Dr. Randal S. Olson
Co-Founder & CTO at Goodeye Labs
Building Truesight to help teams enforce quality standards on their AI. Previously created TPOT (AutoML) and published 50+ papers on machine learning and evolutionary computation.
Featured Work
Tools, visualizations, and research projects I've built over the years.
Truesight
Capture what 'good' looks like for your AI and enforce those quality standards across your entire stack. Built at Goodeye Labs.
TPOT: Automated Machine Learning
Pioneered AutoML with TPOT, a Python tool that automatically optimizes machine learning pipelines using genetic programming. Built on scikit-learn, this 'Data Science Assistant' intelligently explores thousands of possible solutions for optimal results.
Teaching an AI Agent to Make Beautiful Charts
A growing series of data visualizations created by an AI agent and evaluated against the Tufte Test quality standard. Exploring what happens when you encode expert design principles as automated quality checks.
Optimal U.S. Road Trip
Used genetic algorithms to solve the traveling salesman problem, computing the most efficient road trip through all 50 U.S. states. This viral project achieved 13,699 miles of optimal driving and inspired global optimizations.
Women in STEM: The Data Story
Created an iconic visualization of gender distribution in U.S. college majors (1970-2012), exposing the 'ET gender gap' in Engineering & Technology. Sparked widespread discussion on gender equity in STEM education and careers.
Name Age Calculator
Interactive web tool that predicts age from names using Social Security baby name data and actuarial tables. Built on FiveThirtyEight's methodology, it reveals demographic patterns through everyday information.
Latest Posts
Recent insights on AI, data science, machine learning, and technology trends.
The rise and fall of nuclear weapons testing
Between 1945 and 1998, seven countries detonated over 2,000 nuclear weapons across just a handful of remote test sites. This chart maps every one of them.
Housing and getting around eat half of the average American household's spending
A treemap of BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data shows where the average American household spent its $78,535 in 2024. Housing and transportation alone account for half.
96% of U.S. counties grew more diverse from 2010 to 2020
A county-level map of how racial diversity changed across America between the 2010 and 2020 Census. The Northeast and Midwest diversified fastest.
The engineering and tech gender gap has barely budged in 50 years
Computer Science and Engineering remain below 25% women after 50 years of data. An updated look at how the gender composition of U.S. college majors has changed from 1970 to 2022.
Americans eat 3x more cheese and half as much milk as they did in 1970
USDA data reveals how the American diet has transformed since 1970. Cheese consumption tripled, chicken surpassed beef, and fluid milk was cut in half.
Where racial diversity lives in America, county by county
A county-level map of racial and ethnic diversity in the United States, built from 2020 Census data. The national diversity index crossed 61% for the first time.
About Me
Building AI that works reliably and making data stories people actually care about.
What I Build
AI systems that work reliably in production. My research background is in evolutionary algorithms and machine learning optimization, and I've spent 15+ years turning that research into tools people actually use. TPOT, my open-source AutoML tool, has been cited thousands of times and is used by data scientists worldwide.
Where You've Seen My Work
Data visualizations covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, and FiveThirtyEight. 50+ peer-reviewed papers with 6,600+ citations across machine learning, evolutionary computation, and biomedical informatics. The “Optimal Road Trip” project went viral and has been replicated for dozens of countries.
Current Focus
Co-Founder & CTO of Goodeye Labs, where we're building Truesight. Truesight helps teams capture what “good” looks like for their AI and enforce those quality standards across their entire stack.
Quick Facts
Areas of Expertise
Let's Connect
Working on an AI evaluation problem, interested in Truesight, or want to talk data visualization? Reach out.
randal.s.olson@gmail.com
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GitHub
View my code
Professional Services
Available for select advisory engagements and speaking on AI evaluation, AutoML, and data-driven decision making.