PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kota Yamaguchi

Also known as 山口 光太

Kota Yamaguchi is a computer vision researcher whose work spans image description and graphic design. He earned a BE at the University of Tokyo in 2006, an MS there in 2008, a computer-science PhD at Stony Brook University in 2014, and served as an assistant professor at Tohoku University from 2014 to 2017. With collaborators, he coauthored Midge, a 2012 EACL image-description paper that received the ACL's 2022 Test-of-Time Paper Award; his 2019 ICDAR work studied font statistics in book covers and online advertisements. As of October 2026, he is a principal research scientist at CyberAgent AI Lab, where he leads the research organization and works on computer vision and machine learning for graphic design.

Now at
CyberAgent
Badges

Timeline

  1. 2006–2008

    Degrees at the University of Tokyo

    At the University of Tokyo, he earns a BE in 2006 and an MS in 2008.

  2. 2012

    Midge and image descriptions

    At EACL in 2012, he coauthors Midge: Generating Image Descriptions From Computer Vision Detections.

  3. 2014–2017

    A PhD and Tohoku post

    He completes a computer-science PhD at Stony Brook University in 2014. He serves as an assistant professor at Tohoku University from 2014 to 2017.

  4. 2019

    Font analytics at ICDAR

    At ICDAR in 2019, he coauthors Serif or Sans: Visual Font Analytics on Book Covers and Online Advertisements, a study of font statistics in book covers and online ads.

  5. 2022

    An ACL Test-of-Time award

    In 2022, he shares the ACL Test-of-Time Paper Award with his Midge coauthors.

  6. As of October 2026

    Principal scientist at CyberAgent

    As of October 2026, he is a principal research scientist at CyberAgent AI Lab, where he leads the research organization and works on computer vision and machine learning for graphic design.

Career

  1. NowCyberAgentPrincipal Research Scientist
  2. 2014–2017Tohoku UniversityAssistant Professor

Education

  1. 2014Stony Brook UniversityPhD
  2. 2008University of TokyoMS
  3. 2006University of TokyoBE

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Tohoku University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Tohoku University. 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.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes University of Tokyo. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. Universities keep AI researchers for a median of 6 years, compared with 2 years at frontier labsIncludes University of Tokyo. Across 15,811 dated work stays (6,529 people), median role tenure runs from 6 years at universities to 2 years at frontier labs. We compare all five organization types, starting decades from the 1970s to the 2020s, and the organizations that keep people longest.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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

  1. Kota Yamaguchi sites.google.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Midge: Generating Image Descriptions From Computer Vision Detections - ACL Anthology aclanthology.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Keynote Talks mmasia2022.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. 山口 光太 - CyberAgent AI Lab research.cyberagent.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Serif or sans: Visual font analytics on book covers and online advertisements - Kyushu University Pure Portal Site kyushu-u.elsevierpure.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Announcement of the 2022 ACL Test-of-Time Paper Award aclweb.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Hal Daumé III Part of Team Receiving ACL Test of Time Award | UMD Department of Computer Science cs.umd.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. ACL Test-of-Time Papers Award Recipients - Admin Wiki aclweb.org. Checked 21 October 2026.