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I'm Sebastian: a machine learning & AI researcher, programmer, and author.

Sebastian Raschka Profile Picture
As Staff Research Engineer Lightning AI, I focus on the intersection of AI research, software development, and large language models (LLMs).
Lightning AI logo
I used to hold a position as an Assistant Professor of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (on a tenure track from 2018-2025). However, with a heavy heart, I recently resigned in 2023 to concentrate fully on my work at the Lightning AI startup, which I had joined in January 2022.
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Moreover, I love open-source software and am a passionate contributor. Next to coding, I also love writing and covering the latest deep learning & AI research in Ahead of AI.
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I also have a passion for education and am the author of several books!

News



Mar 25, 2024

I somehow made it to GitHub's top-1 spot on the Trending Developers list. I've been coding on GitHub quite consistently for about 12 years, but I honestly never expected to find myself up there! As a passionate coder and open-source developer, this is perhaps the nicest compliment for me so far!

GitHub Trending



Mar 19, 2024

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jon Krohns on the SuperDataScience podcast for what turned into a roughly 2-hour mega interview on LLMs. We covered pretty much everything!
LLM Mega Interview

  • Developing efficient open-source codebases for finetuning and pretraining LLMs
  • A developer-friendly codebase for experimenting with LLM research ideas
  • Accelerating PyTorch code with Fabric
  • Scaling research: Running multi-GPU and multi-node AI experiments with Lightning Studios
  • LLM architecture deep dives: OLMo and Gemma LLMs
  • From 70B to 3B; and generalized vs specialized LLMs
  • LoRA vs DORA: Efficient LLM finetuning
  • Writing books about LLMs


Feb 8, 2024

I'll be giving a 3.5 hour deep learning workshop at PyCon 2024 in May. This tutorial is aimed at Python programmers new to PyTorch and deep learning. However, even more experienced deep learning practitioners and PyTorch users may be exposed to new concepts and ideas when exploring other open source libraries to extend PyTorch.
It's my first PyCon, and I'm very excited!

PyTorch at PyCon 2024



Dec 12, 2023

Build a Large Language Model (From Scratch) is now available via Manning's Early Access Program.
In this book, I'll guide you step by step through creating your own LLM, explaining each stage with clear text, diagrams, and examples.

Building LLMs from Scratch Cover



Dec 07, 2023

I am looking forward to attend the NeurIPS 2023 Large Language Model Efficiency Challenge: 1 LLM + 1GPU + 1Day workshop on Dec 14 in New Orleans. I'll be giving a talk on "LoRA in Action: Insights from Finetuning LLMs with Low-Rank Adaptation".

LoRA at NeurIPS 2023



Nov 4, 2023

My new book, Machine Learning Q and AI is now available for preorder at No Starch Press and Amazon!

Machine Learning Q and AI Cover




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