Mohamed, Shakir
c. 1983-present · Contribution: 2013-present
AI Research Director (Google DeepMind)
Co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba in 2017, a grassroots organization that has grown into the largest pan-African AI research and community-building movement, while working as a senior AI research director at Google DeepMind

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- c. 1983
- Active since
- 2013
- Category
- AI & Social Media
- Best known for
- Deep Learning IndabaDeepMind researchAI diversity
Impact on the world
Mohamed combined frontier AI research with a grassroots movement to bring African researchers into a field that had largely excluded them, arguing that AI built without diverse global input risks harming the least-represented communities. His Indaba model has been copied on multiple continents.
Sources
- TIME (100 Most Influential People in AI)
3 more sources and references are available to members.
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