# Steven Hao

> Steven Hao is the cofounder and chief technology officer of Cognition, the company behind Devin. A former Scale AI engineer and MIT alumnus, he won silver and gold medals at the International Olympiad in Informatics and now argues that AI agents should take continuing responsibility for software work.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Cognition
- **Organizations:** Cognition, Scale AI, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** 2014 IOI gold medal, sixth place overall among 311 contestants., 2013 IOI silver medal., Cofounded Cognition and serves as its CTO.

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Represented the United States at the International Olympiad in Informatics in Brisbane and won a silver medal.
- **2014** — Won a gold medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics, placing sixth overall.
- **2014–2018** — Studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- **2018–2022** — Worked as a software engineer at Scale AI.
- **2023** — Cofounded Cognition with Scott Wu and Walden Yan.
- **2024** — Cognition publicly introduced Devin, its AI software engineer.
- **2026** — Gave a talk on software development, agent responsibilities and natural language as a source of truth.

## Achievements

- 2014 IOI gold medal, sixth place overall among 311 contestants.
- 2013 IOI silver medal.
- Cofounded Cognition and serves as its CTO.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Forbes listed Hao at an estimated $5.8 billion net worth as of September 15, following Cognition’s reported $2 billion financing at a $48 billion valuation.
- **2026-06** — Presented “Taste in Software Development” at JSNation, discussing Devin’s broader responsibilities and natural-language specifications.
- **2026-05** — Publicly described building an AI security incident tracker updated daily by Devin.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-hao-160b9638
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/stevenkplus1
- GitHub: https://github.com/stevenhao

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