From co-authoring seminal research papers to co-founding the research organization that developed ChatGPT, few people have been as influential in shaping the artificial intelligence landscape — and conversations around the technology’s responsible use — as Ilya Sutskever.

As a University of Toronto graduate student, Sutskever co-authored one of the most cited academic papers of this century and has since played a central role in driving the development and adoption of a technology that is transforming the economy, society and people’s everyday lives.

Today, for his foundational work and global impact as a computer scientist and artificial intelligence (AI) visionary, and for his outstanding service as an advocate of safe and responsible AI, Sutskever will receive a Doctor of Science, honoris causa, from U of T.

Born in Russia and raised in Israel, Sutskever became fascinated with computing at age five, when he first laid eyes on a computer — “I was utterly enchanted,” — and his interest continued into his teen years, when he emigrated to Canada with his family.

Even as a teenager, Sutskever envisioned building computers with human-like capabilities. “I remember thinking a lot about the nature of existence and consciousness … about souls and intelligence. I felt very strongly that learning was this mysterious thing: humans clearly learn, computers clearly don’t.”

Admitted into U of T’s math program out of Grade 11, Sutskever immediately immersed himself in upper-year courses. Graduating with an honours bachelor of science degree in mathematics in 2005, he went on to earn a master’s degree and PhD in computer science at U of T — the latter under the supervision of Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, .

Hinton recalls being hugely impressed with Sutskever in their early interactions. , the “godfather of AI” recounted giving Sutskever — who had knocked on his door and expressed an interest in joining his lab — a paper to read and being taken aback by the clarity of his responses. “His immediate reaction to things were reactions that had taken experts in the field quite a long time to come up with,” Hinton said.

Among Sutskever’s research projects at U of T was a program that used neural networks, which are computational models inspired by the human brain, to learn about language and generate text — a crude forerunner to ChatGPT. “I give it an initial segment of text. And I say, from this text, keep on producing text that you think looks like Wikipedia,” .

Then, in 2012, Sutskever, Hinton and another of Hinton’s graduate students, Alex Krizhevsky, developed AlexNet, a convolutional neural network that was trained to identify objects in a purpose-built image database with far more accuracy than competing approaches — effectively changing the AI game overnight. (The source code for AlexNet is to be in Silicon Valley.)

(Photo: Lisa Sakulensky)

Sutskever then joined Hinton’s spinoff company DNNResearch, which was later acquired by Google. Brought on as a research scientist at Google Brain, he contributed to yet another AI milestone: — and then beating a professional (human) player. He also co-developed sequence-to-sequence models, which are foundational to current machine translation systems.

In 2015, Sutskever co-founded OpenAI, serving as its research director and later as chief scientist. Under his leadership, OpenAI introduced the large language models that power ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot now used by millions around the world for everything from drafting emails and sourcing recipes to writing computer code. And he played a central role in the creation of large reasoning models, which perform complex reasoning tasks.

Sutskever left the organization last year and co-founded Safe SuperIntelligence, a company that is developing safe AI systems with superhuman capabilities.

“We plan to advance capabilities as fast as possible while making sure our safety always remains ahead,” Sutskever and co-founders .

Sutskever’s achievements have led to him being elected to the prestigious Royal Society in the UK and being named among TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI in 2023 and 2024, among other honours.

— Original story by Rahul Kalvapalle for

(Photo: Matthew Volpe)

Vanguard today announced a new research initiative in collaboration with the ������Ƶ of Computer Science at the University of Toronto to advance AI research and innovation for investors and the financial services industry by drawing on the University of Toronto’s world-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) program.

As part of this collaboration, the University of Toronto ������Ƶ of Computer Science will establish several labs composed of professors, post-doctoral fellows, and students to collaborate with Vanguard’s existing Toronto-based AI research team. Collectively, they will develop broad AI solutions and insights to address complex business challenges and drive innovation within the financial services industry.

