# Ilya Gelfenbeyn

> Ilya Gelfenbeyn is the co-founder and executive chairman of Inworld AI and its former CEO. He previously co-founded Speaktoit and API.AI, the conversational AI platform Google acquired in 2016 and later renamed Dialogflow. He founded and led Google Assistant Investments and became a partner at The.AI Ventures.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Executive Chairman at Inworld AI
- **Organizations:** Inworld AI, Speaktoit, API.AI / Dialogflow, Google, Google Assistant Investments, The.AI Ventures, StartX, 500 Startups
- **Education:** Mathematics and Computer Science studies, Novosibirsk State University, MBA, General Management, University of Brighton, Graduate Certificate, Stanford LEAD Executive Program, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led API.AI before its acquisition by Google in September 2016., The Speaktoit / Assistant.ai consumer assistant reached more than 40 million users, according to his public biography and Voicebot interview notes., Google reported that more than 60,000 developers used API.AI at the time of the acquisition.

## Career timeline

- **2010** — Co-founded Speaktoit, a consumer voice assistant company.
- **2014** — Launched API.AI as a conversational AI developer platform.
- **2016** — Google acquired API.AI on September 19; Gelfenbeyn joined Google as a product lead.
- **2017–2020** — Founded and led Google Assistant Investments; the investment program was publicly announced in 2018.
- **2020** — Left Google and co-founded The.AI Ventures.
- **2021** — Co-founded Inworld AI with Michael Ermolenko and Kylan Gibbs; served as CEO.
- **2024** — Listed as Inworld executive chairman; Kylan Gibbs became CEO.
- **2026** — Inworld’s official company overview identifies him as co-founder and executive chairman.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led API.AI before its acquisition by Google in September 2016.
- The Speaktoit / Assistant.ai consumer assistant reached more than 40 million users, according to his public biography and Voicebot interview notes.
- Google reported that more than 60,000 developers used API.AI at the time of the acquisition.
- Founded Google Assistant Investments.
- Named co-inventor on US12141178B2, Archetype-based generation of artificial intelligence characters, granted November 12, 2024.
- Received a Chevening Scholarship, as listed on his Wellfound profile.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Inworld’s official company overview, published February 19 and subsequently updated, identifies Gelfenbeyn as co-founder and executive chairman and describes the company’s broader realtime voice AI infrastructure business.
- **2024-11** — US patent 12141178 for archetype-based AI character generation was granted, naming Gelfenbeyn and three collaborators as inventors.
- **2024-03** — His LinkedIn profile lists completion of Harvard Business School Executive Education’s Preparing to be a Corporate Director program.
- **2024-02** — His LinkedIn profile lists the start of a mentoring role at StartX.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gelfenbeyn
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/gelfenbeyn

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ilya-gelfenbeyn
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22