PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ruslan Salakhutdinov

Also known as Руслан Салахутдинов, R. R. Salakhutdinov, R. Salakhutdinov, Ruslan R. Salakhutdinov, Russ Salakhutdinov

Ruslan Salakhutdinov is a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University whose interests include deep learning, probabilistic graphical models, and large-scale optimization. He met Geoffrey Hinton in 2004 and completed a University of Toronto PhD in 2009. With Hinton, he co-wrote the Deep Boltzmann Machines paper in 2009, which proposed a learning algorithm for Boltzmann machines with many layers of hidden variables. After joining Carnegie Mellon in 2016, he served as Apple's director of AI research until 2020, when he returned to the university. In 2025 he was a vice president of AI research at Meta, and in January 2026 he co-founded Sooth with Yaser Sheikh.

Works
406
Citations
115,724
h-index
90

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.

Photo of Ruslan Salakhutdinov

Timeline

  1. 2004–2009

    Working with Geoffrey Hinton

    He meets Geoffrey Hinton in 2004 and joins a project on deep belief networks. After a University of Toronto PhD in 2009, he spends two postdoctoral years at MIT.

  2. 2009

    Deep Boltzmann Machines paper

    He and Geoffrey Hinton publish Deep Boltzmann Machines in 2009, a learning algorithm for Boltzmann machines with many layers of hidden variables.

  3. 2013–2015

    Sloan and Microsoft fellowships

    He receives a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship for 2013–2015.

  4. 2016

    Joining Carnegie Mellon

    In February 2016 he joins the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University. His research interests include deep learning, probabilistic graphical models, and large-scale optimization.

  5. 2016–2020

    Apple's director of AI research

    He joins Apple as its director of AI research in 2016, a hire meant to smarten up Siri. He leaves Apple in 2020 to return to Carnegie Mellon University.

  6. 2019–2024

    ICML program and general chair

    He takes on the program co-chair role for ICML 2019 and the general chair role for ICML 2024.

  7. 2025

    Vice president at Meta

    In 2025 he is a vice president of AI research at Meta. In September 2025 he lectures at INHA University in Tashkent in that role.

  8. Since 2026

    Co-founding Sooth

    He co-founds Sooth with Yaser Sheikh in January 2026. He is also a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Sources and credits

Photo: Steve Jurvetson from Menlo Park, USA, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY 2.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Ruslan Salakhutdinov - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Ruslan Salakhutdinov cs.cmu.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. DLS Series | CS&CPE cs.uwlax.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Deep Boltzmann Machines proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Ruslan Salakhutdinov cs.cmu.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Apple hires CMU professor as director of AI research to smarten up Siri | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. On September 25, Ruslan Salakhutdinov, Vice President of AI Research at Meta, gave a lecture at Inha University in Tashkent. — INHA University in Tashkent inha.uz. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. Our Seed Investment in Sooth: Foresight as Infrastructure | Felicis felicis.com. Checked 14 October 2026.