John Schulman — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Co-founder of OpenAI (founded December 2015)
Led the reinforcement learning team that created ChatGPT
Referred to as the "architect" of ChatGPT
Chief Scientist at Thinking Machines Lab
Received the Mark Bingham Award for Excellence in Achievement by Young Alumni (2025)
Holds a PhD in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley
Graduated from Caltech with a degree in physics (2010)

Biography

John Schulman is an American artificial intelligence researcher known for his foundational work in the field. He co-founded OpenAI in December 2015, shortly before completing his PhD. At OpenAI, he led the reinforcement learning team responsible for creating ChatGPT and has been referred to as its "architect." His contributions include work on Trust Region Policy Optimization and its extension, proximal policy optimization, which were integral components of ChatGPT.