Cassie Kozyrkov
Staying Safe in the AI Future
#1about 6 minutes
Avoid science fiction and see AI as a tool
AI should be understood as a powerful tool for writing software, not as a person, to avoid common misconceptions.
#2about 2 minutes
Understand that AI objectives are fundamentally subjective
The correct output of an AI system is determined by its intended purpose, making the definition of success subjective.
#3about 4 minutes
Be careful what you ask for from AI systems
AI systems are reliable workers that execute instructions literally, so poorly defined objectives can lead to unintended and foolish outcomes.
#4about 3 minutes
Reinject thoughtfulness into simplified AI instructions
AI development simplifies coding to just an objective and a dataset, requiring developers to consciously add back the thoughtfulness that traditional coding demanded.
#5about 4 minutes
Adopt a reliability mindset and plan for mistakes
Expect AI systems to make mistakes and build in safety nets, adopting a site reliability engineering (SRE) approach to mitigate failures.
#6about 3 minutes
Test models on new data to avoid overfitting
Models can easily memorize training data, so you must test them on a separate, pristine dataset to ensure they have learned to generalize.
#7about 2 minutes
Look for spurious correlations beyond test accuracy
A model can achieve high accuracy by learning unintended patterns, like a background object, rather than the intended subject.
#8about 3 minutes
Treat datasets as textbooks reflecting human bias
Datasets are like textbooks created by humans and inevitably reflect the implicit values and biases of their authors.
#9about 1 minute
Embrace diversity as a requirement for safe AI
Building teams with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and life experiences is a mandatory requirement for identifying and mitigating bias in AI systems.
Related jobs
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.
WALTER GROUP
Wiener Neudorf, Austria
Intermediate
Senior
Python
Data Vizualization
+1
Wilken GmbH
Ulm, Germany
Senior
Kubernetes
AI Frameworks
+3
Matching moments
07:10 MIN
Managing the fear, accountability, and risks of AI
Collaborative Intelligence: The Human & AI Partnership
02:45 MIN
Balancing AI innovation with safety and public trust
AI in Leadership: How Technology is Reshaping Executive Roles
02:02 MIN
Embracing developer responsibility in the age of AI
Official Opening of WeAreDevelopers World Congress
02:47 MIN
Final thoughts on the opportunities and risks of AI
Panel: How AI is changing the world of work
01:19 MIN
Implementing responsible AI principles by design
The State of GenAI & Machine Learning in 2025
02:47 MIN
Final perspectives on the future of AI in software
From Monolith Tinkering to Modern Software Development
01:32 MIN
Developing essential AI and human skills for modern teams
Breaking Silos: Successful Collaboration Between Tech & Business Teams in Complex Enterprise Systems
07:40 MIN
A practical framework for building responsible AI
A walkthrough on Responsible AI Frameworks and Case Studies
Featured Partners
Related Videos
28:05A walkthrough on Responsible AI Frameworks and Case Studies
Toju Duke
35:16How AI Models Get Smarter
Ankit Patel
24:23A hundred ways to wreck your AI - the (in)security of machine learning systems
Balázs Kiss
33:24How is AI changing the leadership role?
Laura Moritz, Nina Levchuk, Laura Möller & Nica Huestegge
48:01What non-automotive Machine Learning projects can learn from automotive Machine Learning projects
Jan Zawadzki
29:30Model Governance and Explainable AI as tools for legal compliance and risk management
Kilian Kluge & Isabel Bär
28:27AI & Ethics
PJ Hagerty
28:54Kill Switch or Moral Compass: Who Programs AI’s Conscience?
Torsten Stiller
Related Articles
View all articles
From learning to earning
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.
Agenda GmbH
Raubling, Germany
Remote
Intermediate
API
Azure
Python
Docker
+10
Agenda GmbH
Remote
Intermediate
API
Azure
Python
Docker
+10
Imec
Azure
Python
PyTorch
TensorFlow
Computer Vision
+1
Alexa Data Services
Shoreham-by-Sea, United Kingdom
Machine Learning
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
RIB Deutschland GmbH
Stuttgart, Germany
Python
Machine Learning
Mixsoft
Remote
API
Python
PyTorch
TensorFlow
+1