“We are delighted to partner with the University of Toronto, a world-renowned academic institution at the cutting edge of AI innovation and research. This collaboration will not only enhance our capabilities to better serve investors with top-tier expertise and resources but also contribute to the broader field of AI, ultimately benefiting our clients and industry,” said Nitin Tandon, Managing Director and Chief Information Officer, Vanguard.

The initial focus of this initiative and research will include developing greater insight into:

• Responsible AI Principles: Ensuring ethical and transparent use of AI.

• Cognitive AI: Developing AI systems that can understand and interact with humans more naturally.

• Autonomous AI Agents: Creating AI systems capable of independent decision-making.

• Adaptive Frameworks for LLM Training: Enhancing the training of large language models to improve performance and reliability.

“This partnership with Vanguard is a significant step forward in applying AI and ML to the financial services sector. By collaborating with Vanguard’s skilled team, we aim to develop practical AI solutions that can directly improve people’s financial decision-making and outcomes. This collaboration will also provide valuable hands-on opportunities for our students and faculty to work on real-world projects, contributing to Toronto’s status as a global hub for AI research and innovation,” said Eyal de Lara, Professor and Chair of the University of Toronto ������Ƶ of Computer Science.

“Over the past fourteen years, we have proudly served Canadian investors and we are happy to grow our presence and team in Toronto, a city that is rapidly becoming a global hub for AI innovation and top technology talent,” added Kathy Bock, Managing Director and Head of Vanguard Investments Canada Inc.

Investment in AI Research and Innovation

This program will include co-creating research papers, jointly participating in and hosting meetings, seminars, conferences and recruitment initiatives for research projects. This initiative will expand Vanguard’s AI team in Toronto to 90 roles, along with providing internship opportunities for University of Toronto students.

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About Vanguard

Canadians own CAD $132 billion in Vanguard assets, including Canadian and U.S.-domiciled ETFs and Canadian mutual funds. Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. manages CAD $96 billion in assets (as of April 30, 2025) with 38 Canadian ETFs and ten mutual funds currently available. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is one of the world's largest investment management companies and a leading provider of company-sponsored retirement plan services. Vanguard manages USD $10 trillion (CAD $13.7 trillion) in global assets, including over USD $3.3 trillion (CAD $4.5 trillion) in global ETF assets (as of April 30, 2025). Vanguard has offices in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. The firm offers 441 funds, including ETFs, to its more than 50 million investors worldwide.

Vanguard operates under a unique operating structure. Unlike firms that are publicly held or owned by a small group of individuals, The Vanguard Group, Inc. is owned by Vanguard's U.S.-domiciled funds and ETFs. Those funds, in turn, are owned by Vanguard clients. This unique mutual structure aligns Vanguard interests with those of its investors and drives the culture, philosophy, and policies throughout the Vanguard organization worldwide. As a result, Canadian investors benefit from Vanguard's stability and experience, low-cost investing, and client focus. For more information, please visit .

About the University of Toronto ������Ƶ of Computer Science

The ������Ƶ of Computer Science at the University of Toronto is a global leader in computing research and education, consistently ranked among the top computer science departments worldwide. Known for its pioneering contributions to areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, human-computer interaction and systems, the department fosters a vibrant academic community that brings together world-renowned faculty, innovative researchers, and ambitious students. With strong ties to industry and a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach, U of T’s ������Ƶ of Computer Science drives technological advancement and prepares graduates to become leaders in academia, industry and beyond.

The University of Toronto, founded in 1827, is Canada’s leading public research university, recognized globally for its academic excellence and innovation. Across its three campuses, the university offers over 700 undergraduate and 200 graduate programs. U of T is home to world-changing discoveries and continues to shape a better future through research, teaching and public impact.

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Media Inquiries:

Matt Hintsa
������Ƶ
Phone: 416-946-4098
matt.hintsa@utoronto.ca

Matt Gierasimczuk
Vanguard Canada Public Relations
Phone: 416-263-7087
matthew_gierasimczuk@vanguard.com