Timnit Gebru

Timnit Gebru is no one to mess with in the world of technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Gebru made quite the impression when she co-authored a paper on how AI can worsen racism, sexism and homophobia while at Google. The company, which came under fire last year for its less than stellar treatment of Black people and people of color, promptly fired Gebru for refusing to retract the article. But that could not keep our Root 100 all-star down. In 2022, Gebru launched DAIR, a.k.a the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. The mission of this groundbreaking organization is to identify new tech that has the potential to cause harm, rather than wait until the programs start to cause problems. DAIR has already found its fair share of backers. The institute received grants from the MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and several others. For her not letting a big tech company silence her, and for her commitment to making the world a better place through technology Gebru easily slides into her spot on the Root 100 list.