Lion De Leon

Ivan Yuri “Lion” De Leon is a Master’s student in Data Science at Ateneo de Manila University. He is generally interested in AI, language, and human experience, and in how these three domains intersect. He graduated Summa Cum Laude in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Economics and received the Mulry Award, the university’s highest distinction for literary excellence and service. He has also pursued advanced AI training through online coursework in AI/LLM Engineering at PSI AI Academy, gaining hands-on experience in reasoning models, retrieval-augmented generation, and agentic systems.

AI. In AI and data science, Lion has gained practical experience through internships at a leading local bank and a major conglomerate, working on projects ranging from predictive analytics to customer behavior modeling. He has also contributed to academic research as a research assistant at Ateneo de Manila University, supporting work in graph theory, and at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Japan, where he collaborated with the Human–AI Interaction Laboratory. Currently, he serves as a graduate assistant for the Mathematics and Environmental Science departments at Ateneo.

Language. His interest in AI naturally bridges into language through his work on Filipino NLP and large language models, which are central to his research. He advocates for Filipino inclusion in emerging technologies. Beyond his technical work, his commitment to language extends into literature. During his undergraduate years, he served as Managing Editor for Finance at HEIGHTS Ateneo, the university’s official literary publication, where he promoted Filipino literature in a primarily English-speaking university while overseeing the organization’s financial operations.

Human. At the core of his work is a concern for responsibility. He advocates for AI safety and Filipino intellectualization. He is a published poet who writes in Filipino about machines and human experience. He reflects personally on the tension between building intelligent systems and living alongside them.

He worries that AI could one day move beyond human control, and that by helping build it, he may also be helping build that risk. Still, he returns to what he knows best: to remain human. To understand these systems deeply, build them carefully, and act with responsibility and care. Through this, he hopes to prevent AI from posing existential threats—threats that would ultimately take away what he knows best: remaining human.

Email: liondl.connect@gmail.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-yuri-de-leon/

GitHub: https://github.com/thelionlies