Emad Mostaque

Emad Mostaque
ইমাদ মোশতাক
Born	April 1983 (age 40–41)[1][2] Jordan[3]
Nationality	Bangladeshi, British
Education	University of Oxford
Occupation(s)	Business executive Mathematician Hedge fund manager
Years active	2005–present
Known for	Funding AI projects
Notable work	Stable Diffusion

Mohammad Emad Mostaque (Bengali: মোহম্মদ ইমাদ মোশতাক) is a British-Bangladeshi business executive, mathematician, and former hedge fund manager.^[4] He is the founder and was CEO of Stability AI until 23 March 2024,^[5] one of the companies behind Stable Diffusion.^[2][6][7]

Early life and education

Mostaque was born on April 1983 to a Bengali Muslim family in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He was taken to Dhaka, Bangladesh a month after his birth, and migrated with his family to the United Kingdom at the age of seven.^[3] He claims that he holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in mathematics and computer science from the University of Oxford.^[8][9] However, according to him, he did not attend his graduation ceremony to receive his degrees, and therefore, he does not technically possess a BA or an MA.^[8]

At age 19, Mostaque met his wife while on a student trip to the United States. He has been diagnosed with Asperger's and ADHD. In his twenties, he became interested in helping the Islamic world by creating online forums for Muslim communities and developing "Islamic AI" which would help guide people on their religious journey.^[3]

Career

Mostaque began his career as a hedge fund manager who was involved in crude oil trading and providing advice to governments on Middle East affairs and Islamic extremism.^[4][10][11] During the COVID-19 pandemic, he led an effort to use big data to assist in governmental decision-making.^[4][12]

In 2019 Mostaque founded Symmitree, a startup that aimed to reduce the cost of technology for individuals living in poverty, which he worked on for a year.^[2]

In late 2020, Mostaque founded Stability AI.^[4][2] He initially self-funded the company, but later received investments from other companies.^[4] Stability AI's well-known AI image generator, Stable Diffusion, originated from a project called Latent Diffusion, developed by researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and Heidelberg University.^[8] Stability AI offered computational resources to support the project, and the model was officially released in August 2022 under the name Stable Diffusion.^[8] During the launch, Emad Mostaque focused on promoting the program and his role as its chief evangelist.^[8] However, the company's initial press releases did not extensively detail the major contributions of the original researchers, particularly Professor Björn Ommer from Ludwig Maximilian University, who led the project's initial research and development.^[8]

He advocates for an open-source approach to AI.^[4] Some have supported this approach as this could lead to increased innovation and democratization of AI technology, while others have expressed concerns about the potential risks of releasing open-source AI models without adequate safeguards, citing possible regulatory backlash and negative societal consequences.^[4]

In March 2023, he signed an open letter calling for "all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4".^[13]

On March 23, 2024, Mostaque resigned from his position as CEO of Stability AI and from his seat on the company's Board of Directors. He stated he left the company to pursue decentralized AI initiatives, although several news rerports confirmed that Mostaque was driven out after months of pressure from disgruntled investors. ^[14] In an October 2023 letter to Stability's board, investor Lightspeed Venture Partners said Mostaque's mismanagement had "severely undermined" its confidence in him and urged the company to search for a buyer.^[15] Another investor, Coatue, had been pushing for Mostaque to resign for months and launched an internal investigation into his management. Both venture capital firms resigned from their seats on Stability's board.^{[16] [17]}

Stability appointed Shan Shan Wong, its former COO, and Christian Laforte, who had only recently risen to the level of CTO from his role as VP of research,^[18] as interim co-CEOs following Mostaque's departure. In a statement, Mostaque expressed pride in leading Stability AI to significant growth during his tenure, including achieving hundreds of millions of downloads and developing top-tier generative AI models across various domains. Mostaque emphasized his belief in Stability AI's mission and the importance of maintaining open and decentralized AI technologies.^[19]

Controversy and allegations

In June, 2023, a news report citing more than 30 sources, including investors and former Stability AI employees, stated that Mostaque had misled investors and the public about his educational background, a partnership with Amazon Web Services and the extent of his involvement in developing Stable Diffusion. The article also detailed Mostaque's unsubstantiated claims of partnerships with several NGOs, including the United Nations, and the government of Malawi.^[20]

Mostaque has been accused of presiding over questionable work practices at Stability AI, with Glassdoor reviews characterizing "systematic abuse", "bullying", a "toxic work culture" and a business "built on fabrications" by former employees.^[21] His wife Zehra Qureshi, a former executive and board member, reportedly drove several subordinates to tears. She cited her "direct" management style as a response to those claims.^[22] Claims have also been made that Stability AI moved tens of thousands of pounds from its account to the personal account of Qureshi at a time when employee payments were delayed. The company said it was paying back loans which it had borrowed from Mostaque and his wife.^[23]

On July 13, 2023, Stability AI co-founder Cyrus Hodes filed a civil lawsuit against Mostaque, claiming he was defrauded into selling his 15% stake in the company for $100. The stake was valued at $150 million during a round of financing in October 2022, only five months after Hodes sold his shares.^[24] Among his claims, Hodes asserted that he wanted to distance himself from Mostaque after he discovered his business partner's "pattern of bamboozling investors and misappropriating investor and company assets for personal use." Hodes also alleged that "Mostaque had embezzled funds from Stability AI to pay the rent for his family’s lavish London apartment" and that a former investor of one of Mostaque's ventures "discovered that Mostaque improperly used investor funds in a prior venture to pay for schooling for Mostaque’s children and housing expenses for his London apartment."^[25] The company responded in a statement saying Hodes was suffering from "a clear case of seller's remorse."^[26] The suit has yet to go to trial.

On July 16, 2023, he declared that generative artificial intelligence "is a $1 trillion investment opportunity but will be 'biggest bubble of all time'".^[27]

References