.
I mean, every single one of usare using ChatGPT or whatever AI
(03:48):
platform you prefer In my caseit's ChatGPT, of course and I
love it.
I mean, it learns, it's helpful,it helps you get a start.
If you're writing something andI can't even imagine you know
that even schools now ineducation are trying to figure
it out Do we ban it?
Do we embrace it?
Do we, you know?
(04:11):
Do we sign an ethics code?
I'm not using an AI platformfor education, but the smart
schools will embrace it, I think, and we'll say utilize it as a
tool, because it's all about theprompts, right, it's about
being able to utilize, like adictionary or a thesaurus or
whatever it may be, to help youget better, to accelerate.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Is that right?
So it's so interesting.
Chatgpt came out two years agoand for the first year, a lot of
schools, like you said, bannedit because they were trying to
figure out how to rethinkcurriculum and assignments and
learning in the age of AI.
But something changed about 10or 11 months ago.
My belief is that influencerslike Ethan Mollick, who's a
professor at Wharton, reallyhelped destigmatize AI in
(04:52):
education and started showingwhat the value could be in
classes.
And now we're getting closer tothe main part of that adoption
curve A lot more professors atuniversities, a lot more
teachers in school districtsstarting to think about how to
incorporate AI.
And that's where it gets superexciting, because that means
we're rethinking the assignmentsthat we give our students,
knowing that now they haveaccess to the super intelligence
(05:15):
that's outside of their brains.
So now we need to almost makethem like as great, like
orchestrators, and be able touse AI to produce really good
output, and that shift is justso exciting, I think.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I think it's incredible to hear about
superintelligence.
I mean, we all think we'resomewhat intelligent, but when
you think aboutsuperintelligence, it takes it
to the next level.
Right, and so ethics,innovation.
How do you balance theseconsiderations when taking also
into account the issue ofprivacy?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Absolutely.
So a couple of things to unpackhere.
The first is around, like,accessibility of this technology
.
One of OpenAI's core goals isto make the safe, artificial
general intelligence accessibleto everyone around the world.
So one of the first things wasto launch a free product.
Many of you might have triedout the free product ChatGPT.
It's actually really good, like.
(06:05):
It provides a lot of thecapabilities for free to any
user on the world who hasinternet.
And then, just to double downon that, just about a month ago
we launched a 1-800 number forChatGPT, so older adults in the
US who are used to the 1-800numbers and being able to call
and talk are able to do that,which is like a really nice
unlock for a new demographic.
(06:26):
We also launched ChatGPT onWhatsApp, so now people in
developing countries who may nothave that much internet
bandwidth but can still get onWhatsApp can chat with ChatGPT.
So we're trying to solve foraccessibility in these ways.
I'm excited because I thinkthat's going to unlock the next
billion users in developingcountries with these kind of
platforms.
And on the privacy side, welaunched a product called
(06:48):
ChatGPT EDU.
This is designed for, like it'san enterprise grade security
platform designed for schooldistricts and universities.
So now professors can uploadtheir content, like the entire
year's case materials, ontoChatGPT and we don't train, like
our models, based on thatinformation.
It's secure.
It lives only in theirworkspace.
Only they and their admins havecontrol of it.
(07:10):
So it gives a lot more securityand privacy to that content,
which I'm excited about, becauseprofessors become much more
comfortable with it and sotaking that even a step further
in terms of collaboration witheducators and institutions.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
How do you ensure you've talked a little bit about
this, but how do you ensurethat OpenAI's models meet their
needs specifically, so initiallywe were.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Actually it's an interesting product because for
most products you do likedifferent types of user research
.
You develop the use cases, thenyou market those.
In our case, we actuallylearned the use cases from the
professors themselves.
So over the past year we'veseen a lot of interesting things
happen.
Some of the most likely waysthat professors are using this
and how we are now explaining tothe next generation of
(07:54):
professors how to think about itare one is around like
information retrieval, so whatprofessors call lecture recall.
So one of the most common usecases is professors can upload
their semester's.
One of the most common usecases is professors can upload
their semester's worth ofcontent and students can ask
questions to that content.
So a business school professorat Harvard Business School
uploaded all of his case studiesand now students ask questions
(08:15):
like did CEO handle layoff spelland get the exact examples to
help them understand thatconcept.
Or like I'm learning thisesoteric statistics concept when
will I ever use this in life?
And you can get practicalexamples.
So it's your ability toconverse with the knowledge of
the university in a much deeperway than ever before and that
makes it super interesting forstudents.
(08:36):
Most of the questions fromstudents come between 12 am and
3 a am, which is also when ahuman ta is not available.
So it's like been a greatsupport system for students
right, it's like a ta as well?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
yeah, absolutely so.
See what inspired your initialinterest in education and
technology.
You're marrying the two, whichis so exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Like what inspired you to get involved in this so,
as I mentioned at 18, it was apersonal problem.
I was was like is this a SIAproblem?
Is this a system problem?
Thankfully I realized or feltit was a system problem that was
preventing me from becoming agood engineer.
And now I think the aspirationis how can we use technology to
help anyone kind of get to thoseaspirations and not feel that
(09:18):
the system is rigged againstthem because they don't learn in
the way that classes used toteach content?
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Right, right, exactly .
And so you also worked inventure capital and ed tech, and
this all influenced yourcurrent approach at OpenAI.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
So I worked as an investor at a fund called GSV
Ventures.
