#conference

“It took OpenAI two days to notice that a recording device was hidden in a restricted executive conference room where leadership met to discuss highly confidential information, including technical progress, government engagements, and commercial partnerships.
Only those with special clearance are supposed to access that room. But the FBI believes the recording device was planted by Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old engineer from Saudi Arabia, who became a permanent US legal resident in 2020. In a press release Tuesday announcing his arrest, the FBI alleged that chatbot logs and CCTV footage suggested that Alfozan—who worked as an OpenAI engineer for more than a year—sought to use the device to spy on OpenAI and risked leaking trade secrets in a way that threatened national security.
To conceal the USB device, Alfozan allegedly wrapped it in toilet paper, then plugged it into the back of a conference room television. The device was likely planted on September 28, and OpenAI found it on September 30 and quickly determined that its contents were encrypted, the FBI said. Days later, on October 5, OpenAI installed a camera in that conference room, and the CCTV footage allegedly showed Alfozan attempting to retrieve the device”

Excerpt From
“Recording device hidden in toilet paper found in top-secret OpenAI meeting room”

They seem to be hogs when it comes to who gets to attend these, they spend thousands of dollars on flights and hotels and conference costs. Yeah, absolutely nothing comes out of it. They do nothing to share with the company of the point of attending these conferences, but their LinkedIn seems to grow tenfold within days..

I see many colleagues serving as judges, chairs, and co‑chairs at ACS and AIChE conferences. Does that actually help your XOM career ?

With all the executive turnover, it feels like this Forum is going to be rough from a client messaging perspective. I'd be seriously questioning if there is enough actual leadership to move the company forward.

Also, the conference website shows only two featured speakers, Takis and a behavioral scientist I have never heard of. In years past there has been former presidents and major celebrities. I hope more is going to be announced soon because that is a very weak lineup.

LC is speaking at the conference this week. Will he be man enough to address the extreme dysfunction and unhappiness in the IT function? Its absolutely miserable and most people are burned out.

How will Cisco present its AI work? Those getting laid off were not allowed to represent CL even if their speaker sessions were approved. Anyone LRed able to go?

A considerable number of DXC colleagues travelled to Sapphire Orlando from around the world yet the DXC stand saw remarkably little activity throughout the event. In contrast neighbouring supplier stands were consistently busy and well engaged with customers. It was disappointing to see such limited interest at our stand and it speaks volumes about where DXC currently stands in the market.

Please stop sending unprepared or poorly matched representatives as the face of the team or organization to seminars and conferences (external events). It was embarrassing to watch our representative at the AIChE recruiting event struggle to communicate and barely explain the material. We had to step in repeatedly to help her.
The same issue happens when people who simply want the spotlight are allowed to present technical work they cannot clearly articulate. Wanting visibility does not mean they can represent the science of the work they didn't contribute to.

Whats the deal with the Anthropic partnership? How's its gonna be funded?

Why is the stock still hovering near its 52-week lows? With the IBM Think conference in Boston underway, you’d expect all the “good news” coming out of it to provide some lift. It’s essentially a homecoming-style rally for IBM—so why does the stock keep falling instead?

What is it with all these Growth Symposiums and Practicums with all these highly paid people flying around, sharing the same stuff, and seeing no material progress? I thought it would end with KD and RM but it still seems to continue. Will it ever stop and money spent in actual product development?

P66 is is speaking at the Piper Sandler Energy Conference next week. Go-Go usually talks about 95% of Phillips allotted time at these things but this time he’s not listed as a speaker. Just the Refining VP and the Saucy CFO.

Some of us were not invited to the party in Vegas. How goes SKO and what about the CEO msg??

Looking for honest feedback.

https://about.att.com/story/2025/stankey-ubs-conference.html

With everything going on in Telecom wonder what will be addressed.

Looking forward to a table full of bluescreens at the CES 2026 exhibition in Las Vegas on January 5th. Anyone want to sell there car and split to cost of a hotel room?

Some tone deaf people are posting non stop on LinkedIn as if it’s BAU..
stfu.. you might be on the list as well.. just be quiet for sometime. I do not want to hear about your AI conferences.

I see that it’s now the Client Conference and it’s in Vegas. Is this the first time in Vegas? Doesn’t matter. It’s never coming back.

LinkedIn is full of mixed messages - some like Oliver use 18,000, while others including those in ELT say 20,000 in crowd. Didn’t they know actual attendance or at very minimal have an agreed messaging on communication. All we see is AI and AI focused contents. Can those in attendance confirm or deny? Was there enough booze and parties with related side fun. Anything jumps out?

Expecting some big announcements during GSX

Last August Ruelas and Shanks said there would be a SKO 2025 in Feb, that never happened, yeah they were drunk and acting as clowns. Any ideas when it might happen ;-) …

…and stay for more leader insights at EG Conference 2025.

Like, who in the F is clicking on that?

Seriously.