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On Fri, 15 Nov, 4:01 PM UTC
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AI pioneer Francois Chollet leaves Google
Francois Chollet, a leading figure in the AI world, is leaving Google after close to a decade. In a post on X, Chollet said that he's starting a new company with "a friend" -- but declined to reveal additional details. "I'm very grateful for my decade at Google," he said. "In that timespan, deep learning went from a niche academic topic to a massive industry employing millions." Chollet is perhaps best known as the creator of Keras, a high-level, open-source API that can be used to create AI models and solve machine learning problems. A post on Google's developer blog notes that Keras has over two million users, and powers a number of high-profile tech products, from Waymo's self-driving cars to the recommendation engines on YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify. In 2019, Chollet published the Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus for Artificial General Intelligence (ARC-AGI) benchmark, which measures the ability of AI systems to solve novel reasoning problems. This year, he launched the ARC Prize, a $1 million competition to solve ARC-AGI. (It remains unwon.) In 2021, Chollet won the Global Swiss AI Award for breakthroughs in AI. And in September, he was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in AI. Chollet said that Jeff Carpenter, a machine learning engineer at Google, will taking over as team lead for Keras. "I have full confidence in Jeff and the incredibly talented Keras team to continue pushing the boundaries of what's possible in deep learning," Chollet wrote in his post. "I will stay deeply involved with the Keras project from the outside."
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Francois Chollet, The Man Behind Keras, Quits Google
Chollet introduced the ARC-AGI evaluation in 2019. This remains the only formal benchmark for AGI. Francois Chollet, a leading AI researcher at Google and the creator of Keras, the deep-learning framework, announced his exit from the company. Chollet took to X to share that he would continue to advise Google. Chollet's departure from Google marks a significant development. Other notable exits this year include Julian Schrittwieser, a leading AI researcher who left Google DeepMind to join Anthropic. Additionally, Shailesh Prakash, vice president of Google News, stepped down over growing AI and news traffic disputes. Last year, Geoffrey Hinton, often referred to as the godfather of AI, also parted ways with Google. "Today, we're announcing that Francois Chollet, the creator of Keras and a leading figure in the AI world, is embarking on a new chapter in his career outside of Google. Keras is more than just a tool -- it's a community driving AI innovation," Google posted on its official blog. "As Francais Chollet begins a new chapter, our commitment to Keras and open-source AI remains strong." Google noted that Keras has over two million users and has become essential in AI development. It simplifies workflows and makes advanced technology widely accessible. It supports applications like Waymo, YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify. Chollet was dedicated to Keras, ensuring its support for JAX, TensorFlow, and PyTorch, while continuing to guide its development. Google's commitment to Keras 3 highlights its support for major ML frameworks, offering developers flexibility. The launch of Keras Hub further democratises access to AI tools, speeding up the creation of innovative multimodal applications. Chollet introduced the ARC-AGI evaluation in 2019. His research paper 'On the Measure of Intelligence', aimed to fairly measure human-like intelligence in AI systems. His Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus (ARC-AGI) remains the only formal benchmark for AGI. He hypothesised that it would be difficult to beat, and it still remains unbeaten. Recently on X, Sam Altman hinted that they might have achieved this benchmark internally, however, Chollet disregarded this claim as premature. Earlier this year, he introduced the ARC Prize 2024, offering a $1.1M prize pool to advance AI innovation. In the first ARC-AGI competition in 2020, the winning team achieved only a 21% success rate. In 2022, Chollet and Lab42 launched ARCathon 2022, with 118 teams competing globally. In ARCathon 2023, 265+ teams from 65 countries competed, with two teams tying at a 30% success rate.
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Francois Chollet, creator of Keras and a leading figure in AI, leaves Google after a decade to start a new company. His departure marks a significant shift in the AI landscape.
Francois Chollet, a prominent figure in the artificial intelligence (AI) community, has announced his departure from Google after nearly a decade of service. Chollet, best known as the creator of Keras, a popular open-source deep learning framework, shared the news via a post on X (formerly Twitter) 1.
During his tenure at Google, Chollet made significant contributions to the field of AI:
Keras: Developed by Chollet, Keras has become an essential tool in AI development, boasting over two million users worldwide. It powers various high-profile tech products, including Waymo's self-driving cars and recommendation engines for YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify 1.
ARC-AGI Benchmark: In 2019, Chollet introduced the Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus for Artificial General Intelligence (ARC-AGI), a benchmark designed to measure AI systems' ability to solve novel reasoning problems 2.
ARC Prize: This year, Chollet launched the ARC Prize, a $1 million competition aimed at solving the ARC-AGI benchmark, which remains unbeaten 1.
Chollet's work in AI has earned him significant recognition:
While Chollet has not disclosed detailed plans, he mentioned starting a new company with a friend. He expressed gratitude for his time at Google, noting the significant growth of deep learning during his tenure 1.
Jeff Carpenter, a machine learning engineer at Google, will take over as team lead for Keras. Chollet has expressed confidence in Carpenter and the Keras team's ability to continue advancing deep learning capabilities 1.
Chollet's departure from Google follows a trend of high-profile exits in the AI field:
Despite Chollet's departure, Google has reaffirmed its commitment to Keras and open-source AI. The company continues to support Keras 3, which offers compatibility with major machine learning frameworks, providing developers with increased flexibility 2.
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François Chollet, creator of Keras and ARC-AGI benchmark, co-founds Ndea, an AI research lab focused on developing AGI through program synthesis and deep learning techniques.
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Liam Fedus, OpenAI's VP of research for post-training, leaves the company to found a materials science AI startup, with OpenAI planning to invest and partner in the new venture.
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Joelle Pineau, Meta's VP of AI research, plans to leave the company in May after eight years, creating a high-level vacancy as Meta ramps up its AI investments and competes aggressively in the AI space.
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OpenAI experiences a significant brain drain as key technical leaders depart, raising questions about the company's future direction and ability to maintain its competitive edge in AI research and development.
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