About
Kunal Sawarkar is currently building the universal knowledge perception platform to unlock the next level of intelligence for generative AI. Previously, as Distinguished Engineer and Chief AI Scientist at IBM, he founded and led Applied AI Labs, scaling the organization from inception to deliver over $320M in growth. A serial in-house entrepreneur, he has repeatedly turned disruptive ideas into funded initiatives, building and leading high-performing teams from the ground up while serving as both hands-on engineer and strategic leader. An Applied AI Scientist with a Master’s degree in Applied Statistics from Harvard University, Kunal has commercialized research across diverse domains—from creative applications like poetry generation to critical challenges such as measuring ocean plastics and supporting pollinator conservation. He is a Master Inventor with 23+ patents and publications, author of the book Deep Learning with PyTorch Lightning, and Editor-in-Chief of Towards Generative AI. Recognized in multiple Top 10 and 40 Under 40 lists, Kunal is also an active angel investor and board member focused on AI, quantum computing, and brain-computer interface (BCI) startups.
