Ilya’s Latest Speech Analysis: Learning Is the Final Key to Mastery in the AI Era

“AI will ultimately possess unpredictable capabilities, and we are not yet prepared.” — Ilya Sutskever

Recently, a speech by Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI, has sparked widespread discussion.

This speech was delivered when he received an honorary degree from the Open University. In it, Sutskever shared his legendary journey from Russia to Israel, and then to Canada, becoming a leading researcher in the field of AI.

Some say it was a retrospective; others see it as a candid confession. But more accurately, it was a deep reflection on the ability to “learn” — the starting point of his life and possibly the future direction of AI.

Self-learning Changed His Life Forever

Sutskever was born in Russia and immigrated to Israel with his parents when he was five years old.

He was a typical good student. By chance, his parents discovered the Open University, and starting from eighth grade, he began self-studying courses from the Open University.

That was the first time he gained the confidence that “he could understand everything”: as long as he took his time reading, he would definitely comprehend it.

Later, his whole family moved to Toronto. Instead of going back to high school, he went straight to the public library to find books on machine learning.

It was the year 2002. At that time, machine learning was still a niche topic mostly confined to academia; the mainstream was expert systems, and image recognition was just beginning to emerge. But he didn’t follow the trend — he pursued answers to his own questions.

He said he wanted to figure out one thing: Can computers learn? Is learning even possible?

This question became the central theme of his life.

Later, by a twist of fate, he joined the University of Toronto, became a student of Geoffrey Hinton, and together with the team created AlexNet, which marked the beginning of the deep learning era.

He and his team were acquired by Google and joined Google Brain. Later, together with several friends, he co-founded the OpenAI we all know in the Bay Area.

From a boy flipping through books in the library to a researcher building the world’s most powerful AI models, he has always been revolving around that question: What does true learning mean? How is understanding formed? Is it possible for machines to take that next step?

The Ultimate Goal of AI Learning

In the middle of his speech, he talked about the future of AI. Everyone expected him to discuss the technological landscape beyond ChatGPT, but instead, he said we are not yet ready.

He wasn’t standing on stage to make predictions; rather, after decades of research, he posed a question to humanity—

Do we understand AI? And does it understand us?

If one day AI can conduct medical research—cure diseases, even extend life—that would be a good thing. But the problem is this: if AI can do these things, what else might it be able to do?

Once AI learns how to learn, it could then create even smarter AI on its own.

At that moment, what should we do?

There is no answer. Ilya doesn’t have one either. He simply says that we need to be prepared, even though there is no clear method right now.

When these words come from him, they carry a different weight. He doesn’t think about the future like a CEO such as Altman, nor does he sound the alarm like Musk. He is more like a researcher, constantly asking himself, the machines, and the world—how far can “learning” really go?

Ilya’s Moment of Closure

At the end of the speech, he said that for a long time, the Open University represented his entire faith in learning.

It was not just a diploma on paper, but a symbol. It was the first time he truly understood that as long as you are willing to learn, you can really go far.

That boy who taught himself from textbooks and searched the library for introductory machine learning books now stands at the center of the global AI industry. He said this is a perfect closure of the loop.

He didn’t use words like “gratitude,” but rather “faith.” What he believes in is not the education system, but learning itself.

Some Thoughts to Share

After watching this speech, I’ve had a strange feeling lingering in my mind.

The AI industry today is booming — models grow bigger by the day, products update week after week. But those truly at the forefront, like Ilya, aren’t talking about getting faster or stronger; they say, “We still don’t know.”

He doesn’t speak fast or emotionally, yet every sentence feels like an echo from the edge of knowledge.

He’s not complaining, nor selling a futuristic vision. He’s simply reminding us that AI won’t wait for us to be ready before it evolves. It is learning, and so must we. We can’t just watch, use, or tweak it.

Whether AI’s future can be controlled or aligned—no one can say for sure. But one thing is certain:

If humans give up on learning, they will truly never understand it.