Kai Puolamäki

Timeline

1. 1996–2001

   A doctorate in theoretical physics

   He graduates from the University of Helsinki in 1996. In 2001, he completes a PhD in theoretical physics there with the thesis "Breaking of R-parity and supersymmetry in supersymmetric models."

2. 1999–2006

   Enespa and Electronic Frontier Finland

   He co-founds the start-up Energiansäästöpalvelu Enespa Oy in 1999 and chairs its board until 2004. From 2002 to 2005, he sits on the board of the civil rights group Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi). In 2006, he starts the Anti-Commandeering Investigation, Training and Resources centre to register misuse of copyright claims, which he calls "copyright commandeering."

3. 2001–2012

   Data mining at Helsinki University of Technology

   From January 2001 to December 2008, he is a teaching researcher in the Laboratory of Computer and Information Science at Helsinki University of Technology, now Aalto University, where he takes up data mining, machine learning and human–computer interaction in the groups of Heikki Mannila and Samuel Kaski. He is a professor (pro tem) in the Department of Media Technology from August 2009 to July 2010 and a chief research scientist from August 2010 to July 2012. In his final years there, he leads the Data Mining: Theory and Applications research group.

4. 2012–2016

   Brain Work Research Centre director

   In December 2012, he moves to the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), where he directs the FIOH Brain Work Research Centre from November 2014 to December 2015. At FIOH, he coordinates Smarter Glasses, a 2015–2016 Academy of Finland project to build an inexpensive open-source mobile system that tracks the user's gaze and mental state.

5. 2016–2018

   Human-guided data exploration

   With Bo Kang, Jefrey Lijffijt and Tijl De Bie, he publishes "Interactive Visual Data Exploration with Subjective Feedback" at ECML PKDD in 2016. A 2017 information-theoretic version, written with Emilia Oikarinen and the same coauthors, turns what a user has learned into constraints on a maximum-entropy model and shows the projections where the data differ most from that model. In October 2018, he presents the Human Guided Data Exploration framework, which uses constrained randomization so users can add existing knowledge, focus on subsets of the data and compare hypotheses.

6. 2017–2020

   Vice director of HIIT

   In September 2017, he returns to Aalto University as Professor of Practice in artificial intelligence. He serves as a Vice Director of the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT from March 2018 to October 2020. In September 2018, he joins the University of Helsinki as a professor of computer science.

7. 2022–2023

   VILMA and a full professorship

   His Exploratory Data Analysis group is the AI group of VILMA, the Virtual Laboratory for Molecular-Level Atmospheric Transformations, a Centre of Excellence funded for 2022–2029, where he works on digital twins of atmospheric processes that combine physical simulators with machine learning models. In 2023, he coauthors SLISEMAP, a supervised dimensionality reduction method built on local explanations, with Anton Björklund and Jarmo Mäkelä. He becomes Full Professor in computer science and atmospheric sciences at the University of Helsinki's Department of Computer Science and Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) in September 2023.

8. As of October 2026

   Atmospheric AI at Helsinki

   He is a professor of computer science and atmospheric sciences at the University of Helsinki and leads the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence's Highlight Programme on Atmospheric AI, which applies interactive AI to atmospheric and Earth system research. His AI methods deduce how aerosol molecules form by comparing them with similar, previously identified molecules, and he develops ways to explain these models and assess their uncertainties. In July 2026, he says people will still be needed to monitor and guide AI even if it ends up writing code.