PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Adam Cheyer

Adam Cheyer is an AI researcher and builder whose work spans software agents, cognitive assistants, and voice assistants. He joined SRI in 1993, co-authored a paper on the Open Agent Architecture in 1994, and returned to SRI’s AI Center in 2003 for CALO. He co-founded Siri and Viv Labs, then led GamePlanner.AI with Siamak Hodjat until Airbnb acquired the AI startup in 2023. Brandeis University gave him its Alumni Achievement Award in 2024, and he served as Airbnb’s VP of AI Experience in June 2025. As of October 2026, he advises technology companies and speaks at HumanX about AI product building.

Now at
Airbnb
Works
60
Citations
1,608
h-index
14
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

Photo of Adam Cheyer

Timeline

  1. 1988–1993

    Computer science degrees

    He graduates with a computer science degree from Brandeis in 1988 and earns an M.S. from UCLA in 1993.

  2. 1993–1994

    Open Agent Architecture

    At SRI, he begins work in 1993 and helps create the Open Agent Architecture for distributed software agents. In 1994, he and Philip R. Cohen publish a paper describing the system’s support for distributed user requests.

  3. 1999–2003

    Leading the CALO project

    He leaves SRI in 1999 and returns to its AI Center in 2003 for CALO, the Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes. He serves as the project’s chief architect.

  4. 2007–2010

    Co-founding Siri

    Around 2007, he co-founds Siri and leads server-side engineering and AI for the assistant. Apple acquires Siri in 2010.

  5. 2016

    Co-founding Viv Labs

    In 2016, Samsung agrees to acquire Viv Labs, an AI platform Cheyer co-founds with Dag Kittlaus and Chris Brigham.

  6. 2023

    GamePlanner.AI joins Airbnb

    He co-founds and leads GamePlanner.AI with Siamak Hodjat; Airbnb acquires the 12-person AI company in November 2023.

  7. 2024

    Brandeis Alumni Achievement Award

    Brandeis awards him its 2024 Alumni Achievement Award, the university’s highest honor for alumni.

  8. As of October 2026

    Advising AI companies

    In June 2025, he serves as Airbnb’s VP of AI Experience. As of October 2026, he advises Project Voice Capital Partners and other technology companies; he speaks at HumanX about building AI products in 2026.

A language model matched the links in this timeline to people, organizations and papers (provisional, model-judged).

Career

  1. From 2025AirbnbVP of AI Experience
  2. 2023GamePlanner.AICo-founder
  3. From 2016Viv LabsCo-founder
  4. 2007–2010SiriCo-founder
  5. 2003–1999SRI InternationalChief Architect

Education

  1. 1993University of California, Los AngelesM.S.
  2. 1988Brandeis UniversityComputer Science degree

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. The open agent architecture: A framework for building distributed software systems1999 · Applied Artificial Intelligence · 492 citations
  2. The Open Agent Architecture2001 · Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems · 258 citations
  3. An open agent architecture1997 · 213 citations
  4. Multimodal maps: An agent-based approach1998 · Lecture notes in computer science · 104 citations
  5. Many Robots Make Short Work1997 · 75 citationsWith Kurt Konolige

From OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 33%Includes SRI International. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 33% in 2020–2024.
  2. Stanford University trained or employed 27 of the 113 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. Stanford University trained or employed 27 of the 113 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of California, Los Angeles. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: Adam Cheyer, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Adam Cheyer ’88 Harnesses the Magic of Artificial Intelligence alumni.brandeis.edu. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Alumnus Adam Cheyer, UCLA Optimist on ‘Life In the Future’ samueli.ucla.edu. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. An Open Agent Architecture - AAAI aaai.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. SRI Alumni Association | Hall of Fame srialumni.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. Adam Cheyer adam.cheyer.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Siri co-founder: ‘No matter how smart AI gets, it’s not going to solve all our problems by itself.’ freethink.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. 75 Years of Innovation: Siri sri.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  8. Samsung to Acquire Viv, the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Platform news.samsung.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  9. Airbnb has acquired GamePlanner.AI news.airbnb.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  10. Meet Adam Cheyer, speaker at HumanX | San Francisco | April 6-9, 2026 humanx.co. Checked 18 October 2026.