PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Stephen Welch

Stephen Welch is the educator behind Welch Labs, which explains neural networks and other math, science, and machine learning topics through videos and books. They posted their own neural network video in 2014, and by 2019 they had led deep-learning vision work as VP of Machine Learning at Autonomous Fusion and founded Welch Labs in Charlotte; they were also an associate computer vision professor at UNCC. A Manhattan Project video series in 2023 marked their return to Welch Labs, and they went full time on it in 2024. In July 2025, they gave 3Blue1Brown a guest lesson on how AI images and videos work, and in December 2025 Welch Labs LLC published The Welch Labs Illustrated Guide to AI. They continue to make Welch Labs videos, with technical notes for a Bitter Lesson video posted in January 2026.

Now at
Welch Labs
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LinkedIn

Timeline

  1. 2014

    Posting a neural network video

    Frustrated by how math and science were taught in college and by the available resources on neural networks, Welch makes and posts their own video in 2014, and it reaches 1,000 views overnight.

  2. By 2019

    Autonomous Fusion and Welch Labs

    Welch leads a team building deep-learning vision for ADAS and autonomous products as VP of Machine Learning at Autonomous Fusion, before founding Welch Labs, which offers computer vision prototyping and deployment services in Charlotte. A holder of engineering degrees from Georgia Tech and UC Berkeley, Welch is an associate computer vision professor at UNCC. In 2019, the SuperDataScience podcast features them on neural networks in self-driving cars.

  3. 2020

    A deep learning system for manufacturing

    In 2020, Welch's team builds and ships a production-grade, large-scale distributed deep-learning system for a new manufacturing customer.

  4. 2023

    The Manhattan Project videos

    In 2023, Welch Labs returns with timely videos on the history of the physics behind the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, released around the new film Oppenheimer.

  5. 2024

    Full time at Welch Labs

    Welch goes full time on Welch Labs in 2024, after running it on the side for a long time, and works with a couple of freelancers. Their most successful video covers imaginary numbers.

  6. July 2025

    A guest lesson for 3Blue1Brown

    In July 2025, Welch gives 3Blue1Brown a guest lesson in its Neural Networks section, "But how do AI images and videos actually work?", on diffusion models, CLIP, and the math of turning text into images.

  7. December 2025

    The Illustrated Guide to AI

    In December 2025, Welch Labs LLC publishes The Welch Labs Illustrated Guide to AI, Volume 1, by Welch. The 376-page book runs from the perceptron to AI video generation, with exercises and supporting code in each chapter.

  8. January 2026

    Notes for a Bitter Lesson video

    In January 2026, the Welch Labs blog posts technical notes for the Bitter Lesson video, explaining how the HARPY speech recognition system represented knowledge as a finite state transition network. Welch aims for one video per month, each about 20 minutes long.

Career

  1. NowWelch LabsFounder and Educator
  2. Autonomous FusionVP of Machine Learning
  3. University of North Carolina at CharlotteAssociate Computer Vision Professor

Education

  1. Georgia Institute of TechnologyEngineering degree
  2. University of California, BerkeleyEngineering degree

From the biography.

  1. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public rolesIncludes Stephen Welch. Of 216 AI researchers who entered public life, 83 held advisory seats and 58 took public roles. Another 97 people moved from public careers into AI organizations or research, with 62% of dated records starting from 2020 on.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 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.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of California, Berkeley. 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.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of California, Berkeley. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Sources and credits

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

  1. -e^iπ to Watch: Welch Labs | The Aperiodical aperiodical.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. computer vision — Welch Labs welchlabs.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. SDS 259: Building Machine Autonomy With Neural Networks soundcloud.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Blog — Welch Labs welchlabs.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Welch Labs | Meditations on Mathematics josmfs.net. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. But how do AI images and videos actually work? ... | 3Blue1Brown 3blue1brown.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. The Welch Labs Illustrated Guide to AI - Stephen Welch (Engineer) - Google Books books.google.com. Checked 20 October 2026.