Yann LeCun

Yann LeCun is a French computer scientist working as chief artificial intelligence (AI) scientist for Facebook AI Research (FAIR) and Silver Professor at New York University, mainly affiliated with the NYU Center for Data Science, and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. LeCun is known for work in machine learning (ML) and AI with applications in computer vision, natural language understanding, robotics, and computational neuroscience. He is widely credited for his research in deep learning and advancing the use of convolutional neural networks. LeCun is the recipient of the 2018 ACM Turing Award alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, for "conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing."

Born on July 8, 1960, LeCun grew up in the suburbs of Paris. Originally called "Le Cun," he dropped the space later in life while living in America after people confused "Le" as his middle name. LeCun attended the Ecole Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Electrotechnique et Electronique in Paris (ESIEE Paris), graduating with the equivalent of a masters degree in electrical engineering in 1983. His work focused on microchip design and automation. While an undergraduate, LeCun also began independent research on machine learning, a subject he first became interested in after watching the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Machine Learning became the centerpiece of his PhD work at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (now merged with Sorbonne University). Completing his PhD in 1987, LeCun's research focused on neural networks. In his thesis, LeCun proposed an early form of what is now known as the error backpropagation algorithm.

After a postdoc at the University of Toronto, LeCun joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ in 1988. He went on to become the head of the Image Processing Research Department at AT&T Labs-Research in 1996. After a brief period as a Fellow of the NEC Research Institute in Princeton, he joined NYU as a professor in 2003. In 2013, LeCun was hired to run Facebook's newly established AI research division. After four years, LeCun stepped down from a management role to devote himself to the company's research, becoming chief AI scientist. From 2012 to 2014 he was the founding director of the NYU Center for Data Science. Yann is also the co-director of the CIFAR program on Neural Computation and Adaptive Perception Program with Yoshua Bengio.

In the late 1980s, LeCun proposed artificial neural networks that imitate the human brain allowing computers to develop skills without the need for manual programming. In the 90s, he developed neural networks that could recognize images and continued to pioneer the use of convolutional neural networks across a number of applications. While at Facebook (now Meta), LeCun has helped develop a number of important AI innovations including object identification models and the use of AI in the company's attempt to crack down on misinformation.

LeCun is a vocal advocate for AI technology and argues back against some of the fears surrounding its use, stating:

Robots taking over the world, Terminator-style or Ex Machina style — these are entertaining topics but they are not realistic at all

As well as receiving the 2018 Turing Award, LeCun is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, a fellow of AAAI, the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award, the 2015 IEEE Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence Distinguished Researcher Award, the 2016 Lovie Award for Lifetime Achievement, the University of Pennsylvania Pender Award, and received honorary doctorates from IPN, Mexico and EPFL.