A conversation with LeVar Burton on how generative AI will change the world

LeVar Burton—known for his role as Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in Star Trek and as the host and executive producer of the beloved PBS children's series Reading Rainbow—recently sat down for a fireside chat with Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Security, Vasu Jakkal, to discuss the impact of generative AI on our world.

Learn more:

CHAPTERS
0:07 Introduction
01:32 Impact of Star Trek
03:30 How Star Trek influenced Vasu Jakkal to pursue a career in tech
04:58 Do No Harm as a principal tenet of Star Trek and how it applies to tech
6:01 Security challenges facing humanity
8:00 Pace of adoption of technology
9:59 Generative AI is an inflection point for our world
10:43 LeVar Burton's first job as an actor and the transformation of storytelling through technology
11:40 LeVar Burton's prayer for the future of generative AI
12:22 The mission of Microsoft and Microsoft Security
14:04 The importance of safety in this AI arena
15:25 Copilot technology as an education tool
16:50 LeVar commends Microsoft's passion towards making AI safer for all
18:00 What does Responsible AI look like?
19:30 The younger generation ethics inspires and gives LeVar Burton hope
21:25 Conclusion


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[moshmoshpitpit]

This conversation was a dance. Nice work!

[iSpike]

🚀 🧑‍🚀🛸Copilot brings the Universe into my life.
As a 62yo lover of Sci-fi STARTREK and this Actor with his hair-clip glasses along with the rest of the cast took me on many a Galactic journey. I say THANK YOU 🙏🏻
Much love 💙 and respect. Cheers from Western Australia 🇦🇺 ✌🏻😎

[andromeda]

Amazing! Thank you for this conversation👍

[NikoKun]

Everyone watching this needs to consider the implications AI will have on our economy very soon. Because we cannot stop it, nor do we want to, and we need to start preparing for what it means! AI will only keep advancing. Ignore the instinct to think it'll never do certain things, for I can assure you it will, and far sooner than you may expect. Don't believe those who say we don't need to prepare, as they're probably the ones who'll profit the most from the rest of us struggling. It's not going to create anywhere near enough "new jobs" quickly enough to reemploy all those it will displace! What new jobs could it create, that it couldn't also do itself? AI exists thanks to years of data and content, collected from all of us, that goes into training it to then out compete us. Demand your AI Dividend! Your piece of the benefits your data helped create. How else will we keep workers afloat while they figure out what to do next, how else can we protect the middle class from losing everything they've built? I've yet to hear a better answer, that doesn't just dismiss what's coming.

[ivideogameboss]

I just realized her shoes are dusty from her camping trip.

[MichaelForbes-dp]

This has some 1984 vibes. Bow to your new overlords. Though they claim to be small and soft.

[ScroogeMcWhat]

It is as though it is stuck looking forward from the point it was invented. It is not clearly defining the oldest senses of words and instead breaking that original definition into many separate uses of the words as metaphorical meanings and treating the modern sense of the word as its original meaning as in examples animation or protest. I think that it is subject to a high amount of input too potentially just go crazy when it is doing that.

[JULIANAHASSANI]

Hope it will be free for everyone like a right of life everywhere 🟠 game changing ❕