University of Toronto
University of Tokyo
Llion JonesCo-founder and CTO · Sakana AIResearcher↗
Researcher · Founder · Executive
David Ha
Sakana AICo-founder and CEO
Ha is the co-founder and CEO of Sakana AI, a Tokyo lab he started in 2023 with former Google colleague Llion Jones to pursue nature-inspired and evolutionary approaches to AI. He earlier led Google Brain's research in Japan — known for creative work on world models and generative design — and was previously a rates trader at Goldman Sachs.
Career & education
Current roleSakana AI2023-presentCo-founder and CEO
Sakana AI2023-presentPreviously
Google Brain2016-2022Research Scientist
Goldman Sachs2008-2016Managing Director
Google Brain2016-2022Goldman Sachs2008-2016Work and education history is primarily focused on AI-relevant roles and may not be comprehensive.
Citation Trend
Total citations to scholarly work, including research papers, technical reports, books and theses, as recorded by Google Scholar. Each point is a dated snapshot.
citations20,158As of Oct 21, '26
citations+3,075Since last snapshot, Jun 14, '26
Selected contributions
World Models
With Jürgen SchmidhuberTrained agents inside a learned simulation of their environment before testing them in the original.
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Reviewed August 14, 2026 · Checked for accuracy and new information.
