PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Michael O’Neill

Also known as Mike O’Neill

Michael O’Neill is a professor of business analytics at University College Dublin and one of the inventors of grammatical evolution, a genetic programming technique that maps integer strings to programs through a grammar. He developed the method in 1998 with Conor Ryan and JJ Collins at the University of Limerick, then co-founded UCD’s Natural Computing Research & Applications Group with Anthony Brabazon in 2006. The group hosted the ACM GECCO conference in 2011, and his team won the HUMIES Bronze Award in 2017 for truss design and the HUMIES Gold Award in 2019 for human-competitive AI on cellular networks. In 2023 he wrote a paper with Mark Connor on the limitations and harms of large language models. He is Full Professor of Business Analytics in the UCD School of Business and a founding director of the NCRA group.

Born
1975
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1998

    Inventing grammatical evolution

    He develops grammatical evolution with Conor Ryan and JJ Collins in 1998 at the Biocomputing and Developmental Systems Group of the University of Limerick. The genetic programming technique applies genetic operators to an integer string, which a grammar maps to a program.

  2. 2006

    Co-founding the NCRA group

    He joins the UCD School of Computer Science in January 2006 and co-founds the Natural Computing Research & Applications Group with Anthony Brabazon. The group launches its book “Biologically Inspired Algorithms for Financial Modelling” in February 2006.

  3. 2007–2011

    EvoBAFIN and GECCO 2011

    He and Anthony Brabazon co-found EvoBAFIN, an annual event from 2007 that runs alongside the EvoStar events and covers evolutionary and natural computation in business analytics, economics and finance. The group hosts the ACM GECCO conference in 2011, which draws over 600 delegates from 52 countries.

  4. 2015

    Moving to the business school

    After the UCD School of Business recruits him, the Natural Computing Research & Applications Group leaves UCD’s Complex & Adaptive Systems Laboratory, where it had been based since 2006, and moves to the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in October 2015.

  5. 2017

    A HUMIES Bronze Award

    His team wins the HUMIES Bronze Award in 2017 for Innovative Truss Design using grammatical evolution, presented at ACM GECCO 2017 in Berlin.

  6. 2019

    A HUMIES Gold Award

    His team wins the HUMIES Gold Award in 2019 for human-competitive artificial intelligence on cellular networks, presented at ACM GECCO in Prague. With Nokia Bell Labs collaborators Holger Claussen and Stepan Kucera, the NCRA team uses evolutionary computation to show a doubling to tripling of data rates on cellular networks.

  7. 2023

    A paper on LLM limitations

    In July 2023, he and Mark Connor post the arXiv paper “Amplifying Limitations, Harms and Risks of Large Language Models”. It sets out limitations of large language models and argues that harms have already arisen from them.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor of Business Analytics

    He is Full Professor of Business Analytics in the UCD School of Business, a founding director of the Natural Computing Research & Applications Group, and Subject Area Head of Management Information Systems in the UCD College of Business. His earlier leadership roles include Associate Dean and Director of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. The group marks its 20th anniversary in 2026 with a programme of activities that begins in January 2026 with a visit from Prof Franz Rothlauf.

Career

  1. Since 2006University College DublinFounding director, Co-founder
  2. 1998University of Limerick

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes University College Dublin. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University College Dublin. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University College Dublin. 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.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Michael O’Neill yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Grammatical evolution - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. UCD NCRA - About ncra.ucd.ie. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Happy 20th Anniversary UCD Natural Computing Research & Applications Group ncra.ucd.ie. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. HUMIES Gold Award for Human Competitive Artificial Intelligence – UCD Natural Computing Research & Applications Group ncra.ucd.ie. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Mike ONeill - Lero lero.ie. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Amplifying Limitations, Harms and Risks of Large Language Models arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.