iNat Founder Quits

2026 Jan 07

Many OMS members use iNaturalist’s citizen-science platform to record or identify their finds. iNaturalist is in many ways the brainchild of Ken-Ichi Kueda. Kueda is an iNaturalist co-founder who played a leading, continuing role in creating and developing its software. In an announcement which shocked many, Kueda yesterday revealed that he quit iNaturalist.

His announcement gives some history and his reasons for quitting. iNat users may be interested in Kueda’s announcement, especially his thoughts about the iNat applications, and the drawbacks of trying to be all things to all people.

For more information, check Kueda’s January 6 blog post “Why I Left iNaturalist”, especially the Product section, https://kueda.net/blog/2026/01/06/why-i-left-inat#product.

---