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Ethiopia Timnit Gebru is a computer scientist recognized for her work in artificial intelligence, algorithmic bias, and data mining, often highlighting ethical implications in AI development.
Timnit Gebru founded and is the Executive Director of the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) in 2021. The institute focuses on independent research, particularly on the impact of artificial intelligence on marginalized groups, with an emphasis on Africa and African immigrants in the United States.
Timnit Gebru worked at Apple designing circuits and signal processing algorithms for various Apple products, including the first iPad.
Timnit Gebru completed a postdoc at Microsoft Research, New York City, in the FATE (Fairness Transparency Accountability and Ethics in AI) group, studying algorithmic bias and ethical implications in data projects.
Timnit Gebru was a research scientist at Google in the ethical AI team, where she focused on the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. She co-led Google's Ethical AI team from 2018 to 2020.
Together with her colleague Rediet Abebe, Gebru co-founded Black in AI, an advocacy group dedicated to increasing the presence, visibility, and well-being of Black professionals and leaders in the field of artificial intelligence.
Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1982 or 1983, Timnit Gebru earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. She later completed her PhD in computer vision in 2017 under the guidance of Fei-Fei Li. Her early career included working at Apple, where she designed circuits and signal processing algorithms for various products, including the first iPad. While pursuing her PhD, she also spent a year as an entrepreneur. Her research was supported by the NSF foundation GRFP fellowship and the Stanford DARE fellowship.
Gebru’s doctoral research focused on using large-scale publicly available images to gain sociological insights and address related computer vision challenges. This work, which investigated the demographic makeup of neighborhoods using Google Street View images, garnered significant media attention from outlets such as The Economist and The New York Times. Prior to joining Google, she held a postdoctoral position at Microsoft Research, New York City, within the FATE (Fairness Transparency Accountability and Ethics in AI) group. Here, she concentrated on algorithmic bias and the ethical considerations in data-driven projects.
From 2018 to 2020, Gebru co-led the ethical AI team at Google, where she examined the societal implications of artificial intelligence. A significant milestone during this period was her co-authorship of the “Gender Shades” paper in 2018, which exposed accuracy disparities in commercial gender classification software, particularly affecting individuals with darker skin tones. Following her departure from Google in December 2020, she founded the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR) in 2021. DAIR focuses on documenting the impact of AI on marginalized communities, with an emphasis on Africa and African immigrants in the United States. Her expertise in AI ethics has been widely recognized, earning her a place among Fortune’s World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2021 and Time’s Most Influential People in 2022.
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