Digital Life Design
26/05/2023

Munich welcomes Sam Altman

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Sam Altman, CEO and Co-founder of OpenAI, visited Munich on Thursday (25 May 2023) and spoke at an “Open AI Lecture” held at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The visionary tech entrepreneur behind ChatGPT was invited by Digital Life Design (DLD), Hubert Burda Media's international conference and innovation platform, together with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the TUM Speaker Series – the independent, event series organised voluntarily by students. The event in Munich was Sam Altman's only public appearance in Germany during his European tour.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting topics of our time and the future: Following words of welcome from TUM president Thomas F. Hofmann and DLD Managing Director and Founder Steffi Czerny, Sam Altman and OpenAI Research Engineer Johannes Heidecke came on stage. During the panel discussion chaired by TUM professor Reinhard Heckel, they shared insights on the future development of AI and ChatGPT and thoughts on the regulation of technologies. They also addressed the importance of integrating AI in a professional context at an early stage and emphasized to students that now is the best time to start a career in technology.

One-off visit generates huge interest

Politicians, representatives from science and industry as well as members of the press followed the presentation with great interest and joined in the open question and answer session. In addition to Christian Teichmann, CEO of BurdaPrincipal Investments and Jean-Paul Schmetz, Chief Scientist at Hubert Burda Media, participants included Judith Gerlach, Bavarian State Minister for Digital Affairs, Heike Freund, Chief Operations Officer Marvel Fusion, Felix Haas, Chairman and Host of Bits & Pretzels, entrepreneur Carsten Maschmeyer and Alexander Gerfer, CEO and CTO of Würth Elektronik eiSos Group. Around 1,200 participants attended the open event at the university´s Audimax, including many students.

An exclusive DLD Open AI Cocktail event followed, hosted by the DLD team and Andreas Liebl, Managing Director of appliedAI. The guests took the opportunity to continue the discussion on AI and Sam Altman was available to answer further questions.

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Sam Altman, Co-Founder and CEO of OpenAI, accepted the invitation of Steffi Czerny, DLD Managing Director, and the Technical University of Munich to give the OpenAI Lecture at TUM.   © Dominik Gigler for DLD / Hubert Burda Media

Steffi Czerny with Sam Altman, TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann and TUM Professor Reinhard Heckel (from left to right) © Dominik Gigler for DLD / Hubert Burda Media

Sam Altman spoke with OpenAI Research Engineer Johannes Heidecke and TUM Professor Reinhard Heckel about the future development of AI and ChatGPT © Dominik Gigler for DLD / Hubert Burda Media

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