John Carmack
John Carmack is an American programmer and computer-game designer, a co-founder of id Software who led the technology behind first-person shooters such as Wolfenstein 3-D, DOOM and Quake; he later served as chief technology officer of Oculus and in 2022 founded the artificial general intelligence company Keen Technologies.
Contents15 sections
Key facts
August 21, 1970Born
John D. Carmack II was born on August 21, 1970.[1]
1990sFounds id Software
In the 1990s he co-founded the game company id Software, and his pioneering work on three-dimensional game design helped popularize the first-person shooter genre.[1]
1992Wolfenstein 3-D
In 1992 Carmack and id Software released Wolfenstein 3-D, bringing a first-person perspective to interactive entertainment; it is regarded as the birth of the first-person shooter genre.[2]
1993Doom
In 1993 the id Software team led by Carmack and John Romero released DOOM: the first episode was given away free and later episodes sold as digital downloads; its engine separated core functions from assets such as artwork, making the game easy to modify, an approach later adopted by other designers.[3]
Mid-1990sThe Quake Engine
Carmack later built the engine behind Quake, which delivered a true 3D environment that players could move through.[2]
February 2010Lifetime Achievement Award at GDC
In February 2010 it was announced that he would receive a lifetime achievement award at the following month’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.[4]
Since 2012Turns to Virtual Reality
In 2012 he helped usher in the modern era of virtual reality with the Oculus Rift prototype.[5]
He then officially joined Oculus as its chief technology officer.[6]
2015Doom Enters the World Video Game Hall of Fame
In 2015 DOOM was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play.[3]
August 2022Founds Keen Technologies
In 2022 he founded Keen Technologies to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI), announcing in August an initial $20 million round from investors including Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Jim KellerJim KellerJim Keller is an American microprocessor architect and executive who led processor design at Digital Equipment, AMD, P.A. Semi, Apple, Tesla and Intel, working on chips including AMD’s K8 and Zen and Apple’s A4/A5. Since 2023 he has been CEO of the AI chip company Tenstorrent.Open the full entry and Sequoia CapitalSequoia CapitalSequoia Capital is a venture capital firm founded by Don Valentine in 1972, investing from the seed stage through the growth stage. Its historical investments include Apple, Cisco, Google, YouTube, Airbnb, and Stripe; in 2021 it introduced the Sequoia Capital Fund structure, which can continue to hold public securities, and in 2023 its regional businesses became independent brands and partnerships.Open the full entry.[5]
August 4, 2022Appears on the Lex Fridman Podcast
On August 4, 2022, he appeared on episode 309 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, “Doom, Quake, VR, AGI, Programming, Video Games, and Rockets,” discussing programming languages, id Software, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, John Romero, the metaverse, Mars, nuclear energy, AGI and martial arts.[7]
September 2023Partners with Richard Sutton
Having left his role as consulting CTO at MetaMetaMeta (Meta Platforms, Inc.) is a publicly listed American technology company, renamed from Facebook in 2021, that operates social communication, digital advertising, virtual reality, smart glasses and artificial intelligence businesses.Open the full entry in December 2022, he announced a partnership in September 2023 with Richard Sutton aimed at a genuine AI prototype by 2030.[5]
2025Sets Out His AGI Approach at Upper Bound
In 2025 he gave a talk at the Upper Bound conference proposing an alternative path to AGI based on reinforcement learning and online adaptation.[8]
In his talk notes he recalled founding id Software in the 1990s, working on VTVL rockets for a decade with Armadillo Aerospace and laying the technical foundation for modern virtual reality at Oculus/Meta; he wrote, “I believe in the importance of learning from a stream of interactive experience,” and said the team had six researchers.[9]
As of October 2026: The Physical Atari Project
As of October 2026 the Keen Technologies site lists the Physical Atari project, credited to Khurram Javed, Joseph Modayil, Gloria Kennickell, Richard S. Sutton and Carmack: a robot that actuates an Atari CX40+ controller to run the Arcade Learning Environment for real-time reinforcement learning.[10]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
X: Public account: https://x.com/ID_AA_Carmack (opens in a new window)[7]
Keen Technologies: Official website: https://keenagi.com/ (opens in a new window)[11]
Sources
- John Carmack | Doom, Quake, Biography, & Facts | Britannica (opens in a new window)
- Special Awards Details Page (opens in a new window)
- DOOM - The Strong National Museum of Play (opens in a new window)
- John Carmack's Lifetime Achievement (opens in a new window)
- John Carmack & Rich Sutton Partner to Accelerate AGI Development (opens in a new window)
- John Carmack Joins Oculus as CTO | Meta Quest Blog (opens in a new window)
- #309 – John Carmack: Doom, Quake, VR, AGI, Programming, Video Games, and Rockets (opens in a new window)
- Keen Technologies (opens in a new window)
- UpperBound 25 talk notes (opens in a new window)
- Physical Atari: A Robust and Accessible Platform for Real-time Reinforcement Learning on Robots (opens in a new window)
- Keen Technologies (opens in a new window)