George Francis Hotz, better known as George Hotz, or Geohot, is a renowned security hacker, software engineer, and entrepreneur based in America.
Known for his incredible skills in iOS jailbreaks, hacking, and reverse engineering the PS3, George made headlines all over America. Utilising his skills, George became the first person to jailbreak the iPhone.
There’s no denying that George’s work has greatly influenced the fields of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. If you are eager to know more about his career journey, give this post a read.
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Early Life
As per online records, George Hotz’s birthday is on 2nd October 1989. He was born in Glen Rock, New Jersey and grew up in a supportive family. From a young age, George was fascinated with computers and technology, which eventually shaped his career.
As far as George’s education is concerned, he attended Bergen County Academies, a prestigious magnet school in Hackensack, New Jersey. As a student, he was brilliant in academics and was particularly interested in science and mathematics. To pursue higher education, George also went to Carnegie Mellon University and Rochester Institute of Technology for a short time.
Beginning of Career
George Hotz’s professional journey began at an early. He was only 17 years old when he gained international fame for being the first person to jailbreak the original iPhone. By doing so, he allowed users to bypass restrictions set by Apple and use the device with any carrier.
With this achievement, George became an overnight sensation in the tech world. However, his skills weren’t limited to just smartphones. He also worked on hacking Sony’s PlayStation 3 console and gaining access to the restricted features. However, his efforts were met with a lawsuit with Sony, which was eventually settled out of court.
Shot to Fame
George’s fame skyrocketed when he became the first person to jailbreak the iPhone in 2007. This made him a prominent figure in the hacking community. However, he didn’t limit his expertise to just breaking into systems. In 2015, he founded Comma.ai, a company dedicated to developing self-driving car technology. His vision was to create affordable software for autonomous vehicles that could compete with industry giants like Tesla.
The company released the Comma One, a device that could be retrofitted into cars to give them semi-autonomous driving capabilities. Although the product faced regulatory hurdles, George’s innovation kept him in the spotlight. At present, he is working on a deep learning framework called tinygrad.
Relationship
George Hotz is a private person when it comes to his personal life. He has not discussed his relationships or revealed anything specific about his romantic life in public. He prefers to keep that aspect of his life out of the limelight and focus only on his career.
Major Source of Income and Net Worth
As of 2024, George Hotz’s net worth is estimated to be around $5 million, which is the result of his hard work as a software engineer and hacker. His primary sources of income include his entrepreneurial ventures, particularly Comma.ai. Additionally, George worked at Facebook and Google for a brief, which further boosted his career.
