24-Year-old math prodigy Carina Hong recruits legendary mathematician Ken Ono to AI startup

24-year-old Chinese-American prodigy Carina Hong has left her Stanford law and math PhD to found Axiom Math, raising $64 million to develop mathematical superintelligence.

Hong, an MIT graduate who earned the prestigious Morgan Prize for top undergraduate math research and a Rhodes Scholarship, abandoned her Stanford PhD in law and mathematics to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. 

She recruited AI researchers from Meta and in December last year hired her former mentor, renowned 57-year-old mathematician Ken Ono, as the company’s 15th employee and founding mathematician.

Ono, previously a University of Virginia professor, is celebrated for applying mathematics to diverse fields: advising U.S. Olympic swimmers, consulting for the National Security Agency, contributing to the 2016 film “The Man Who Knew Infinity,” and being the only mathematician to star in a beer commercial, certifying that Miller 64 has just 64 calories—fewer than a rival’s 80. 

Once skeptical of AI, often joking he represents “Natural Intelligence,” Ono now joins Hong to push Axiom’s AI models to their absolute limits.

Investors are optimistic about Axiom’s potential applications in software and hardware verification, logistics optimization, algorithmic trading, and financial engineering.

While concerns grow over Big Tech’s massive AI spending and possible bubbles, many mathematicians believe AI can powerfully augment human discovery.

Hong describes Ono as “an idol for many math students,” highlighting the unique mentor-protégé dynamic fueling the venture. 

Axiom aims to create next-level mathematical intelligence that could transform industries, marking a bold step by one of the youngest founders in the AI space.