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Bagatur Askaryan ('16)

Bagatur Askaryan

AI-powered language processing tools such as ChatGPT are revolutionizing daily life. Bagatur Askaryan (Class of 2016) is harnessing these breakthroughs in large language models in his role as a founding engineer at LangChain. The skillset behind his success is something he learned as a student at Beachwood High School, where he cherished opportunities for hands-on inquiry and real-world problem solving in AP Computer Science. Realizing he had a knack for coding and mathematics, Bagatur decided to pursue a degree in computer science at Harvard University. He currently lives in San Francisco, where he enjoys pushing the limits of artificial intelligence to improve human lives.

Tell us about your career path.

My first job was at a wonderful tech startup called Robust Intelligence (RI), where I worked as a machine learning engineer. I joined the company in 2020 when there were 10 folks and left in 2023 with 60. The company builds software for ensuring that artificial intelligence models are safe to use, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how to actually do that. After RI, I joined my current company LangChain in a software engineering capacity. LangChain builds software that enables other developers to use large language models such as ChatGPT in their applications. I spend my time thinking about how to turn these very powerful conversational models into valuable applications that aren’t just more chatbots.

What are some things you like most about your job?

I’ve really loved all the folks I’ve worked with throughout my career. They’re smart, hard-working, humble, kind, and optimistic. They have a clear vision of what they want the world to look like and a sense of actually being able to move the needle on the things that matter to them. I also think the AI space is technically fascinating and has the potential to do a lot of good. And last but not least, I do really enjoy coding.

How did Beachwood Schools get you to where you are today?

In very broad strokes, Beachwood Schools is chock-full of teachers and students who have a very sincere curiosity about many, many different things. And that curiosity is infectious. Combined with some good tools for inquiry, which the teachers at Beachwood are very capable of providing, I think curiosity can take you a really long way. I’m very grateful that the school district fostered that in me.

What advice or life lessons would you like to share with current students?

Be curious about why things are the way they are. Be patient and open-minded when learning something new. A lot of interesting things take a bit of work to understand, but the payoff is well worth the cost. Also, be wary of very general advice!

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