Joshua Achiam
Chief Futurist at OpenAI
United States
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolJoshua Achiam is Chief Futurist at OpenAI with 11 years of experience bridging deep research and mission-level strategy, having progressed from research intern to Head of Mission Alignment and now leading futures work. He holds a PhD from UC Berkeley in AI and dual BS degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Physics from the University of Florida, blending rigorous theory with systems-level thinking. Joshua’s research background includes hands-on contributions to influential open-source projects like OpenAI’s Spinning Up—implementing and refining RL algorithms (DDPG, TD3, SAC) and demonstrating strong PyTorch proficiency. He focuses on aligning advanced ML capabilities with long-term institutional goals, translating technical detail into policy and operational direction. Colleagues know him for connecting low-level algorithmic fixes to broader safety and mission outcomes, a rare mix of engineer, scientist, and strategist.
11 years of coding experience
7 years of employment as a software developer
Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence at UC Berkeley College of EngineeringBachelor of Science (BS) Aerospace Engineering, Bachelor of Science (BS) Aerospace Engineering at University of Florida
Github Skills (10)
pytorch10
machine-learning10
deep-learning10
reinforcement-learning10
ddpg9
tdd9
sac9
algorithms9
python8
documentation7
Programming languages (5)
Github contributions (5)
openai/spinningup
Nov 2018 - Feb 2020
An educational resource to help anyone learn deep reinforcement learning.
Role in this project:
ML Engineer
ML EngineerContributions:1 release, 43 commits, 31 PRs in 1 year 3 months
Contributions summary:Joshua appears to be contributing to the implementation and maintenance of deep reinforcement learning algorithms within the Spinning Up repository. Their commits indicate modifications to core algorithms like DDPG, TD3, and SAC, including changes related to action flattening and integration with PyTorch. They also addressed bugs and updated documentation. Additionally, the user demonstrates proficiency in PyTorch and its associated libraries.
deep-reinforcement-learning
jachiam/tak-ai
Mar 2016 - Jun 2016
An open-source implementation of the game Tak (of The Kingkiller Chronicle) and an AI for it.
Contributions:83 commits, 2 PRs, 78 pushes in 3 months
ai
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