Lex Fridman is a computer scientist, MIT researcher and podcaster. The Russian-American hosts a popular podcast and gets the opportunity to interview famous public figures such as Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and Vitalik Buterin. Lex has a loyal following, but not many people are familiar with his background.
Who is Lex Fridman?
Lex was born as Alexei Fedotov on August 15, 1983 in Chkalovsk, Russia. Despite his youthful appearance, he will soon be 40 years old! His father Alexander Fridman is a famous plasma physicist who served as a huge inspiration for Lex and his brother, Gregory.
As a child, Lex was homeschooled and immigrated to the U.S. after finishing high school to attend Drexel University in Philadelphia. Here, Fridman developed his love for technology and AI research. Lex went on to have a stellar academic career getting a bachleres, masters degree and a Ph.D. in Computer Science.
What Did He Do As a Researcher?
The use of computer vision, machine learning, and decision fusion methods in a variety of domains, such as human sensing and robotics, was a major part of his study at Drexel University.
After that, Lex worked in Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group as a Machine Learning Researcher. At Google, his research was centered on active authentication and machine learning.
Lex continued his career at MIT in 2015, and he continues to work there to this day. His areas of interest include deep learning, human-centered artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving.
Podcast
Lex Fridman’s podcast was originally intended to be named “The Artificial Intelligence Podcast” back in 2018. It addresses the nature of AI, science, technology, and history but also discusses philosophy, consciousness, passion, and power.
The podcast has gone mainstream by sparking intellectual conversations. His most popular video on YouTube has 6.3 million views, where he talks about extraterrestrial life and aerospace engineering with David Fravor.
His subscriber count now stands at 2.57 million and has a substantial number of followers on other social media platforms. As he actively produces high-quality content, these numbers are only expected to grow.
Personal Life
Today, Fridman’s fame can’t be denied, but he chooses to keep his private life out of the public eye. However, it is known that Lex is currently single. Sometimes, Lex will share something about his personal endeavors. For example, he shared footage of his speech when he earned a black belt in jiu-jitsu.
It appears that he is also practicing judo, wrestling, and other kinds of competitive sports. He also shared to his 761,000 followers on Instagram about his passion for playing the guitar.
