Jakub Pachocki is appointed as OpenAI’s New Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever Steps Down

OpenAI has announced the appointment of Jakub Pachocki as its new Chief Scientist, taking over from Ilya Sutskever.

Pachocki, who joined OpenAI in 2017 and has held several key roles, including Director of Research, will now lead the organization’s research initiatives. His focus will be on scaling deep learning systems and advancing AI research.

Pachocki’s transition into this role marks a significant moment for OpenAI, as he brings a strong computer science and machine learning background to the forefront of the company’s technological advancements.

He added, “His incredible vision for what deep learning could become was foundational to what OpenAI, and the field of AI, is today. I am deeply grateful to him for our countless conversations, from high-level discussions about the future of AI progress, to deeply technical whiteboarding sessions. Ilya – I will miss working with you,”

Jakub Pachocki has an impressive educational background; he earned his PhD in theoretical computer science from Carnegie Mellon University, where he focused on developing algorithms tailored for machine learning applications.

Sam Altman expressed sadness over Ilya Sutskever’s departure from OpenAI, praising him as one of the greatest minds and a crucial figure in the company’s success. Altman is grateful for Sutskever’s contributions and is committed to continuing their shared mission. Jakub Pachocki is named the new Chief Scientist, recognized for his significant intellect and leadership in major projects, ensuring continued progress towards beneficial AI.

Message from Sam to the company

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less important.
OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together. I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity.
Jakub is going to be our new Chief Scientist. Jakub is also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation; I am thrilled he is taking the baton here. He has run many of our most important projects, and I am very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.

In response to this, Jakub added: “I’m honored to take on this new role and continue to work towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone, I’m excited to build on the foundation laid by Ilya and the entire OpenAI team, and I’m committed to driving progress in AI research and development.”