PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Gauthier Gidel

Gauthier Gidel is a machine-learning researcher whose work links generative models, optimization and game theory. He applies game-theoretic analysis and optimization to GAN training and studies how synthetic data affects later generative models. He begins a PhD under Simon Lacoste-Julien at Université de Montréal in September 2016 and completes the degree there. In 2020, he joins UdeM's DIRO as an assistant professor and Mila as a core academic member; he visits the Simons Institute in spring 2025 and receives UdeM's 2025 Faculty of Arts and Sciences Medal for Research Excellence at its annual awards ceremony in March 2026. As of October 2026, he is an associate professor at UdeM, a core member of Mila and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, and he co-leads IVADO's Machine Learning research cluster.

Timeline

  1. 2016

    Starting a PhD at UdeM

    In September 2016, he begins a PhD at Université de Montréal under Simon Lacoste-Julien. He completes the degree there.

  2. 2018

    A variational view of GANs

    In 2018, he coauthors A Variational Inequality Perspective on Generative Adversarial Networks, framing GAN training as a variational-inequality problem. The paper applies averaging and extrapolation methods to SGD and Adam.

  3. 2020

    Joining UdeM and Mila

    In 2020, he joins UdeM's Department of Computer Science and Operations Research as an assistant professor and becomes a core academic member of Mila.

  4. 2023

    Retraining generative models

    In 2023, he coauthors a framework for studying iterative retraining of generative models on mixtures of real and synthetic data. The study tests normalizing flows and diffusion models on synthetic and natural images.

  5. Since 2024

    Co-leading IVADO's Machine Learning cluster

    Since 2024, he co-leads IVADO's Machine Learning research cluster.

  6. 2025

    Visiting the Simons Institute

    In spring 2025, he is a visiting scientist in the Simons Institute's Special Year on Large Language Models and Transformers, Part 2.

  7. 2025

    A 2025 research medal

    He receives UdeM's 2025 Faculty of Arts and Sciences Medal for Research Excellence at its annual awards ceremony in March 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at DIRO

    As of October 2026, he is an associate professor at UdeM's DIRO, a core member of Mila and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair.

Career

  1. Since 2020Université de MontréalAssociate professor
  2. Since 2020MilaCore academic member
  3. NowIVADOCo-leader
  4. 2025Simons Institute for the Theory of ComputingVisiting scientist

Education

  1. From 2016Université de MontréalPhD

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes Université de Montréal. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Université de Montréal. 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.
  3. Universities (31%) and startups and other companies (25%) employ the largest shares of 2020–2026 entrantsIncludes Mila. Among 819 people whose first recorded role started in 2020–2026 and who have a known current organization, 60% work in commercial sectors (25% at startups and other companies, 23% at frontier labs and 13% at big tech, with 9 in two), and 31% work at universities, compared with 66% for earlier entrants.
  4. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes Mila. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. SIERRA - 2016 - Rapport annuel d'activité radar.inria.fr. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Gauthier Gidel gauthiergidel.github.io. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. A Variational Inequality Perspective on Generative Adversarial Networks arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. 13 New Researchers Join Mila's Faculty mila.quebec. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. On the Stability of Iterative Retraining of Generative Models on their own Data arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. IVADO announces 35 co-leaders of the 10 research Regroupements of its R3AI program ivado.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Gauthier Gidel simons.berkeley.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Célébrer avec fierté l’excellence de la Faculté des arts et des sciences nouvelles.umontreal.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.