It's a billion dollar ed techVC fund.
And then I founded my own VCfund a couple of years ago with
my friend, taylor Stockton.
It's called Pathway Ventures.
So with Pathway, we invest inearly stage founders.
It's pre-seed and seed futureof learning and work and that's
been really exciting becausewe're able to think a lot about
(09:53):
economic mobility from differentangles.
Like initially we thought it waslike an education game.
I'm like OK, if you can teachonline in different ways, it's
going to solve the problems.
Like okay, if you can teachonline in different ways, it's
going to solve the problems.
But then you realize thatyou're fighting on so many
different dimensions.
Individuals who are hourlyworkers don't have the time to
learn a lot of times and thenafter a busy day of work, they
use Netflix instead of comingand learning on Coursera or
(10:15):
Udacity.
So these kind of elements weneed to fight to be able to give
people the opportunity to learnmore effectively are the types
of things we're trying to investin now.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And so examples.
We've talked a lot about yourbackground and your interests
and your journey.
What's an example of asuccessful project or
partnership that you'vespearheaded specifically at
OpenAI?
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So at OpenAI we're working with a lot of
universities ranging from, likethe Ivy League, state schools,
community colleges, schooldistricts.
I think some of the mostinteresting conversations we're
having right now are withprofessors who are really
rethinking their curriculum.
There's a Wharton MBA professornamed Stefano Pantoni who was
talking to me about.
He's like what is the value ofan essay?
(10:57):
And, just for context, for the10 years he was teaching this
class, an essay was always thefinal submission from his MBA
students.
So he's like what is the valueof an essay?
The value of an essay is notnecessarily in its output, but
in the conversational skills andthe critical thinking skills
that get to that output.
So now he requires the studentsuse ChatGPT.
He's like they're going to useit anyway, might as well require
(11:19):
it and instead he measures thenumber of prompts it takes a
student to get to an essay thatthey're happy with.
Some students are so good atprompt engineering that it takes
like two or three prompts andthey have a really good essay.
And some students go back 19 or20 times to get to an essay
that they're happy with.
So this is super interestingbecause this is a measure of
your ability to clearlyarticulate what you're looking
(11:42):
for as an output and that'sgoing to become a really key
skill because, again, the superintelligence exists.
How can you orchestrate it andvisualize really good output
that you can get to with it?
And so really excited aboutthat shift.
And I guess one other thing I'dadd here is that, when I think
forward to the skills that Iwould want the next generation,
and like our children, to learn,it's two things.
(12:03):
One is this ability tovisualize that great output.
So you have to read really goodbooks, you have to be able to
see really good content andunderstand what that
extraordinary output can looklike.
And then the second is, like,the ability to inspire.
So how can you use these toolsto do some of the backend work
and you become the charismaticand inspiring figure who can,
like, rally a team or close apartnership and do all the human
(12:25):
things that AI can't.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That's really cool for the global audience to hear
that there's still a role forhuman beings within the context
of AI, and so it's all about.
The prompt is what I'm hearing.
Are you able to ask the rightquestions?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
The right questions yes.
And AI systems will get smarterdeducing what you're asking.
So I don't think promptengineering is a skill, but I do
think that the ability tovisualize the output, is To
visualize the output that is.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
That's just, it's mind blowing Leadership.
This is the Global LeadershipSummit.
How has your leadership andlet's add the overlay of OpenAI
on top of this evolved to whereyou are today?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So interesting.
I think that when I firstbecame a manager or a leader in
different companies, I used tothink that a really good manager
was the second best person onany team to do any job, and they
were able to kind of step in,fill in like a co-worker
completed project or has to gosick or something.
I thought that they weresupposed to be the back-end
(13:31):
replacement and now I think, 10years in, I think that a really
good manager or leader is ableto see things in an individual
that they can't see inthemselves, and that's also what
makes a human manager muchbetter than an AI manager in
some ways, because an AI knowswhat you tell it about yourself.
But a human manager, especiallya really good one, can see
(13:53):
things you don't articulateabout yourself and help you
double down on the things thatmake you extraordinary and help
you hopefully become a muchbetter version of yourself or a
much higher thinking individualon who you can become.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
You know this has been such a profound interview.
We could go on for days, daysand days.
I have many prompts that Icould ask you, just like I do
with OpenAI, but I'd like to saywhat is your call to action for
our global audience here todayfrom open AI.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, one thing I just want to call out is a lot
of people reach out to me beingafraid that they're behind the
AI curve.
In some ways they're likethere's so much happening, how
do I stay up to date?
And I just want to kind ofreassure them.
Not all of us have to becomeexperts on the sector as a whole
and don't feel the need to dothat almost.
You don't need to understandall the nuances of the
technology.
You need to understand how youcan use the product to become a
(14:44):
better knowledge worker, betterat your profession, whatever
that may be.
And that's a much easier ask totake on, because in the future,
I think your ability to use AIin your job will help you become
more productive and hopefully,like I hear from a lot of people
that they're much morefulfilled in their careers
because they can use AI.
So that's our like, that's thegoal I think we should be
(15:04):
striving for Not to all of usbecome like Ethan Mollick level
of experts in AI.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
That's right.
That's right.
See you, raj Rohit, go tomarket for education at OpenAI,
inspiring the world.
Thank you so very much.
Thanks so much.
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