Entrepreneur and machine learning researcher, contributing to secure, energy-efficient and trustworthy AI. Allan Gray Fellow. Best Computer Science Honours Student, Stellenbosch University. Best Breakthrough Developer, App of the Year Awards.
Working on solving AI hallucination. We aim to provide trustworthy AI that helps businesses in accuracy-critical domains take full advantage of the cognitive industrial revolution.
The Technical Fellowship fosters a community of exceptional builders and researchers, who are pushing the boundaries of AI. It is supported by Anthropic, Mistral AI, and Entrepreneurs First.
SYNC is the University of Cambridge talent accelerator, bringing the right people together at the right time to create groundbreaking AI and software startups.
I led a team of eight to plan, present and assess the Computer Science 343 course for 176 students. I also assisted with Computer Science 334.
AWS partnered with Stellenbosch University to create an educational app that assesses and improves the numerical literacy of primary school students who learn remotely. I led a team of six to successfully undertake this student project.
Root is an end-to-end digital insurance platform. I focused on Android development while working at Root.
I helped to build a unicorn while in high school; I was one of the first hires at Replit and worked on their education platform.
Aura is a web hosting and development company. I created websites and marketing content for their clients.
I read for a master's degree in computer science at St Edmund's College, Cambridge. My research focused on quantifying and optimising the energy consumption of machine learning models. I rowed for the M1 team of my college, and ran cross country and track for the university.
Furthering my study of computer science, I obtained a grade of 93% and placed top of my class of 52. My research project focused on language models, formal language theory and artificial intelligence interpretability. I played for the Maties Tennis team of the university.
I studied mathematics with a major in computer science, achieving a 93% final-year average. I placed second in a cohort of 400.
With a subject choice of Physical Sciences (90%), Information Technology (96%) and Visual Arts (94%), I achieved an 88% average. I represented the school in high jump, rugby and water polo.
The Skye Foundation is generously sponsoring my MPhil studies at the University of Cambridge. I was nominated for this scholarship, awarded "on the basis of outstanding academic achievement", by the Faculty of Science, Stellenbosch University.
The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust is kindly supporting my MPhil studies, complementing the funding provided by the Skye Foundation. Scholarships are "given to candidates with a proven record of academic excellence".
The fellowship is awarded to "high-impact, responsible entrepreneurs" in Southern Africa. It generously funded my studies at Stellenbosch University and provided entrepreneurial training.
This is awarded to the top 5% of undergraduate students of each faculty.
This is awarded to the two students who score highest in the Victoria Scholarship Examinations and "is the top scholarship award in the school".
I spoke to Praelexis about my research, how my passion for computer science started, my view on responsible AI and my plans for the future.
I was interviewed by AsiaTechDaily on the launch of InsiteBot.
Following the App of the Year Awards, I appeared on live national television to share my story for the Motivation Monday segment of the Hectic Nine-9 show.
I received the prize, sponsored by FNB, for the highest-performing computer science honours student, in a class of 52.
My research project, on understanding transformers through formal languages, earned the top mark in a class of 52. The prize was sponsored by Praelexis.
Golden Key recognises the top 15% of university students.
The Van der Walt Medal is awarded to the top undergraduate computer science student. I received a prize sponsored by EPI-USE Labs.
My team developed a mobile banking app which creates a Bluetooth Low Energy mesh network to facilitate offline transactions. The event was sponsored by Innovus, Capitec Bank and Entersekt.
My virtual assistant was recognised as the most innovative app in Africa. Bestee was the only app to win in more than one category.
I received academic colours for achieving above 85% in the mid- and end-of-year exams.
This is awarded to the student who achieves the best mark for Visual Arts in grade 10. I also received the Afrikaans Prize and Information Technology Prize.
I built the world's first on-device virtual assistant, which I chose not to monetise. Bestee has made private AI accessible to more than 200,000 users, without requiring an active internet connection.
I gave the South African scholars a tour of my department at the University of Cambridge and hosted a dialogue session on artificial intelligence.
I contributed to the Sequence Labeling for Parts of Speech and Named Entities chapter of this definitive textbook, written by Dan Jurafsky and James H. Martin.
I served as head of the Fellowship Curriculum portfolio, overseeing a subcommittee to strategically plan entrepreneurial education and training.
I devised, presented and supervised a research project on understanding the technology behind ChatGPT for 40 undergraduate students.
I was elected as leader of the fourth-year candidate fellows; responsible for communication management, conflict resolution and representing my peers.
I co-hosted an interactive session to introduce the first year computer science students to Linux and the teaching network.
I spent four months volunteering at Camphill, which strives to provide high quality of life and meaningful work for adults with intellectual disabilities.
As a senior candidate fellow, I volunteered to mentor junior candidate fellows as they embarked on their university journey.
I co-founded and presented for Debugged, which offered computer science talks and workshops to Stellenbosch University students. A portion of proceeds was donated to Code for Change.
Emile is very talented not only in coding but also in video production and has a knack for marketing as well. This makes him one of a kind technical talent.
Emile has excelled at SACS and has risen above his peers especially in the academic aspect of school life. He has consistently delivered top marks thanks to excellent academic discipline.
If you are looking for someone who is prepared, competent, industrious, creative, entrepreneurial, connective and - above all, a really decent human being - you will have found that in Emile.
I want to congratulate [Emile's team] for winning the Fintech Coding Challenge. This is certainly a fantastic achievement for a group of first year students!
In over 15 years of running a design and hosting company I have never seen such potential and enthusiasm for our industry.
Your [Computer Science] 345 project was definitely one of the best student projects I've seen over the years.
[Emile] is a team player and always willing to bring more than is expected of him.