PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Guillaume Verdon

Also known as Guillaume Verdon-Akzam

Guillaume Verdon is an AI researcher and builder whose work spans quantum machine learning and thermodynamic computing. He defended a master's thesis in applied mathematics at Waterloo in 2016, coauthored a quantum deep-learning paper in 2018, and helped launch TensorFlow Quantum in 2020. By 2024, he was Extropic's founder and CEO, and the company was developing a chip to run large language models. In October 2026, he coauthored research on AI agents for thermodynamic machine learning. He is Extropic's founder and CEO as of October 2026.

Timeline

  1. December 2016

    A Waterloo master's thesis

    In December 2016, he defends a master's thesis on quantum fields and quantum energy teleportation in the University of Waterloo's Department of Applied Mathematics, under Institute for Quantum Computing associate Achim Kempf.

  2. 2018

    Quantum deep learning

    In 2018, he coauthors “A Universal Training Algorithm for Quantum Deep Learning,” which adapts classical feedforward neural networks for quantum computation and describes Baqprop training for hybrid quantum-classical networks.

  3. 2020

    TensorFlow Quantum

    In 2020, he and Michael Broughton start TensorFlow Quantum from their research in quantum machine learning at Waterloo; the open-source library supports prototyping hybrid quantum-classical models. Both work full time at Google.

  4. May 2024

    Extropic founder and CEO

    In May 2024, he is founder and CEO of Extropic, whose team is developing a chip to run large language models.

  5. March 2025

    An Extropic thermodynamic chip

    In March 2025, he displays an Extropic chip that harnesses random thermodynamic fluctuations in electronic components for programmable computation, including probabilistic AI workloads.

  6. October 2025

    Extropic's first working chip

    In October 2025, Verdon is Extropic’s CEO as the company shares its first working chip with partners. The XTR-0 combines a reconfigurable FPGA with two X-0 chips that contain probabilistic bits.

  7. October 2026

    Thermodynamic research agents

    In October 2026, he coauthors Extropic research that post-trains an open-source model to reproduce classic machine-learning experiments and aims to develop agents that propose and test algorithms for thermodynamic hardware.

  8. As of October 2026

    Founder and CEO of Extropic

    He is Extropic’s founder and CEO, and the company develops Thermodynamic Sampling Units for probabilistic AI workloads. In July 2026, Extropic signs a letter of intent with the U.S. Department of Commerce for up to $75 million in planned R&D funding. Its TSUs use CMOS transistor fluctuations to sample programmable probability distributions.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

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  1. Master's thesis - Guillaume Verdon-Akzam | Institute for Quantum Computing | University of Waterloo uwaterloo.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. A Universal Training Algorithm for Quantum Deep Learning arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. New software combines quantum and classical machine learning | Waterloo News | University of Waterloo uwaterloo.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. TensorFlow Quantum: A Software Framework for Quantum Machine Learning research.google. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Class notes | Math e-Ties | University of Waterloo uwaterloo.ca. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Hot New Thermodynamic Chips Could Trump Classical Computers | WIRED wired.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Extropic Aims to Disrupt the Data Center Bonanza | WIRED wired.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. First Sparks of Thermodynamic Recursive Intelligence extropic.ai. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. Extropic Signs $75 Million Letter of Intent with U.S. Department of Commerce to Scale and Onshore Thermodynamic Computing extropic.ai. Checked 19 October 2026.