Ian Goodfellow is a Research Scientist at DeepMind – a leading AI research laboratory that is now a subsidiary of Google. It is natural that an organisation of that stature only recruits the best in the field, and there are few as brilliant as Ian. Recognised as one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35, Ian is a force to be reckoned with. He is now available to book for a wide range of events where he talks extensively about his area of expertise – machine learning.
Ian has worked at some, if not all of the best technology and AI organisations in the world. He started as a Software Engineering Intern at Google, later becoming a Research Scientist at Google where he worked on TensorFlow. After becoming the Senior Research Scientist and member of the Google Brain Team, Ian joined as a Research Scientist at OpenAI. He returned to Google and worked with them as a Senior Staff Research Scientist. In 2019 Ian Joined as the Director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group at Apple, working there for just over 3 years.
Ian is the person who invented the Generative Adversarial Network, a machine learning model which dignitaries like Andrew Ng have described as a “significant and fundamental advance”. The basic premise of this model is that two neural (a generator and a discriminator) networks are pitted against each other, made to outwit each other. GANs are supposedly an advancement towards machines that have human-like consciousness and are likely to supply machines with a vestige of imagination. However, it goes without saying that this does leave people vulnerable to a rapid circulation of disinformation and deepfakes, something Ian believes can be counteracted by societal solutions.
Ian’s work is heavily inspired by his mentor, Yoshua Bengio (fondly known as one of the three godfathers of AI), who he came in contact with when pursuing his PhD in Machine Learning from the Universite de Montreal. Ian also has an MSc and BSc in Computer Science from Stanford University. Ian has written a textbook called “Deep Learning” and was a part of Foreign Policy’s 100 Global Thinkers list. An unrivalled industry leader in machine learning, there is a lot that Ian can speak on when hired as a speaker. When looking for a thought leader to speak at your upcoming AI event, there is no one better than Ian Goodfellow. Book him today!
