# Yash Patil

> Yash Patil is the San Francisco-based co-founder and CEO of Applied Compute, which builds infrastructure for training and serving custom AI models. A former OpenAI technical staff member who worked on post-training infrastructure and Codex, he previously studied computer science at Stanford, co-directed TreeHacks, and co-founded Helping Hands.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Applied Compute
- **Organizations:** Applied Compute, OpenAI, TreeHacks, Armadillo Labs, Helping Hands, Webber Energy Group, University of Texas at Austin, Actively AI, bit.io, Pei
- **Education:** Computer science studies; took leave to join OpenAI, degree completion not established, Stanford University, Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Austin
- **Known for:** Co-founded Applied Compute with former OpenAI colleagues Rhythm Garg and Linden Li., Worked on OpenAI post-training infrastructure and Codex., Co-directed TreeHacks 2023.

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Built GimmeSMS, an SMS-based web information service.
- **2017** — Built Ecuisina, a platform for neighbors to trade home-cooked food.
- **2019-2021** — Grid-modeling researcher at the Webber Energy Group at UT Austin.
- **2020-2021** — Co-founded Helping Hands and built its initial user platform.
- **2021** — Began computer science studies at Stanford and interned at bit.io.
- **2022** — Co-founded Armadillo Labs; interned at Actively AI.
- **2023** — Co-directed TreeHacks 2023 and joined OpenAI as a resident.
- **2023-2025** — Worked at OpenAI on post-training infrastructure and Codex.
- **2025-05** — Became co-founder and CEO of Applied Compute with Rhythm Garg and Linden Li.
- **2025-10** — Applied Compute publicly introduced its Specific Intelligence approach and $80 million in funding.
- **2026-04** — Applied Compute announced $80 million in new financing, $160 million total funding, and a $1.3 billion post-money valuation.
- **2026-08** — Applied Compute introduced AC2, its training and inference cloud.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Applied Compute with former OpenAI colleagues Rhythm Garg and Linden Li.
- Worked on OpenAI post-training infrastructure and Codex.
- Co-directed TreeHacks 2023.
- Built the initial Helping Hands user platform; his public résumé reports over two million meals delivered across all 50 states.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Applied Compute released Shift-1 on October 21, a request-level coding router trained on AC2; the company reported 55% lower Codex spend on its internal workload versus its GPT-6-Astra baseline.
- **2026-08** — Introduced AC2 on August 25, making internal training and inference infrastructure available to other AI teams.
- **2026-06** — Appeared on The Generalist to discuss company-owned models, his background, and post-training.
- **2026-04** — Announced an $80 million financing led by Kleiner Perkins, bringing total funding to $160 million.

## Links

- Website: https://yashpatil.me/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yash-s-patil
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/ypatil125
- GitHub: https://github.com/ypat125

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yash-patil
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25