# Matthew Brown

> Matthew Brown is the founder and CEO of ThoughtForge AI, a Berkeley robotics company building a cloud-based control platform that gives existing industrial robots real-time adaptivity and human-level dexterity using Active Inference, a biologically-inspired approach drawn from neuroscience. Over more than two decades in AI, he wrote combat logic for the Aegis system at Lockheed Martin, built the enemy intelligence behind game franchises like Halo, Bioshock, and Splinter Cell, and was the first engineer at Bonsai AI, where he helped ship one of the world's first production deep reinforcement learning platforms before Microsoft acquired it in 2018. He now teaches and sits on the board of the Active Institute while ThoughtForge works with manufacturers like bp, Siemens, and members of the ARM Institute to bring common sense to the factory floor.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at ThoughtForge AI
- **Organizations:** ThoughtForge AI, Active Institute, Bonsai AI, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, 343 Industries, 2K, Ubisoft Toronto, KIXEYE, EA, UC Berkeley RISE Lab
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. Computer Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), M.S. Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania, High school diploma, Robert Louis Stevenson School
- **Known for:** Founded ThoughtForge AI, a robotics control platform compatible with over 78% of existing industrial robots, First engineer and technical lead at Bonsai AI, helping ship one of the world's first production-grade deep reinforcement learning platforms, Holds several patents in Reinforcement Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Autonomous Systems

## Career timeline

- **2002** — Graduates MIT with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering
- **2005** — Completes M.S. in Computer and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania
- **pre-2015** — Works on the Aegis Combat System at Lockheed Martin and builds real-time AI for game franchises including Halo, Bioshock, and Splinter Cell
- **2015** — Leaves the gaming industry to join Bonsai AI as first engineer and technical lead, building one of the first production-grade deep reinforcement learning platforms
- **2018** — Microsoft acquires Bonsai; Brown becomes Microsoft's liaison to the UC Berkeley RISE Lab
- **2022** — ThoughtForge AI raises a $350K seed round
- **2024** — Leads ThoughtForge as founder/CEO; serves as guest lecturer and board member at the Active Institute; joins the ARM Institute

## Achievements

- Founded ThoughtForge AI, a robotics control platform compatible with over 78% of existing industrial robots
- First engineer and technical lead at Bonsai AI, helping ship one of the world's first production-grade deep reinforcement learning platforms
- Holds several patents in Reinforcement Learning, Artificial Intelligence, and Autonomous Systems
- Built real-time AI for major game franchises including Halo, Bioshock, and Splinter Cell
- Worked on the Aegis Combat System at Lockheed Martin
- Board member and guest lecturer at the Active Institute, focused on Active Inference
- ThoughtForge platform achieves 99%+ task completion accuracy with far less training data, running on any CPU with no WiFi

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — ThoughtForge joins the ARM Institute and begins an Adaptive Robotic Insertion project using multi-modal AI, partnering with Siemens bin-picking solutions and Force-Torque plus vision sensing.
- **2024-01** — Energy leader bp cited as a client, stating ThoughtForge 'has outperformed every robotic solution we tried.'

## Links

- Website: https://thoughtforge.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-brown-0558201
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/MalleableIdea
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mbrown2222

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matthew-brown
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-22