Harrison Chase

Harrison Chase is the co-founder and CEO of LangChain, an open-source framework widely adopted in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) industry. A Harvard graduate in statistics and computer science, Chase co-founded LangChain to streamline the development of language model applications using open-source Python and TypeScript packages.

Before launching LangChain, Chase led the entity linking team at Kensho, a fintech startup, and later led the machine learning team at Robust Intelligence, focusing on testing and validation of complex AI models. These experiences deepened his expertise in AI development and highlighted inefficiencies in existing pipelines, which inspired the creation of LangChain.

The concept for LangChain emerged when Chase identified recurring challenges faced by developers building reliable large language model (LLM) applications, including fragmented tools and limited abstractions. His work with GPT-3 prototypes underscored the need for a unified framework to simplify LLM workflows such as orchestration, data retrieval, and prompt engineering. LangChain was first released as an open-source Python library, initially serving as a lightweight wrapper for prompt templates. It quickly evolved to include advanced functionalities like retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and agent-based reasoning.

As CEO, Chase has overseen LangChain’s growth to over 20 million installations, establishing it as a leading framework for building applications with LLMs such as GPT-4. The platform has developed into a comprehensive agentic development environment, offering products including "LangChain" for agent creation, "LangGraph" for orchestration and memory management, and "LangSmith" for testing and observability. "LangSmith," a cloud-based monitoring and debugging tool, enables users to track LLM interactions and optimize performance, addressing common issues such as hallucinations and context window limitations. LangChain and LangGraph have a combined 90 million monthly downloads, and 35 percent of the Fortune 500 use LangChain’s services.

LangChain announced a $125 million Series B funding round at a $1.25 billion valuation. The round was led by IVP, with participation from existing investors Sequoia and Benchmark, as well as new backers including CapitalG, Sapphire Ventures, ServiceNow Ventures, Workday Ventures, Cisco Investments, Datadog, and Databricks. The company aims for its tools to become foundational building blocks for enterprises deploying AI agents, with investors comparing its potential to that of other digital infrastructure companies such as CrowdStrike and Datadog.

Chase is recognized in the AI community, speaking at major conferences and events worldwide. As a featured speaker at TEDAI San Francisco, he has drawn on his experience at Robust Intelligence and Kensho to discuss the future of language model applications. At ODSC AI West, Chase delivered a keynote on "deep agents," exploring the evolution of LLM-driven autonomy and the increasing capabilities of AI agents. He emphasizes user experience, transparency, editability, and collaboration as essential factors in the success of AI agents.