Ivan Yuri De Leon | Data Science Student

Currently

Master's student in Data Science at ADMU
AI Safety Participant at TARA and AI Safety Diliman

Previously

BS Applied Mathematics student at ADMU
Research Intern at NAIST, Japan
Data Science & AI Intern at Ayala Corporation
Data Science Intern at BPI

About Lion

Ivan Yuri “Lion” De Leon is a Master’s student in Data Science at Ateneo de Manila University. He is interested in AI, language, and the ways technology shapes human experience. 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.

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 Department and Environmental Science Department at Ateneo.

His research focuses on AI and language, particularly Filipino NLP, large language models, and human–AI interaction. He is currently conducting benchmarking studies to support the development and evaluation of Filipino in NLP systems. Beyond his technical work, his engagement with 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 predominantly English-speaking university while overseeing the organization’s financial operations.

At the core of his work is a concern for humanity 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: remaining human. To truly understand these systems in service of humanity, build them with care and approach them with responsibility and compassion. Through this, he hopes to prevent AI from posing existential threats—threats that would ultimately take away what he knows best: remaining human.