Blaise Agüera y Arcas

Blaise Agüera y Arcas is an American artificial intelligence researcher, software engineer, software architect, and author whose career spans significant technological developments in AI and machine learning. Agüera y Arcas serves as vice president, fellow, and chief technology officer of Technology & Society at Google, where he leads the Paradigms of Intelligence team focused on basic research in artificial intelligence and related fields. He is recognized for his work developing on-device machine learning and for inventing federated learning, an approach to training neural networks in a distributed setting that protects user privacy by eliminating the need to share personal data. Additionally, he founded the Artists and Machine Intelligence program at Google, which pairs machine intelligence engineers with artists to create collaborative works.

Before joining Google, Agüera y Arcas founded Sand Codex, later renamed Seadragon Software, which was acquired by Microsoft for its technology enabling seamless browsing of graphics and photos with large file sizes on the web. This technology contributed to the development of Silverlight, Pivot, Photosynth, and the standalone cross-platform Seadragon application for iPhone and iPad. At Microsoft, Agüera y Arcas served as the architect leading Bing Maps and Bing Mobile and was named a distinguished engineer. His interests also extend to the humanities; in collaboration with Princeton University's Scheide Librarian Paul Needham, he published findings using computational techniques that challenged traditional views on the origins of the punchcutting method for mass-producing movable type.

Agüera y Arcas is a frequent public speaker on topics related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and technology ethics. He has delivered TED Talks on Seadragon and Photosynth, Bing Maps, and machine creativity, and presented a keynote at NeurIPS on social intelligence. His demonstration of Photosynth was named one of the Top 10 TED Talks of all time. He has taught the course "Intelligent Machinery, Identity, and Ethics" at the University of Washington, exploring the broader historical and philosophical context of computing and AI. Agüera y Arcas is also a member of the External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, contributing to research in complex-systems science.

In addition to his technical work, Agüera y Arcas is an author whose writing explores the intersections of science, philosophy, and culture. He has written essays on the relationship between art and technology, co-authored work on physiognomy and bias in AI, and published a refutation of claims linking facial structure to sexual orientation. His books include the novella "Ubi Sunt," the nonfiction work "Who Are We Now?," and, published by MIT Press, "What Is Life?: Evolution as Computation" and "What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI About Evolution, Computing, and Minds." Both "Ubi Sunt" and "Who Are We Now?" received recognition from AIGA's 50 Books | 50 Covers award. Agüera y Arcas's honors also include MIT Technology Review's TR35 Prize and Fast Company's Most Creative People Award. His work continues to shape conversations at the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, and society.