Seattle-based research nonprofit Allen Institute for AI has named Ali Farhadi as its new CEO. He joins the institute from Apple Inc., where he has focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The Allen Institute for AI announced the news Tuesday and said Farhadi will take the role at the end of July. Farhadi replaces Oren Etzioni, the institute's founding CEO who stepped down last year.
This will be Farhadi's second stint with the Allen Institute for AI.
“As we face unprecedented changes in the development and usage of AI, I could not think of a better time to return to AI2 as CEO,” he said in a blog post announcing the news.
Farhadi first joined the institute in 2015, where he co-founded the deep learning startup Xnor.ai. The startup spun out in 2017 and was acquired by Apple in 2020.
Farhadi has been at Apple since then, his LinkedIn page shows. He has also been a professor at the University of Washington for more than 11 years.
“Ali is the truly rare leader who combines expertise as an executive, entrepreneur, academic, and researcher. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated the transformative power of AI through his unique ability to channel deep scientific research into product solutions,” Peter Lee, board member at the Allen Institute for AI, said in the blog post.
Etzioni and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen launched the Allen Institute for AI at the start of 2014. Etzioni grew the nonprofit to more than 200 employees, according to the institute, and has stayed on as a board member and adviser. He is also technical director of the institute's incubator.
The Allen Institute for AI does research in computer vision, natural language processing and environmental work. The institute has spun out local companies like the legal tech startup Lexion and the public speaking platform Yoodli.
