Yoshua Bengio (born March 5, 1964) is a Canadian computer scientist renowned for his work in artificial neural networks and deep learning. He is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at the University of Montreal and the Scientific Director of the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA). Alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, Bengio was awarded the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award for their groundbreaking contributions to deep learning. Together, Bengio, Hinton, and LeCun are often referred to as the "Godfathers of AI" and the "Fathers of Deep Learning."
Early Life and Education
Bengio was born into a Jewish family in France, which had immigrated from Morocco before settling in Canada. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, followed by a Master's and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from McGill University.
Bengio is the brother of Samy Bengio, a former scientist at Google. The Bengio brothers spent a year in Morocco during their father's service there. Their father, Carlo Bengio, was a pharmacist, playwright, and the director of a Sephardic theater troupe in Montreal that performed Judeo-Arabic works. Their mother, Célia Moreno, was also an artist and acted in Morocco's prominent theater scene during the 1970s.
Career and Research Contributions
After completing his Ph.D., Bengio held postdoctoral positions at MIT (under the supervision of Michael I. Jordan) and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Since 1993, he has been a faculty member at the University of Montreal, where he leads MILA and co-directs the Learning in Machines and Brains program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).
Cade Metz, a prominent technology journalist, considers Bengio, along with Geoffrey Hinton and Yann LeCun, to be among the three most influential figures in the development of deep learning during the 1990s and early 2000s. According to MILA, Bengio is the most cited computer scientist with an h-index of at least 100.
In October 2016, Bengio co-founded Element AI, a Montreal-based AI incubator aimed at transforming AI research into real-world commercial applications. However, due to challenges in developing marketable products and losing key partnerships, the company ran out of funding and options by 2020. In November of that year, it was announced that Element AI would be sold to the U.S. software company ServiceNow. This sale, which exported taxpayer-funded intellectual property to the U.S., contradicted Bengio's vision of Element AI becoming a Canadian competitor to global tech giants.
In May 2017, Bengio joined Botler AI, a Montreal-based legal tech startup, as a strategic advisor. He currently serves as a scientific and technical advisor to Recursion Pharmaceuticals and a scientific advisor to Valence Discovery.
Awards and Honors
- A.M. Turing Award (2018)
- Killam Prize in Natural Sciences (2018)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of London (2020)
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2017)
- Knight of the Legion of Honour, France (2022)
- Member of the Order of Canada (2017)
- IEEE CIS Neural Networks Pioneer Award (2019)
Legacy and Impact
Yoshua Bengio's contributions to deep learning have been instrumental in advancing the field of artificial intelligence. His work has not only shaped the theoretical foundations of AI but also paved the way for practical applications that impact industries worldwide. As a leading figure in AI ethics and policy, Bengio continues to advocate for the responsible development and deployment of AI technologies, ensuring they benefit society as a whole.
