Shai Shalev-Shwartz is an Israeli computer scientist, professor in the Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, chief technology officer of Mobileye, and a co-founder of Mentee Robotics and AAI. His research focuses on the theoretical foundations of machine learning, optimization algorithms, and mathematical models of safety for autonomous systems. He is the author of "Online Learning and Online Convex Optimization" and co-author with Shai Ben-David of the widely-adopted textbook "Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms," and he received the Israel Prize in 2023, the country's top civilian honor.
At a glance
- Education: PhD in computer science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2007). Research assistant professor, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (2007 to 2009).
- Current roles: Chief Technology Officer of Mobileye since 2019; Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, since 2009; Senior Fellow, Intel; Co-founder, Mentee Robotics (2022); Co-founder, AAI (August 2023).
- Notable prior affiliations: Postdoctoral research assistant professor, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (2007 to 2009); VP of Technology at Mobileye prior to the 2019 CTO appointment.
- Key contributions: Co-author of the Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) framework for autonomous-vehicle safety with Amnon Shashua; author of "Online Learning and Online Convex Optimization"; co-author of "Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms" with Shai Ben-David; co-founder of Mentee Robotics (2022) and AAI (August 2023).
- Recognition: Israel Prize (2023); Michael Bruno Award (2020); ERC starting grant; Kaye Innovation Prize; named one of the 100 most influential researchers worldwide by AMiner (2016).
- Faculty page: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Google Scholar: Shai Shalev-Shwartz
Origins
Shalev-Shwartz completed his PhD in computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2007. The doctoral research focused on online learning and convex optimization, areas that became central to his subsequent academic and applied work.
After completing his PhD, he moved to the United States for a postdoctoral research assistant professorship at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, the computer-science research institute affiliated with the University of Chicago. The TTIC postdoc ran from 2007 to 2009 and produced several of the papers that anchored Shalev-Shwartz's reputation in machine-learning-theory circles, including foundational work on stochastic optimization and convex optimization for large-scale learning.
He returned to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as a full professor in 2009 and has held the academic appointment continuously since. The Hebrew University CS department has been the long-running academic anchor for Shalev-Shwartz's research output and the institutional context for his ongoing collaboration with Amnon Shashua, the Mobileye co-founder who has also held a Hebrew University faculty appointment throughout his entrepreneurial career.
Career
Shalev-Shwartz's academic-and-industry trajectory is built around the long-running collaboration with Amnon Shashua, spanning the Mobileye chief-technology-officer role, the Mentee Robotics co-founding in 2022, and the AAI co-founding in August 2023. The cross-portfolio relationship between these ventures has been a structurally distinctive element of the Israeli AI ecosystem.
He joined Mobileye as VP of Technology in the years following his Hebrew University faculty appointment, leading machine-learning research-and-engineering for the company's autonomous-driving stack. In 2017 Mobileye and Shalev-Shwartz, jointly with Shashua, published the Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) framework, a mathematical formulation for safety of self-driving systems that became one of the more-influential industry-and-regulatory contributions to autonomous-vehicle safety standards. In 2019 he was promoted to Chief Technology Officer of Mobileye, the role he has held through the 2017 Intel acquisition, the October 2022 Nasdaq IPO, and the subsequent operating phase.
Shalev-Shwartz co-founded Mentee Robotics in 2022 alongside Shashua and Lior Wolf, taking the strategic framing that the computer-vision-and-AI capability Mobileye had built for autonomous-vehicle perception had direct applicability to humanoid-robotics perception. The co-founding role at Mentee continued in parallel with the Mobileye CTO appointment.
In August 2023 he co-founded AAI with Shashua, the Israeli AI research lab building what the company calls Artificial Expert Intelligence, AI systems intended to perform at the level of leading human experts in technical domains. AAI raised approximately $221 million cumulative through its November 2025 round at a reported valuation exceeding $1 billion. Shalev-Shwartz's senior research-and-leadership role at AAI has continued in parallel with both the Mobileye CTO and Mentee Robotics co-founder roles, an unusually broad cross-portfolio operating commitment.
