Ivan Zhang is a Canadian entrepreneur, researcher, and technology leader best known as the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Cohere, a pioneering artificial intelligence company specializing in large language models (LLMs). Since its founding in 2019, Cohere has rapidly emerged as an influential player in the AI landscape, delivering powerful natural language processing solutions tailored to enterprise needs. Ivan Zhang’s background in deep learning and product development, combined with Cohere’s innovative spirit, has helped the company carve out a unique niche at the intersection of advanced AI research and real-world application. This article dives into ten essential facts about Ivan Zhang, shedding light on his career, contributions, and vision for the future of language AI.
Ivan Zhang's academic journey started at Richmond Hill High School in Ontario, Canada, and continued at the University of Toronto, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science between 2014 and 2016. His formal education laid a solid foundation in computer science and machine learning, preparing him for a research-driven career. During this period, Zhang developed a keen interest in natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning, disciplines that would become central to his future endeavors at Cohere.
Before co-founding Cohere, Zhang was involved with FOR.ai, an independent research group focused on foundational AI technologies. Here, he collaborated on various projects involving text-based generative adversarial networks (GANs), targeted dropout techniques, and approaches to mitigate harm in language models. These research experiences equipped him with deep technical expertise and insights into both the theoretical and practical challenges of modern AI systems.
In 2019, Ivan Zhang co-founded Cohere alongside fellow AI researchers including Aidan Gomez and Nick Frosst. Their mission was to create cutting-edge large language models accessible to developers and enterprises, enabling businesses to leverage advanced NLP without the typically high costs and infrastructure barriers. Cohere quickly positioned itself as a major innovator, emphasizing models built on transformer architecture and trained using state-of-the-art supercomputing resources.
As CTO, Zhang has played a critical role in steering Cohere’s technical vision and product development. Initially hands-on with coding and building early systems, he transitioned to leading product management and improving developer experience while maintaining a strong connection to the company's research roots. Under his leadership, Cohere has grown rapidly, gaining significant investment and partnerships, including collaboration with Microsoft Azure to deliver AI cloud services.
Cohere’s models focus on enabling natural language understanding at scale. Their API offers tools that comprehend meaning, sentiment, and intent across billions of web pages, allowing enterprises to automate complex language tasks. These capabilities power diverse applications — from customer service automation to marketing content creation — and are optimized for efficiency and practical business relevance, differentiating Cohere in a competitive AI market.
Unlike some AI firms prioritizing consumer-facing products, Cohere under Zhang’s leadership has concentrated on enterprise clients. This focus addresses business-critical concerns such as data privacy, governance, and return on investment (ROI). Cohere’s platform supports over 50 AI use cases within major companies like Oracle, helping them automate workflows in HR, sales, and finance. Zhang advocates for demonstrating tangible AI benefits rather than hype-driven proof-of-concept projects.
Ivan Zhang has openly discussed the challenges faced by Canadian technology startups, noting that while Canada excels at creating innovative tech, it struggles to retain talent and scale companies domestically. Cohere, headquartered in Toronto, has sought talent and growth opportunities abroad due to gaps in available capital and computational infrastructure in Canada. Nonetheless, Zhang remains optimistic about Canada's potential to nurture AI innovation.
Cohere has formed strategic collaborations that highlight Zhang’s vision for accessible, powerful AI. Most notably, Microsoft Azure became the first major cloud platform to host Cohere’s latest models, combining Cohere’s NLP expertise with Azure’s infrastructure. Such partnerships expand the reach of Cohere’s technology, making it easier for enterprises globally to integrate advanced language AI into their operations.
Zhang’s partnership with co-founders Aidan Gomez and Nick Frosst is rooted in a shared belief in uniting research excellence with practical product development. The team’s diverse expertise—from academic breakthroughs in transformer models to hands-on engineering—has fostered a scrappy but ambitious company culture. Zhang appreciates the evolving nature of his role within a startup, emphasizing curiosity, hard work, and a mission-driven approach to technology.
Looking ahead, Ivan Zhang envisions Cohere continuing to scale as an AI infrastructure provider that democratizes language understanding. By focusing on scalable, high-impact applications and improving model efficiency, he aims to make AI tools that serve humanity widely and sustainably. Zhang advocates for AI to be viewed as a practical business tool that drives measurable results, encouraging enterprises to transition from experimental pilots to real-world deployments with clear value.
Ivan Zhang stands out as a central figure in the new wave of AI entrepreneurs who blend deep technical acumen with a pragmatic business sense. His leadership at Cohere underscores the potential of language AI to transform industries by making advanced models both accessible and impactful. As the AI landscape evolves rapidly, Zhang’s emphasis on enterprise utility, ethical considerations, and scalable innovation offers a compelling blueprint for how language models can shape the future. What new frontiers will Cohere and Ivan Zhang explore next as AI becomes ever more integral to our lives?