Nishant Rai — Lead ML Engineer
Currently at OpenAI, working on research around making models helpful on real world tasks, building and leveraging the rapid advancements in foundation models we've seen in recent times. Previously a Tech Lead in the Perception team at Waymo, focusing on 1. Efficient multi-modal foundation model research, alongside 2. Teaching robots how to understand the most complex agents on roads - humans! I was fortunate to have my time at Stanford funded through research and course appointments. While there, I served as a research assistant in the Stanford Vision and Learning Lab. Before Stanford, I completed my undergrad in CS at IIT Kanpur, graduating top of my class with distinction. Having a soft spot for startups, I've navigated through roles at Waymo, Nuro, Fyusion, Rubrik, and more. I am broadly interested in Computer Vision and Deep Learning applications. While my journey in the field began with a focus on Multi-Modal Learning, it branched into Video Understanding and Self-Supervised Learning, and has recently expanded into Foundation Vision-Language Models. Beyond my professional pursuits, I am a passionate sports enthusiast along with a love for skiing and diving. In quieter moments, I find solace in writing, sketching and immersing myself in books.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Machine Learning and Computer Vision expert in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Experience: 8 yrs 4 mos
Skills
- Machine Learning
- Artificial Intelligence (ai)
- Computer Vision
- Artificial Intelligence
- Self-supervised Learning
- 3d Geometry Reconstruction
- Software Development
- Quantitative Analysis
- Human-robot Interaction
- Multi View Clustering
Career Highlights
- Expert in Multi-Modal Learning and Computer Vision.
- Led perception research at Waymo for autonomous vehicles.
- Graduated top of class from IIT Kanpur.
Work Experience
OpenAI
Member of Technical Staff (1 yr 7 mos)
Waymo
Tech Lead at Perception (3 yrs 1 mo)
Nuro
Perception - ML Intern (3 mos)
Stanford University
MS in Computer Science (1 yr 9 mos)
Research Assistant: Vision and Learning Lab (1 yr 9 mos)
Course Assistant: CS231N ('21, '20) and CS145 ('19) (1 yr 9 mos)
Fyusion, Inc
ML Research Intern (3 mos)
Rubrik, Inc.
Software Engineer (1 yr 11 mos)
Two Roads Tech
Quantitative Trading Intern (2 mos)
The University of British Columbia
Research Intern (2 mos)
PARC, a Xerox Company
ML Research Intern (1 mo)
Inria
Summer Research Intern (2 mos)
Education
Masters with Distinction in Research at Stanford University
Bachelor's at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
