PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Zeev Farbman

Also known as זאב פרבמן

Zeev Farbman is a computer scientist and AI builder whose career connects computational photography with creative software and open video models. Born in Zaporizhia in 1979, he grew up in Yakutia and moved to Israel as a boy, then studied computer science through a PhD at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His early papers include a 2008 SIGGRAPH study of edge-preserving tone and detail manipulation and a 2010 SIGGRAPH Asia paper on diffusion maps for image editing. He co-founded Lightricks in 2013, where Facetune, generative image tools, LTX Studio and open video models became parts of its creative software. Since June 2026, he is co-founder and CEO of LTX, which builds open world models.

Now at
LTX
Born
1979
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1979–1992

    From Yakutia to Israel

    Born in Zaporizhia in 1979, he grows up in Yakutia, Russia, and moves to Israel at 13 in 1992. He starts using Basic at ten and gravitates toward computer graphics and image processing.

  2. 2008–2010

    Tone mapping and diffusion maps

    He studies computer science through bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2008, he coauthors the SIGGRAPH paper “Edge-preserving decompositions for multi-scale tone and detail manipulation” with Raanan Fattal, Dani Lischinski and Richard Szeliski; its smoothing operator uses weighted least squares for detail extraction. In 2010, he coauthors the SIGGRAPH Asia paper “Diffusion Maps for Edge-Aware Image Editing” with Fattal and Lischinski, which uses diffusion distances for edge-aware image editing.

  3. 2013

    Co-founding Lightricks and Facetune

    In January 2013, he co-founds Lightricks in Jerusalem with Nir Pochter, Yaron Inger, Amit Goldstein and Itai Tsiddon, and leads the bootstrapped company as CEO. Lightricks launches Facetune, a mobile photo-retouching app, in March 2013.

  4. 2022

    Text-to-image in apps

    As CEO, he leads Lightricks as it enters generative AI in the summer of 2022, adding flows to Facetune and Photoleap. In August 2022, the company introduces a text-to-image generator in Photoleap and Motionleap, using open-source code released by Stable Diffusion; it is among the first to use the code.

  5. February 2024

    Launching LTX Studio

    In February 2024, Lightricks introduces LTX Studio, an AI platform for creating and editing videos. It uses several models, including Lightricks’ own text-to-video model.

  6. November 2024

    Opening LTX Video

    In November 2024, Lightricks releases LTX Video, its own 2-billion-parameter video model, as open source. Farbman says the model gives researchers and developers a base to build on and help shape AI video.

  7. 2025–2026

    LTX-2 and LTX-2.5

    In October 2025, Lightricks releases LTX-2, which generates synchronized audio with video and is designed for consumer-grade GPUs. In January 2026, it makes the model open source, releasing code, benchmarks and trainer data; Farbman calls it the company’s most complete and comprehensive AI creative engine. In August 2026, LTX releases LTX-2.5, an open-weights world model with a checkpoint tuned for physical AI and robotics.

  8. Since June 2026

    Leading LTX

    In June 2026, Lightricks splits into two businesses, and Farbman takes about 250 people to LTX to build open world models. Asaf Porat, formerly deputy CEO of Outbrain, is set to lead the Facetune business. Since June 2026, Farbman leads LTX as its co-founder and CEO.

Career

  1. Since 2026LTXCo-founder and CEO
  2. From 2013LightricksCo-founder and CEO

Education

  1. Hebrew University of JerusalemBachelor's degree

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 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 Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 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 has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 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.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Zeev Farbman - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Zeev Farbman, Co-Founder & CEO at Lightricks – Interview Series – Unite.AI unite.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. From Russia, With Coding Skills - CTech calcalistech.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Lightricks: Facetune, AI Tools & $1.8B Valuation | TuringPost turingpost.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Edge-preserving decompositions for multi-scale tone and detail manipulation - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem cris.huji.ac.il. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Diffusion Maps for Edge-Aware Image Editing pages.cs.huji.ac.il. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Lightricks - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Investors Are for the Weak: These Tech Entrepreneurs Chose Bootstrapping Over VC Affluence - CTech calcalistech.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Mobile photo editing app creator Lightricks launches text-to-image generator | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Lightricks: The Oldest Generative AI Unicorn turingpost.substack.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Lightricks announces AI-powered filmmaking studio to help creators visualize stories | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  12. About Lightricks | AI-Powered Creative Apps lightricks.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  13. Lightricks unveils new open-source AI video model — an impressive focus on speed and motion | Tom's Guide tomsguide.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  14. Lightricks hits the accelerator, generating video clips in just five seconds - SiliconANGLE siliconangle.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  15. LTX launches LTX-2.5 open world model for physical AI and robotics roboticsandautomationnews.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  16. Zeev Farbman on AI:AM | AI:AM ai-in-the-am.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  17. Lightricks to split into two companies as it cuts another 75 jobs | Ctech calcalistech.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  18. About Us ltx.io. Checked 21 October 2026.