Jeff Orkin, Ph.D.

Jeff Orkin, Ph.D. has a diverse and extensive work experience in the field of artificial intelligence and data science. Jeff is currently the Co-founder and CEO of Central Casting AI, a company founded in 2022. Prior to this, they worked at Drift, where they held multiple roles including Head of the Drift AI Lab from 2019 to 2022, and Head of Data Science from 2018 to 2019. Jeff also founded and served as CEO of Giant Otter Technologies, a conversational AI company that was acquired by Drift in 2018. Before that, they worked as a Doctoral Student and Research Assistant at MIT Media Lab, specializing in artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and crowdsourcing from 2005 to 2013. Jeff also has experience as a Senior Engineer and Artificial Intelligence Lead at Monolith Productions from 2001 to 2005, and as a Lead Software Engineer at Sierra On-Line from 1996 to 2001. Jeff started their career as a Programmer Analyst at American Management Systems (AMS) in 1995.

Jeff Orkin, Ph.D. completed their education in a chronological order. Jeff began their academic journey in 1991, where they attended Tufts University and obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Computer Science in 1995. The next step in their education was pursuing a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Computer Science at the University of Washington, which they completed from 1999 to 2003. Following that, Orkin enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2005 to 2007, where they earned a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Media Arts & Sciences. Jeff'seducation culminated at MIT, where Orkin obtained their highest level of education, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Artificial Intelligence, which they achieved from 2007 to 2013.