Paul Christiano to Deliver 2026 Hinton Lectures in Toronto in November
Paul Christiano, an early OpenAI researcher who developed reinforcement learning from human feedback, will be the lecturer at the 2026 Hinton Lectures in Toronto on November 9-11. The three-night series, co-founded by Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, is in its third year and opens the inaugural AI Safety Week.
- Paul Christiano is the 2026 lecturer for the Hinton Lectures, held in Toronto on November 9-11, 2026.
- Christiano developed reinforcement learning from human feedback as an early OpenAI researcher and founded the Alignment Research Center.
- The three-night series kicks off the inaugural AI Safety Week and is open in person and by livestream.
- Sínead Bovell moderates; Manulife is Presenting Partner and GRI is Founding Partner.
- Tickets are available at hintonlectures.com.
Who is giving the lectures
According to the announcement from the AI Safety Foundation (AISF), Christiano was an early researcher at OpenAI, where he developed reinforcement learning from human feedback. He is the founder and executive director of the Alignment Research Center, a non-profit developing methods to better understand how decisions are happening inside machine learning systems.
He also holds several advisory and board roles. Christiano is Senior Technical Advisor at NIST's Center for AI Standards and Innovation, a Board Member of the OpenAI Foundation and a Member of the OpenAI Safety and Security Committee.
The lecturer is chosen by a Nominating Committee made up of Prof. Hinton; Beth Barnes, Founder and CEO of METR; Roger Grosse, Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society; and Shane Legg, co-founder and Chief AGI Scientist at Google DeepMind. The organizers note that Hinton, Christiano, Barnes and Legg have all been recognized at least once on TIME100's most influential in AI.
Format, venue and partners
The lectures take place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, John W. H. Bassett Theatre, and are broadcast online. The organizers describe the series as a way of demystifying AI for the public and providing a platform for open, accessible discussion on its future. It is open to the public, in person or by livestream, and tickets are available at hintonlectures.com.
This year's event will be moderated by Canadian futurist, writer and podcaster Sínead Bovell, who is also the founder of WAYE, a tech education initiative that prepares the next generation of leaders for a future shaped by advanced technologies.
Manulife is the Presenting Partner and the Global Risk Institute (GRI) is the Founding Partner. According to the release, their combined support underscores the growing importance of industry leadership in the safe and ethical development of AI. TELUS is an evening sponsor.
Previous lecturers were Jacob Steinhardt, Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley and Founder of Transluce, in 2024, and Owain Evans, Director of Truthful AI, in 2025.
What the organizers and sponsors say
Ankesh Chandaria, CEO of AISF, said: "Canada helped build the foundations of modern AI." He added that the pressing question "isn't what these systems can do, but what they should do and who gets to decide."
Jodie Wallis, Global Chief AI Officer at Manulife, said the company's support reflects its commitment to advancing the responsible use of AI. Sonia Baxendale, President and CEO of GRI, said her organization recognized early the need for broader discussion of these issues, with a view to the safeguards needed in financial services. Pam Snively, Chief Data & Trust Officer at TELUS, called the lectures "a world-leading forum" bringing together researchers, industry leaders, policymakers and the public.
What it means
The lectures give the public direct access to a researcher whose work on reinforcement learning from human feedback and on alignment is closely tied to how current AI systems are built and overseen. Because the series is livestreamed and ticketed to the general public, it is aimed at a wider audience than specialist conferences. Its placement at the start of AI Safety Week also signals that Toronto organizers plan further safety-focused programming, though the source gives no details on other events.
