Biography:David Ha
David Ha | |
|---|---|
| Born | British Hong Kong |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Education | University of Toronto (BS, MS), University of Tokyo (PhD) |
| Occupation | Machine learning researcher |
| Employer | Sakana AI |
David Ha is a Canadian[1] machine learning researcher, co-founder and CEO of Sakana AI.
Biography
Ha was born in British Hong Kong.[2] He received an undergraduate degree in engineering science and a masters in mathematical finance from the University of Toronto[3] and a PhD from the University of Tokyo.[4][5] He worked as a derivatives trader, becoming a managing director at Goldman Sachs in Japan.[5][6] For six years he worked at Google as a researcher,[7][8] helping create and lead Google Brain in Tokyo.[2][9] In 2022, Ha left Google to join Stability AI as head of research.[10] In June 2023, he resigned from Stability to found Sakana AI along with his former Google colleague Llion Jones,[11][10] also joined by Ren Ito.[12] Ha was named one of TIME 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025.[13]
References
- ↑ Forster, Katie (September 10, 2025). "Top Japan startup Sakana AI touts nature-inspired tech". The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/09/10/companies/sakana-ai-interview/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lee, Min Jeong; Katsuki, Natsuko (2024-04-12). "Google alums go big in Japan with months-old startup Sakana AI" (in en). https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2024/04/12/companies/former-google-researchers-tokyo-startup/.
- ↑ "David Ha named to Time100 AI 2025" (in en). University of Toronto. https://www.utoronto.ca/celebrates/david-ha-named-time100-ai-2025.
- ↑ David, Ha (2022-05-26). Abstractions in Machine Learning (PhD thesis). The University of Tokyo. doi:10.15083/0002012010. Retrieved 2026-08-30.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "David Ha" (in en). 2025-10-01. https://milkeninstitute.org/events/asia-summit-2025/speakers/david-ha.
- ↑ Moharana, Pabitra (2025-12-24). "How is David Ha Transforming AI in Japan?" (in en). https://analyticsindiamag.com/people/david-ha.
- ↑ Dean, Jeff (January 5, 2017). "Google Brain Residency Program - 7 months in and looking ahead". https://research.google/blog/google-brain-residency-program-7-months-in-and-looking-ahead/.
- ↑ Crichton, Danny (February 14, 2024). "How an anonymous blog during the neural network winter led to Japan’s national AI champion". https://blog.riskgaming.com/p/how-an-anonymous-blog-during-the-neural-network-winter-led-to-japans-national-ai-champion.
- ↑ Murgia, Madhumita (2023-08-17). "Top Google AI experts pick Japan to set up on their own". Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/1f0cee71-2a44-4080-8c79-b037243ac6f5?syn-25a6b1a6=1.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Metz, Rachel (2023-06-26). "Stability AI Head of Research Resigns From Startup". Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-26/stability-ai-head-of-research-resigns-from-startup.
- ↑ Novet, Jordan (2023-08-17). "Google A.I. researcher says he left to build a startup after encountering 'big company-itis'" (in en). https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/17/transformer-co-author-llion-jones-leaves-google-for-startup-sakana-ai.html.
- ↑ Ryuichi, Maruyama (2025-03-07). "[Special Feature: The Future of AI in Japan: Can Tokyo be a global hub for AI development? Interview with Ren Ito, co-founder of fast-rising Sakana AI"] (in en). https://sj.jst.go.jp/stories/2025/s0306-02p.html.
- ↑ Booth, Harry (2025-08-27). "David Ha: The 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025". https://time.com/collections/time100-ai-2025/7305851/david-ha/.
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