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Cristos Goodrow

Cristos Goodrow is an engineering leader whose AI work spans YouTube search and recommendation systems. He studied mathematics and computer science at Cornell after first hoping to become an architect, then earned a mathematics master's degree at UC Santa Barbara and pursued doctoral work at UC Berkeley. At YouTube, he led Search and Discovery, explained the system's use of watch time and similar viewing habits, and coauthored work on recommendation fairness, fresh content, and language models. In February 2026, he testified as YouTube's vice president of engineering.

Now at
YouTube
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Timeline

  1. 1991

    Cornell mathematics and computer science

    In 1991, he graduates from Cornell after majoring in mathematics and computer science, having first hoped to become an architect. He earns a master's degree in mathematics at UC Santa Barbara and pursues doctoral work at UC Berkeley.

  2. 2012–2017

    Watch time at YouTube

    In 2012, YouTube adds watchtime to its recommendation signals to track how long viewers actually watch after clicking. In February 2017, Goodrow reports that viewers around the world watch one billion hours of YouTube each day.

  3. 2018–2020

    Search and Discovery at YouTube

    In 2018, he is YouTube's vice president of engineering and leads Search and Discovery; before YouTube, he directs Google Shopping and Amazon search-engine software. In January 2020, he is a Google vice president of engineering and head of Search and Discovery at YouTube.

  4. 2019

    Fairness in recommendation rankings

    In 2019, he coauthors the KDD paper “Fairness in Recommendation Ranking through Pairwise Comparisons,” which evaluates fairness in recommender rankings using pairwise comparisons.

  5. 2021

    Explaining YouTube recommendations

    In 2021, he explains how YouTube compares a viewer's habits with those of similar viewers to suggest other videos, including topics the viewer has not watched.

  6. 2023

    Fresh content recommendation

    In 2023, he coauthors “Fresh Content Needs More Attention: Multi-funnel Fresh Content Recommendation,” a KDD paper on a dedicated stack for fresh content. Its multi-funnel system combines a two-tower model for coverage with a sequence model that updates from user feedback in near real time.

  7. 2025

    Language models for recommendations

    In 2025, he coauthors “PLUM: Adapting Pre-trained Language Models for Industrial-scale Generative Recommendations,” a framework for adapting pre-trained language models to industrial recommendation tasks. The paper describes training and inference methods for launching it to billions of YouTube users.

  8. February 2026

    YouTube engineering vice president

    In February 2026, he testifies in a Los Angeles social media trial as YouTube's vice president of engineering.

Career

  1. NowYouTubeVice President of Engineering
  2. AmazonDirector of search engine software
  3. GoogleDirector

Education

  1. 1991Cornell University
  2. University of California, Santa BarbaraMaster’s degree in mathematics
  3. University of California, BerkeleyDoctoral study

From the biography.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Cristos Goodrow speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 21 October 2026.

  1. Youtube Executive Testifies in Social Media TrialNTD · 25 February 2026 · 2 min
  2. YouTube Algorithm Basics (Cristos Goodrow, VP Engineering at Google) | AI Podcast ClipsLex Fridman · 26 January 2020 · 37 min
  3. Cristos Goodrow: YouTube Algorithm | Lex Fridman Podcast #68Lex Fridman · 25 January 2020 · 1 h 31 min
  4. YouTube Search & Discovery - ComputerphileComputerphile · 2 May 2014 · 11 min

All 5 videos of Cristos Goodrow

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. 16% of AI career moves in the 2020s went from a university to a companyIncludes Cristos Goodrow. We estimate that 16% of AI career moves in the 2020s went from a university to a company; 29% of moves starting at a university went to a company, and 76% ended the university role.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Google. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Google. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Google. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Cristos Goodrow yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Alumnus guides YouTube's search cs.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Career Conversation - Cristos Goodrow '91, Vice President of Engineering at YouTube events.cornell.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. On YouTube's recommendation system blog.youtube. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. You know what's cool? A billion hours blog.youtube. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Cristos Goodrow: YouTube Algorithm lexfridman.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Fairness in Recommendation Ranking through Pairwise Comparisons research.google. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Fresh Content Needs More Attention: Multi-funnel Fresh Content Recommendation arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. PLUM: Adapting Pre-trained Language Models for Industrial-scale Generative Recommendations arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Youtube Executive Testifies in Social Media Trial ntd.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. YouTube exec says goal was viewer value not addiction - eNCA enca.com. Checked 21 October 2026.