David Silver
British researcher who led AlphaGo and AlphaZero
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David Silver is a British computer scientist who led DeepMind’s reinforcement-learning research, including AlphaGo, which beat Go champion Lee Sedol in 2016, and AlphaZero. A professor at University College London, he left DeepMind in 2026 to lead the start-up Ineffable Intelligence.
Biography
Games industry
Silver studied at Cambridge, where he met Demis Hassabis, and co-founded the games company Elixir Studios with him, working as its chief technology officer.
Research
He earned a PhD at the University of Alberta under Richard Sutton, applying reinforcement learning to the game of Go.
AlphaGo
At DeepMind from 2013 he led AlphaGo, which beat Lee Sedol 4–1 in Seoul in March 2016. AlphaGo Zero and AlphaZero (2017) learned Go, chess and shogi from scratch, and AlphaStar reached grandmaster level in StarCraft II.
Ineffable Intelligence
He teaches a famous course on reinforcement learning at UCL. In 2026 he left DeepMind to become CEO of Ineffable Intelligence.
Timeline
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1998
Co-founds Elixir Studios
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2009
PhD from Alberta
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2013
Joins DeepMind
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2016
AlphaGo beats Lee Sedol
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2017
AlphaZero
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2019
AlphaStar
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2026
Leaves DeepMind
Notable works
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2016
Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search Paper
Nature.
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2017
Mastering chess and shogi by self-play Paper
Awards and honours
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ACM Prize in Computing
2019
Did you know?
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1
AlphaGo’s “move 37” against Lee Sedol amazed professional players.
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2
His UCL reinforcement-learning lectures are free on YouTube.
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3
He co-founded a games studio with Demis Hassabis.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is David Silver?
David Silver is a British computer scientist who led DeepMind’s reinforcement-learning research, including AlphaGo, which beat Go champion Lee Sedol in 2016, and AlphaZero. A professor at University College London, he left DeepMind in 2026 to lead the start-up Ineffable Intelligence.
Where is David Silver from?
David Silver was born in England.
What is David Silver known for?
David Silver is best known for Leading AlphaGo, AlphaZero and AlphaStar at DeepMind; reinforcement learning; Ineffable Intelligence.
What awards has David Silver received?
Notable honours include ACM Prize in Computing (2019).
References
- David Silver (computer scientist) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- David Silver (computer scientist) — IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. www.davidsilver.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- David Silver (computer scientist) (Q25208036) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “David Silver (computer scientist)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“David Silver.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/david-silver
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