PeopleofSuperintelligence

Nonprofit, Germany

LAION

Includes OpenAssistant.

Statistics

People here now
7
People ever
10
Citations of current people
1,590
Median h-index of current people
3
Full moves in and out
4 in, 1 out

Our research follows 7,547 researchers, builders, lab leaders and public voices through cited biographies. Missing career records can lower counts. Outdated roles can overstate current counts and change ranks. Citation figures count 1 of the 7 people here now. People whose OpenAlex record may be incomplete or mixed are left out. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026. Career and profile data as of 22 October 2026.

We estimate that 10 people shaping AI have worked at LAION, including 7 (70%) here now and 3 with former affiliations. Its tracked sub-organization is OpenAssistant (1 ever, 0 now). Among 1,097 nonprofits, the group is tied for 12th on current people and tied for 26th on all-time people. Language and speech leads 5 areas of expertise (4 of 10 people with profile topics), and researchers make up 6 of the 7 people here now (86%). Dated work records span from 2021 to 2026. Across dated career transitions, we record 4 full moves in and 1 out, led by arrivals from Stability AI (2).

Researchers make up 6 of the 7 people here now (86%), and “open datasets” leads profile topics (5).Roles, current affiliations, profile topics, and recorded birth countries (1 known) and birth years (1 known) for the 7 people here now.

A summary of current people at LAION. It shows roles, affiliations, profile topics and birth countries known for 1 person. The median birth year uses 1 person.

Role categories

  • Research6
  • Builders1

Current affiliations

  • LAION7

Top profile topics

  • open datasets5
  • multimodal learning4
  • scaling laws2
  • vision-language models2
  • ai infrastructure1

Birth countries

Known for 1 of 7 people now.

  • Russia1

Median birth year

1979 (1 person)

Source: People of Superintelligence profiles, current career records and recorded birthplaces, as of 22 October 2026.

Data table
MeasureValuePeople
RoleResearch6
RoleBuilders1
Current affiliationLAION7
Profile topicopen datasets5
Profile topicmultimodal learning4
Profile topicscaling laws2
Profile topicvision-language models2
Profile topicai infrastructure1
Birth countryRussia1
Birth country coverage1 of 7 people now1
Median birth year19791

Full arrivals outnumbered full departures by 3 (4 in vs. 1 out): arrivals came 1 from a university (25%) and 3 from companies (75%), while departures went 1 to a university (100%). Today, 2 of the 3 people formerly at LAION have a recorded current affiliation elsewhere (1 at a company and 1 at a university).

From 2023 to 2026, 4 people joined and 1 left, a net gain of 3.Latest recorded transition per person, 2023–2026 (5 full moves and 0 roles taken alongside existing work).

A list of people who joined or left LAION from 2023 through 2026, with the year and move type.

Joined

Left

Source: People of Superintelligence career moves, as of 22 October 2026.

Data table
YearPersonDirectionOther organizationMove type
2026Katherine CrowsonJoinedStability AIFull move
2026Mehdi ChertiJoinedUniversité Paris-SaclayFull move
2026Richard VencuJoinedStability AIFull move
2026Romain BeaumontJoinedGoogleFull move
2026Robert KaczmarczykLeftTechnical University of MunichFull move

Compared with peer nonprofits, LAION ranks higher on current headcount (tied for 12th of 1,097) than on all-time headcount (tied for 26th); 7 of its 10 all-time people (70%) hold a current role here. Across work histories (excluding degrees), 8 of the 10 people who have worked at LAION (80%) also held a work role at another organization, connecting LAION to 17 peer institutions. The 1 current person with a confident OpenAlex author record (Katherine Crowson) has 1,590 citations and an h-index of 3 (tied for 208th among 222 counted nonprofits).

Among 1,097 nonprofits, LAION is tied for 12th on current people (7) and tied for 26th on all-time people (10).Standing across all organizations and organizations of the same type on current people, all-time people and combined h-index of current people. Ties share a rank.

A table compares LAION with 8827 organizations and 1097 organizations of the same type for current people, people ever and combined h-index where available.

People now

7 people

tied for 193rd of 8,827 organizationstied for 12th of 1,097 nonprofits

People ever

10 people

tied for 544th of 8,827 organizationstied for 26th of 1,097 nonprofits

Combined h-index of people now

3 across 1 person

tied for 1,786th of 1,834 organizationstied for 208th of 222 nonprofits

Source: People of Superintelligence organization membership and confident OpenAlex statistics, as of 22 October 2026.

Data table
MeasureValueAll organizationsSame type
People now7tied for 193rd of 8,827tied for 12th of 1,097
People ever10tied for 544th of 8,827tied for 26th of 1,097
Combined h-index of people now3 (1 person)tied for 1,786th of 1,834tied for 208th of 222
Jülich Supercomputing Centre and Stability AI share the largest career overlap with LAION: 2 people each.Organizations where people with work records at LAION also worked at any time in their careers (8 people across 17 organizations; degrees excluded).

A ranked chart shows 5 organizations with people who also have work records at LAION. Each count is a distinct person with work stints at both organizations.

Source: People of Superintelligence affiliations and work stints, as of 22 October 2026.

Data table
OrganizationShared people
Jülich Supercomputing Centre2
Stability AI2
Aleph Alpha1
C-Gen.AI1
Criteo1

People here now

The 7 people with a current role at LAION include 6 researchers and 1 builder. Earlier in their careers, 4 of the 7 held a work role at another organization, most often at Stability AI (2). 5 current people also hold a concurrent affiliation outside LAION.

People with former affiliations

We record 3 people who formerly worked at LAION. 2 of the 3 have a recorded current role at another organization.