Tim Rocktäschel
Tim Rocktäschel is a German-born artificial intelligence researcher who is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at University College London and co-founder and chief scientist of Recursive Superintelligence; he previously led the Open-Endedness team at Google DeepMindGoogle DeepMindGoogle DeepMind is Google’s artificial intelligence research organization, formed in April 2023 by merging DeepMind, which Google acquired in 2014, with the Brain team from Google Research, and led by CEO Demis Hassabis. It developed AlphaGo, AlphaFold, and the Gemini family of models, and Hassabis and John Jumper received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold’s protein structure prediction work.Open the full entry.
Contents9 sections
Key facts
2006–2012Studying Computer Science at Humboldt University of Berlin
According to his CV, he studied at Humboldt University of Berlin from 2006 to 2012, earning a Diplom in computer science (roughly equivalent to an M.Sc.); his diploma thesis received a faculty award from the university in 2013, and during and after his studies he worked there as a research assistant until 2013.[1]
Implicator.ai, citing the Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times (FT) is a London-based English-language business and financial news organization, known for its salmon-pink newspaper and its motto “Without Fear and Without Favour.” It was owned successively by the British Pearson group and Japan’s Nikkei Inc., and today digital subscriptions are its main source of revenue.Open the full entry, reported that he was born in Berlin.[2]
2013–2017PhD at University College London
From 2013 to 2017 he pursued a PhD in computer science at University College London (UCL) under the supervision of Sebastian Riedel; during this time he received a 2013 MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft is a technology company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 and headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with businesses spanning Windows, Microsoft 365, Azure, enterprise software, artificial intelligence, gaming and devices.Open the full entry Research PhD Scholarship and a 2017 Google PhD Fellowship in Natural Language Processing, and interned at Google DeepMind in London in 2015.[3][1]
2017–2018Postdoctoral Research at the University of Oxford
2018–2022Facebook AI Research London and Teaching at UCL
From August 2018 he was a research scientist at Facebook AI Research (FAIR) London and served as a research manager from September 2021 to April 2022; his website says he led the reinforcement learning team there. Also in August 2018 he returned to UCL as an assistant professor (lecturer), becoming an associate professor in October 2021.[1][3]
In December 2020 he became an ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) Scholar, and from October 2024 an ELLIS Fellow.[1]
2022–2026Google DeepMind
2024ICML Best Paper Awards for Genie and Other Work
In February 2024 the paper “Genie: Generative Interactive Environments,” on which he is an author, was submitted to arXiv; it introduces a generative interactive environment model trained in an unsupervised manner. According to his CV, that paper and another on debate with large language models both received ICML 2024 Best Paper Awards; his website also mentions a keynote he gave at ICLR 2025.[4][1][3]
2026Co-Founding Recursive Superintelligence
According to his CV, he left Google DeepMind in February 2026 and became a co-founder of Recursive that month, adding the role of chief scientist in September 2026; since June 2026 he has also been principal investigator of the British Open-ended Learning and Discovery (BOLD) Lab.[1]
In April 2026, Implicator.ai, citing the Financial Times, named him among the core founders of Recursive Superintelligence and said the company was incorporated in London. On May 13, 2026, GV announced that it was co-leading the company’s early $650 million funding at a $4.65 billion valuation and listed him among the seven co-founders alongside CEO Richard Socher. The company’s website says its aim is to automate knowledge discovery through recursive self-improving superintelligence.[2][5][6]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
Humboldt University of Berlin: Official website: https://www.hu-berlin.de/ (opens in a new window)[1]
University College London: Official website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ (opens in a new window)[1]
Google DeepMind: Official website: https://deepmind.google/ (opens in a new window)[1]
Recursive Superintelligence: Official website: https://www.recursive.com/ (opens in a new window)[6]
Recursive Superintelligence: Official account: https://x.com/Recursive_SI (opens in a new window)[6]
Personal website: Public link: https://rockt.ai/ (opens in a new window)[3]
X: Public account: https://x.com/_rockt (opens in a new window)[3]
LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rockt (opens in a new window)[3]
GitHub: Public account: https://github.com/rockt (opens in a new window)[3]
Sources
- Curriculum Vitae – Tim Rocktäschel (opens in a new window)
- Recursive Superintelligence Raises $500M From GV and Nvidia at $4B Valuation (opens in a new window)
- Tim Rocktäschel (opens in a new window)
- Genie: Generative Interactive Environments (opens in a new window)
- Recursive Superintelligence: self-improving AI (opens in a new window)
- Recursive — Self-improving superintelligence (opens in a new window)