Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman (/'lɛks 'friːdmæn/; FREED-man, Russian: Лекс Фридман) is a Russian-American computer scientist, podcaster, and artificial intelligence researcher. He is a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,[2] and he hosts the Lex Fridman Podcast, a podcast and YouTube series.

Lex Fridman
Fridman in 2018
Alma materDrexel University (BS, MS, PhD)
Occupation
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science, artificial intelligence
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology
ThesisLearning of Identity from Behavioral Biometrics for Active Authentication (2014)
Doctoral advisorMoshe Kam, Steven Weber
Websitelexfridman.com
Lex Fridman
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2006–present
GenreTalk
Subscribers
  • 2.94 million (main channel)
Total views
  • 420.9 million (main channel)
100,000 subscribers2019
1,000,000 subscribers2021[1]
Last updated: 25 April 2023

Early life

Fridman is of Russian Jewish descent.[3][4] His father, plasma physicist Alexander Fridman, was born in Chkalovsk, Russia and serves as the John A. Nyheim Chair Professor and Director of the C. J. Nyheim Plasma Institute at Drexel University's College of Engineering.[5][6] His maternal grandmother was born and raised in Kharkiv,[7] and his maternal grandfather was a machine gunner in the Red Army against the Nazis during World War II.[8] His brother is Gregory Fridman, also a researcher in plasma physics.[9]

When he was about 11, Fridman's family moved from Russia to the Chicago area.[10] He attended Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois.[11] He then went on to obtain BS and MS degrees in computer science at Drexel University in 2010,[12] and completed his PhD in electrical and computer engineering at Drexel in 2014.[13] His PhD dissertation, Learning of Identity from Behavioral Biometrics for Active Authentication, was completed under the advisement of engineering educators Moshe Kam and Steven Weber and sought to "investigate the problem of active authentication on desktop computers and mobile devices".[14]

Career

Computer science

Fridman's career began at Google, where he worked on machine learning.[15] He currently is a research scientist at MIT.[16][17][18][19] In 2017, he worked on computer vision, deep learning, and planning algorithms for semi-autonomous vehicles.[20] In 2019, he left AgeLab and assumed an unpaid researcher role at the university following a controversy surrounding a study conducted on Tesla Autopilot.[21]

Lex Fridman Podcast

Fridman began his podcast in 2018,[22] initially as part of the MIT course 6.S099 on artificial general intelligence.[23] 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.[24][25] Fridman uses the podcast to discuss "AI, science, technology, history, philosophy and the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power".[26] 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 Kanye West,[27][28] 16th world chess champion Magnus Carlsen,[29][30] hedge fund manager Ray Dalio,[31] Jack Dorsey,[32] Elon Musk,[33][34][35] and Mark Zuckerberg.[36]

Fridman has also combined his interest in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and other grappling sports with his podcast, interviewing several top figures in grappling like UFC world champion Georges St-Pierre,[37] Olympic Judoka Travis Stevens,[38] Roger Gracie, John Danaher,[39] Craig Jones.[40]

Personal life

Fridman plays the guitar and piano.[3][41][42] He also practices Brazilian jiu jitsu and holds a first-degree black belt under Rick and Phil Migliarese.[43][44] He has competed in several grappling competitions, most notably in a match against Garry Tonon in 2013.[45]

