# Llion Jones

> Llion Jones is a Welsh AI researcher, co-author of the 2017 paper Attention Is All You Need, and co-founder and CTO of Tokyo-based Sakana AI. His current work explores nature-inspired AI and the research freedom needed to find alternatives to today's dominant methods.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CTO at Sakana AI
- **Organizations:** Sakana AI, Google Research, YouTube, Delcam, University of Birmingham
- **Nationality:** Welsh
- **Education:** BSc, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, University of Birmingham, MSc, Advanced Computer Science, University of Birmingham
- **Known for:** One of eight co-authors of the 2017 transformer paper Attention Is All You Need., Co-founded Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based AI research company, in 2023., Co-authored the 2025 Continuous Thought Machines research paper.

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Completed a bachelor's degree in artificial intelligence and computer science at the University of Birmingham.
- **2009** — Completed a master's degree in advanced computer science at the University of Birmingham.
- **2009-2012** — Worked as a software engineer at Delcam.
- **2012-2015** — Worked as a software engineer at YouTube before moving to Google Research.
- **2017** — Co-authored Attention Is All You Need at Google, introducing the transformer architecture.
- **2023** — Left Google Research and co-founded Sakana AI in Tokyo with David Ha and Ren Ito.
- **2025** — Co-authored Continuous Thought Machines and spoke at TEDAI San Francisco about competition in AI research.
- **2026** — Discussed data efficiency and generalization at MUIP Innovation Day; Sakana AI announced its Frontier Intelligence Group.
- **2026** — Received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham at its July graduation ceremonies.

## Achievements

- One of eight co-authors of the 2017 transformer paper Attention Is All You Need.
- Co-founded Sakana AI, a Tokyo-based AI research company, in 2023.
- Co-authored the 2025 Continuous Thought Machines research paper.
- Received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Sakana AI announced its Frontier Intelligence Group, describing research freedom and alternative approaches to intelligence as central aims and referring to Jones's post-transformer debate.
- **2026-04** — MUFG Innovation Partners published an account of Jones's March 2026 discussion on AI, data efficiency, generalization and research culture.
- **2026-02** — TED published video of his October 2025 talk, How Competition Is Stifling AI Breakthroughs.
- **2026-07** — The University of Birmingham included Jones among its honorary degree recipients at summer graduation.

## Links

- Website: https://sakana.ai/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/llion-jones-9ab3064b/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/YesThisIsLion

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/llion-jones
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-29