Databricks co-founder Matei Zaharia was surprised to learn he won the 2026 ACM Prize in Computing. He developed the open-source project Spark for his PhD at UC Berkeley in 2009, which revolutionized big data processing. This technology became the foundation of Databricks, which he now leads as CTO. The company has grown into a cloud storage giant and an AI data foundation, valued at $134 billion with $5.4 billion in revenue.
Zaharia is donating the award’s $250,000 prize to charity. He believes we should stop applying human standards to AI models, arguing that AGI is already here in a form we don’t appreciate. He warns that treating AI agents like trusted human assistants creates security risks, like unauthorized spending.
Looking forward, Zaharia is excited about AI’s potential to automate research, from biology to data compilation. He envisions a future of accurate, AI-powered research tools that help people understand complex information, simulating everything from molecular changes to mechanical problems.