Lex Fridman ( /'lɛks 'friːdmæn/; , Russian: ) is a Russian-American computer scientist, podcaster, and an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

researcher. He is a research scientist at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, and he hosts the ''Lex Fridman Podcast'', a podcast and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

series.

Early life

Fridman was born in Chkalovsk on 15 August 1983, and grew up in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. He is primarily of Ukrainian-Jewish descent. His father,

plasma physicist Plasma ()πλάσμα
, Henry George Liddell, R ...

Alexander Fridman, was born in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and serves as the John A. Nyheim Chair Professor and Director of the C.J. Nyheim Plasma Institute at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, S ...

's College of Engineering. His maternal grandmother was born and raised in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1994, Fridman moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of 11. He attended

Neuqua Valley High School Neuqua Valley High School (NVHS) is a public four-year high school located near the corner of Illinois Route 59 and 95th Street in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Neuqua Valley is the counterpar ...

in Naperville, Illinois, graduating in 2001. He then went on to obtain BS and MS degrees in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

at Drexel University in 2010, and completed his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in electrical and computer engineering at Drexel in 2014. His PhD dissertation, ''Learning of Identity from Behavioral Biometrics for Active Authentication'', was completed under the advisement of engineering educators

Moshe Kam Moshe Kam (born October 3, 1955) is an American engineering educator presently serving as the dean of the Newark College of Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Until August 2014 he served as the Robert G. Quinn Professor and de ...

and Steven Weber and sought to "investigate the problem of active authentication on desktop computers and mobile devices".

Career

Computer science

Fridman's career began at

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, where he worked on

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

. He currently serves as a research scientist at MIT. In 2017, he worked on computer vision, deep learning, and planning algorithms for semi-autonomous vehicles. More recent contributions in his field of study have involved research into human-centered artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicle development,

deep learning Deep learning (also known as deep structured learning) is part of a broader family of machine learning methods based on artificial neural networks with representation learning. Learning can be supervised, semi-supervised or unsupervised. De ...

, and personal robotics.

''Lex Fridman Podcast''

Fridman began his podcast in 2018, initially as part of the MIT course 6.S099 on artificial general intelligence. Its original title was the ''Artificial Intelligence Podcast'', which was later changed to the ''Lex Fridman Podcast'' to reflect the wider range of topics it would address. Fridman uses the podcast to discuss "AI, science, technology, history, philosophy and the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power". The podcast is structured as a long-form interview program. Interviews are conducted in-person, typically running two to four hours in length. The podcast has featured musician Ye, chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, and businessmen

Ray Dalio Raymond Thomas Dalio (born August 8, 1949) is an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager, who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in ...

, Jack Dorsey,

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

, and

Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...

Personal life

Fridman plays the guitar and piano. He also practices

Brazilian jiu jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

and holds a first-degree

black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

under

Phil Migliarese Phil "Jiu-Jitsu Matrix" Migliarese (born Philip Migliarese III, January 11, 1976) is a 6th degree Relson Gracie Brazilian jiu-jitsu Black Belt with over 20 years of experience in BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts. A Gracie Worlds and National Champion ...

. He has competed in several

grappling Grappling, in hand-to-hand combat, describes sports that consist of gripping or seizing the opponent. Grappling is used at close range to gain a physical advantage over an opponent, either by imposing a position or causing injury. Grappling i ...

competitions, most notably in a match against

Garry Tonon Garry Lee Tonon (born September 12, 1991) is an American submission grappler and mixed martial artist. He is a five-time Eddie Bravo Invitational champion, and has won titles at ADCC submission wrestling championship, IBJJF ...

in 2013.

Select bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fridman, Lex American podcasters American YouTubers Russian podcasters Russian YouTubers American people of Russian descent Russian Jews American Jews American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Drexel University alumni Living people Russian emigrants to the United States Russian computer scientists Artificial intelligence researchers Jewish American scientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty 1983 births