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Rana el Kaliouby
Rana El Kaliouby.jpg
Born 1978 (age 46–47)
Education American University in Cairo (BS, MS)
Newnham College, Cambridge (PhD)
Title CEO at Affectiva
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Rana el Kaliouby (born 1978) is an amazing Egyptian-American computer scientist. She is known for her work in making computers understand human feelings. She helped start a company called Affectiva and is its CEO.

Early Life and Education

Rana el Kaliouby was born in 1978. She grew up with a passion for technology and understanding people.

She studied computer science at the American University in Cairo. There, she earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees. Later, she moved to England to continue her studies. She earned her PhD from Newnham College, Cambridge.

Career in Emotional AI

After her studies, El Kaliouby became a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At MIT, she helped create the Autism & Communication Technology Initiative. This project aimed to use technology to help people with autism communicate better.

She also worked with the Affective Computing group at MIT Media Lab. Here, she was part of a team that developed special "emotional hearing aids." These were like wearable glasses that could understand and show human emotions. Imagine glasses that could tell you how someone was feeling!

Founding Affectiva

Rana el Kaliouby believed that computers should understand emotions. So, she co-founded a company called Affectiva with Rosalind Picard. Affectiva's goal is to teach artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize human emotions.

The company develops technology that can read facial expressions and voice tones. This helps computers understand if someone is happy, sad, or surprised. In 2016, Rana el Kaliouby became the CEO of Affectiva. She leads the company in its mission to make technology more human-aware.

Books and Contributions

Rana el Kaliouby has also shared her journey and ideas in books. Her own story, called Girl Decoded, was published in April 2020. This book shares her experiences as a scientist and entrepreneur.

She also wrote a chapter for the 2018 book Architects of Intelligence. This book features insights from many experts who are building the future of AI.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Rana el Kaliouby para niños

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