Select bibliography

References
  2. "Directory | MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology". www.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  3. James, Eric. "Who is Lex Fridman? An In-Depth Profile of his Amazing Life". Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  4. "Lex Fridman statement on Vladimir Putin and War in Ukraine". Youtube. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  5. "Alexander Fridman: My Dad, the Plasma Physicist". Lex Fridman. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  6. "Transcript of #100 – Alexander Fridman: ..." Happy Scribe. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  7. "In Memory of My Grandmother". Youtube. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  8. "Lex Fridman statement on Mark Zuckerberg, Ukraine, Putin, and social media". Youtube. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  9. "Alexander Fridman Earns Plasma Field's Highest Honor". Drexel University College of Engineering. 23 January 2019. See 2nd to last paragraph for relation to Alexander Fridman. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  10. Black, Julia (3 April 2023). "Peace, love, and Hitler: How Lex Fridman's podcast became a safe space for the anti-woke tech elite". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  11. "Alex Fridman - About". lexfridman.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  12. Adams, Christine (8 June 2017). "AgeLab researching autonomous vehicle systems in ongoing collaboration with Toyota". MIT News. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  13. Plumb, Wendy (2 October 2018). "Alum Lex Fridman Visits From MIT To Lead Public "AI" Lecture". Drexel University College of Engineering. Drexel University. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  14. Fridman, Lex (2014). "Learning of Identity from Behavioral Biometrics for Active Authentication". Dissertation, Drexel University. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  15. Bain, Ellissa (17 September 2020). "Who is Lex Fridman? Scientific researcher appears on Joe Rogan's podcast!". HITC. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  16. "MIT Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence Lectures | Lex Fridman". MIT Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence Lectures. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  17. Mui, Chunka (28 February 2018). "Driverless Cars: 90 Percent Done, 90 Percent Left To Go?". Forbes. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  18. "Lex Fridman". IEEE Xplore. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  19. "MIT Directory - Massachusetts Institute of Technology". MIT. Archived from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  20. "AgeLab researching autonomous vehicle systems in ongoing collaboration with Toyota". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  21. Black, Julia. "Peace, love, and Hitler: How Lex Fridman's podcast became a safe space for the anti-woke tech elite". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  22. "Audalog | The Lex Fridman Podcast". Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  23. "New name: Lex Fridman podcast". Happyscribe. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  24. Hamilton, Isobel Asher. "Elon Musk's Neuralink wants to embed microchips in people's skulls and get robots to perform brain surgery". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  25. "Transcript of New Name: Lex Fridman Podcast from Lex Fridman Podcast podcast | Happy Scribe Public". Happy Scribe. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  26. Panel®, Expert. "Council Post: 17 Tech Pros Share Their Favorite Industry-Focused Podcasts". Forbes. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  27. Price, Joe (27 October 2022). "New Report Details Kanye West's Alleged 'Obsession' With Hitler, Wanted to Name Album After Him". Complex Networks. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  28. "Lex Fridman Podcast: #332 – Kanye 'Ye' West". lexfridman.com. 24 October 2022. Archived from the original on 29 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  29. "Lex Fridman interviews Magnus Carlsen". ChessBase. 22 August 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  30. Cowen, Tyler (22 September 2022). "Impostor Syndrome Is a Professional Superpower". Bloomberg. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  31. Sauer, Megan (5 January 2022). "Billionaire Ray Dalio's top advice for young people: Working together is 'the most effective way to achieve success'". CNBC. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  32. Stieg, Cory (16 May 2020). "Bill Gates and Jack Dorsey both recommend this book—it can help with anxiety and decision-making". CNBC. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  33. "Who is Lex Fridman? Elon Musk's friend who wants to work for free as Twitter head - BusinessToday". Businesstoday.in. 20 December 2022. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  34. "Elon Musk Says He Thinks He Knows the Real Identity of Satoshi Nakamoto". Futurism. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  35. Hamilton, Isobel Asher. "Everything you need to know about Neuralink, Elon Musk's company that wants to put microchips in people's brains". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  36. Ray, Tiernan. "Meta's Zuckerberg: 'AI is perhaps the most important foundational technology of our time'". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  37. Rollo, Ian. "Georges St-Pierre Explains How He'd Fight Khabib Nurmagomedov". JitsMagazine. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  38. Rogers, Kian. "Olympic Judoka Travis Stevens Says He'd 'Never Give You An Opportunity To Tap'". JitsMagazine. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  39. Rogers, Kian. "John Danaher Finally Discusses The DDS Split". JitsMagazine. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  40. Jones, Phil. "Nicky Ryan Explains What Has Prevented Him From Competing More". JitsMagazine. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  41. Robinson, Rory (30 September 2020). "Joe Rogan Speaks on Why He Never Competed in Brazillian [sic] Jiu-Jitsu". Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  42. "Lex Fridman". Lex Fridman. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  43. Jones, Phil. "Lex Fridman Promoted To First Degree BJJ Black Belt". JitsMagazine. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  44. "Black Belt Promotions (Jan 22, 2022)". Balance Studios. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
  45. "Lex Fridman vs Garry Tonon". Professional Grappling League. Facebook. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
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