A black and white photo of a Dave Patterson on stage kicking off the Salon A warmly lit photo of attendees at tables during a salon event Me chiming in Jeff Dean engaged in the salon discussion

Earlier this month, I helped assemble some of the smartest folks on the planet to discuss how researchers might steer the AI agenda to a positive impact on billions of lives. The event was the first of many Laude Salons and it was a bit of an experiment - an attempt to foster dialogue among researchers about where AI is heading and how we can shape it for the better.

The evening was co-hosted by Laude and my co-authors of Shaping AI’s Impact on Billions of Lives (Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Jeff Dean, Finale Doshi-Velez, John Hennessy, Sanmi Koyejo, Pelonomi Moiloa, Emma Pierson, David Patterson). The paper itself had been conceived almost exactly a year before over pints of Guinness with Dave Patterson (one of my heroes) at a Berkeley pub. That day, we sketched out a simple idea: computer scientists need to take a more active role, not just in building AI, but in steering its impact. Rather than merely predicting what AI might do under a laissez-faire approach, we asked: What could AI do if we directed our efforts toward maximizing the upsides and minimizing the downsides?

From that discussion, a plan took shape. Over the following months, our team grew to nine of the world’s leading computer scientists and rising AI stars from academia, startups, and big tech. Together, we set out to explore AI’s pragmatic near-term impact—not just in theory, but through real conversations with those on the frontlines of change.

We spoke with two dozen experts across different domains, including:

  • John Jumper, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, on AI’s potential in scientific discovery.
  • President Barack Obama, on governance and the role of policymakers in shaping AI’s future.
  • Susan Rice, former UN ambassador and national security adviser, on the implications for security.
  • Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO and philanthropist, on AI in the economic and technological landscape.
  • Neal Stephenson, renowned author and futurist, on the impact of AI systems on shaping entertainment.

During the Salon, my co-authors and I took turns moderating sections of the conversation (special thanks to Jason Goldman for subbing in to lead our policy segment). The attendees debated topics from the paper, including how to select research moonshots and how to maximize research impact, e.g. through startups and open source. We also had an impassioned discussion about how (or if) we might move beyond H-index as a metric of academic impact.

The evening was inspiring, a bit sobering, and I want more like it. I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of open discourse lately, and I plan to make sure more conversations like this one are happening.