There is perhaps no better man to alert the mainstream of the possibilities and/or dangers of AI. His comments have no doubt encouraged many people to look into this area. Some of these people may be capable of helping create Friendly AI in the future. In my opinion Steven Hawking believed making these comments were for the greater good of society and I tend to agree with him.
From the BBC:
There is, however, no mention of Friendly AI or similar principles.
In my opinion, this is particularly notable for the coverage this story is getting within the mainstream media. At the current time, this is the most-read and most-shared news story on the BBC website.