I’m Igor Babuschkin—an AI researcher, builder, and investor working to ensure artificial intelligence benefits humanity.
The Journey
CERN — I started as a physicist, working on the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Searching for new physics in particle collisions taught me how to find signal in noise, and that the universe operates on principles stranger and more beautiful than our intuitions suggest.
DeepMind — The transition to AI felt inevitable. At DeepMind, I worked on WaveNet and AlphaStar—the system that achieved Grandmaster level in StarCraft II, published in Nature. This is where I learned that intelligence itself might be the deepest pattern of all.
OpenAI — I was fortunate to continue pushing the frontier at OpenAI, working on reasoning and pretraining—the foundations that make modern AI systems capable of understanding and generating knowledge.
xAI — I co-founded xAI with Elon Musk to build AI that accelerates scientific discovery and helps humanity understand the universe. I led work on infrastructure, training, multimodal systems, and product. I came up with the name Grok.
Now — I’m investing in founders who share the vision: AI that serves humanity, built with intention and care.
What I Believe
The same curiosity that asks “what is matter?” must ultimately ask “what is mind?” I’ve spent my career chasing that question—and I believe we’re closer than ever to understanding it.
But understanding isn’t enough. We have a responsibility to build AI that:
- Elevates human potential rather than replacing it
- Aligns with human values and intentions
- Benefits humanity as a whole
That’s the standard I hold myself to—and the founders I back.
Beyond Work
When I’m not building or investing, you’ll find me reading philosophy, hiking, or staring at the night sky wondering about everything we don’t yet understand. The universe is vast and full of mystery. That’s what makes it beautiful.
Want to connect? Head to the contact page or find me on đť•Ź.