Co-founder & former Chief Scientist, OpenAI Now leading new AI safety-focused initiative (2025)
Ilya Sutskever is one of the most influential figures in the development of modern artificial intelligence. As co-founder and former Chief Scientist of OpenAI, he played a central role in the creation of breakthrough models such as GPT-2, GPT-3, and ChatGPT. Before OpenAI, Sutskever worked with Geoffrey Hinton at the University of Toronto, contributing foundational work to deep learning. He also helped develop the AlexNet architecture that catalysed the deep learning revolution. In 2024, Sutskever shifted focus toward building AI systems that are aligned, interpretable, and safe for long-term deployment. His work bridges cutting-edge capabilities and existential safety concerns.
“The closer we get to truly intelligent systems, the more critical alignment becomes — we need to get this right the first time.”