Sakana AI hires Schmidhuber as chief scientific advisor
Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based startup, has appointed Jürgen Schmidhuber as its chief scientific advisor. Schmidhuber, often called the 'father of modern AI,' is credited with foundational work in world models (1990) and deep learning techniques (1991). His 1987 thesis on meta-learning and recursive self-improvement laid the groundwork for AI systems that can learn to learn autonomously.
Key points
- Jürgen Schmidhuber joins Sakana AI as chief scientific advisor, credited with 1990 world models and 1991 deep learning work
- Sakana AI plans RSI lab to build self-reinforcing research loop for AI self-improvement, led by Schmidhuber
- Startup positions itself to merge Japan’s AI/robotics legacy with physical AI systems using world models
Sakana highlights Schmidhuber’s influence on its projects, including the Darwin Gödel Machine and The AI Scientist. The startup envisions a future where AI transcends language and achieves physical intelligence through world models. Schmidhuber will lead Sakana’s new RSI lab, focused on creating a self-reinforcing research loop to accelerate machine intelligence. Sakana aims to assemble a 'critical mass of world-class experts' in Tokyo to advance this vision.
Sakana AI hires Jürgen Schmidhuber, inventor of deep learning, world models, and your next ChatGPT update
The Decoder · 24 September 2026
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