Mikhail Klassen

Senior AI Engineer, Planet Labs

Mikhail Klassen is a scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of generative AI and earth observation. As a Senior AI Engineer at Planet Labs PBC, he builds systems for planetary intelligence — building geospatial AI agents and foundation models trained on one of the world’s largest archives of satellite imagery. His work sits at the frontier of what becomes possible when large-scale earth observation data meets modern AI: near-real-time understanding of how our planet is changing.

Before Planet, Mikhail co-founded Paladin AI, a venture-backed aerospace startup where, as CTO, he led the development of an analytics platform for measuring commercial pilot proficiency from flight simulator telemetry. At Paladin, he was also instrumental in recruiting, fundraising, sales, and operations. The company was acquired in 2023.

Across his professional career, he has developed deep technical experience in the full arc of AI product development — from research and prototyping through to deployment and commercial scale.

Mikhail holds a PhD in computational astrophysics from McMaster University and a BSc in applied physics and applied mathematics, magna cum laude, from Columbia University, where his research spanned gravitational wave detection and plasma physics for nuclear fusion. He is the co-author of Mining the Social Web, 3rd Edition (O’Reilly Media, 2019) and has authored or co-authored more than a dozen peer-reviewed publications across astrophysics, plasma physics, and remote sensing.

Beyond his technical work, Mikhail organizes the AI Salon Vancouver Chapter — an intimate, invitation-only roundtable series held under Chatham House rules, bringing together scientists, engineers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to examine the sociological, economic, and philosophical dimensions of AI. He is a connector at the intersection of deep tech and ideas, and is based in Vancouver, BC.