The January 2026 acquisition of Mentee Robotics by Mobileye for approximately $900 million simplified the cross-portfolio relationship between Mentee and Mobileye, with the Mentee humanoid-robotics capability integrating into the Mobileye autonomous-mobility product line and Shalev-Shwartz continuing in his Mobileye CTO and AAI co-founder roles.
Affiliations
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem: PhD student, completing in 2007; Full Professor, Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering, 2009 to present.
- Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago: Research assistant professor (postdoctoral), 2007 to 2009.
- Mobileye: VP of Technology; Chief Technology Officer, 2019 to present.
- Intel: Senior Fellow.
- Mentee Robotics: Co-founder, 2022 to January 2026 (acquired by Mobileye).
- AAI: Co-founder, August 2023 to present.
Notable contributions
- Responsibility-Sensitive Safety (RSS) framework (2017). Co-author with Amnon Shashua of the mathematical model for safety of self-driving cars, which became one of the more-influential contributions to autonomous-vehicle safety standards in the industry-and-regulatory landscape.
- "Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms" (2014). Co-author with Shai Ben-David of the widely-adopted graduate-level machine-learning textbook covering computational learning theory.
- "Online Learning and Online Convex Optimization" (2012). Author of the monograph on the foundational theory of online learning and convex optimization, a primary reference in the field.
- Stochastic gradient descent and large-scale optimization research. Extensive contributions to the theoretical analysis of stochastic optimization methods used in deep-learning training, including work on Pegasos (a primal sub-gradient solver for support vector machines).
- Mentee Robotics co-founding (2022). Co-founded the Israeli AI-first humanoid-robotics company; acquired by Mobileye for approximately $900 million in January 2026.
- AAI co-founding (August 2023). Co-founded the Israeli AI research lab building Artificial Expert Intelligence; approximately $221 million cumulative funding through November 2025; reported valuation exceeding $1 billion.
- Recognition. Israel Prize (2023); Michael Bruno Award (2020); ERC starting grant; Kaye Innovation Prize; AMiner list of 100 most influential researchers worldwide (2016); multiple best-paper awards at leading machine-learning venues.
Open questions
- AAI public model release and capability disclosure. AAI is the most-recent of Shalev-Shwartz's three concurrent operating roles and the most strategically ambitious in its framing around Artificial Expert Intelligence. Whether the company releases its first public model in 2026, the capability profile relative to frontier-tier comparators, and the depth of Shalev-Shwartz's continued operating contribution are the central watchable questions.
- Mobileye-and-Mentee integration depth. The January 2026 acquisition positions Mentee within Mobileye's broader autonomous-mobility product portfolio. The depth of Shalev-Shwartz's role in integrating the humanoid-robotics capability with the autonomous-vehicle perception stack, particularly on the safety-modelling axis where RSS has been a primary contribution, will be informative.
- Cross-portfolio operating bandwidth. Shalev-Shwartz simultaneously holds the Mobileye CTO role, the AAI co-founder role, the Hebrew University full professorship, and (through January 2026) the Mentee Robotics co-founder role. The time-and-decision-making allocation across the simultaneous roles is unusually broad even within the Israeli serial-founder cohort.
- Continued academic publication cadence. The Hebrew University appointment has been the long-running academic anchor for Shalev-Shwartz's theoretical-machine-learning research output. Whether the academic publication cadence continues at historical depth, or whether the cross-portfolio operating commitments compress the research output, will be a watchable signal for the broader pattern of Israeli academic-entrepreneur trajectories.
Sources
- Shai Shalev-Shwartz Hebrew University faculty page. Career history including PhD year, TTIC postdoc, full professorship, and Mobileye CTO appointment.
- Mobileye executive profile of Prof. Shai Shalev-Shwartz. Current Mobileye CTO role.
- Shai Shalev-Shwartz Google Scholar profile. Publication record and citation counts.
- Understanding Machine Learning: From Theory to Algorithms. Textbook with Shai Ben-David covering computational learning theory.
- GESDA radar profile of Shai Shalev-Shwartz. Recognition and award references, including the 2023 Israel Prize and 2020 Michael Bruno Award.
- Companion profile: Mentee Robotics and Amnon Shashua for the long-running co-founder collaboration; AAI for the August 2023 venture.
