Alex Kipman (born 1979) is a Brazilian engineer and inventor who is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Analog AI.[2][3] Previously, he was the lead developer of the Microsoft HoloLens smartglasses and helped develop the Xbox Kinect.[4][5]
Alex Kipman | |
---|---|
Born | 1979 (age 44–45)[1] |
Other names | Technical Fellow |
Alma mater | Rochester Institute of Technology |
Employer(s) | Microsoft (2021–2022) Analog AI (2023–present) |
Early life and education
editKipman was born in Curitiba in 1979.[1][5] The son of a Brazilian diplomat, Kipman grew up around the world.[6] When he was seven or eight, he learned how to program the Atari 2600.[7] Later on he would go to RIT, graduating in 2001 with a degree in software engineering.[8][9]
Career
editKipman joined Microsoft in 2001,[8][9] starting development on Microsoft's integrated development environment (IDE) Visual Studio. Starting 2005, he helped in the development of Microsoft Windows, until joining the Xbox department in 2008,[10] where he oversaw the acquisition of the technology for the Xbox Kinect from an Israeli company,[11] PrimeSense.[12] The product was finished two years later.[7]
In 2011, Time magazine named him to its list of its 100 Most Influential People in the World, a list consisting of leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes. In a subsequent interview with Fast Company, he said "Software is the only art form in existence that is not bound by the confines of physics."[13][10][14] In 2012 he was named Inventor of the Year by the Intellectual Property Owners Association.[15][16]
In 2013, Kipman gave the commencement speech at his alma mater, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).[17][18]
In 2016, he gave a Ted Talk on mixed reality, called "A futuristic vision of the age of Holograms".[5][19][20] In a 2017 interview with Alice Bonasio, he emphasized his passion for mixed reality, stating how it gives him a sense of "displacement superpowers".[21] During the Hololens 2 reveal at the Mobile World Congress in 2019, Alex Kipman talked about how the Hololens 2 would be the "next era" of mixed reality, making it more culturally relevant.[22]
In 2019 while he was developing metaverse technologies, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C named Kipman the winner of an American Ingenuity Award, calling him a pioneer of holographic and augmented reality technology.[23] Later that year he gave a speech in Shanghai announcing that Microsoft's second-generation HoloLens would ship later that year.[24]
In 2021, he received the Longuet-Higgins Prize by the Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI) Technical Committee at the Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) for fundamental contributions in computer vision.[25]
In May 2022, Kipman left Microsoft to found Analog AI.[26][27][28] He has been the CEO of Analog AI since 2023.[2] In March 2024, he joined Verses AI as a strategic advisor.[29]
Awards and recognition
edit- Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award (2009)[30]
- Producers Guild of America Digital 25: Visionaries, Innovators and Producers list (2010)[31][32]
- Time's Top 25 Nerds of the Year (2010)[33][5]
- Time's 2011 100 People of the Year[8]
- Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business (2011)[34]
- National Inventor of the Year, Intellectual Property Foundation (2012)[8]
- Rochester Institute of Technology Innovators Hall of Fame (2013)[35]
- Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards (2019)[36]
- Longuet-Higgins prize by IEEE for fundamental contributions in computer vision (2021)[25]
References
edit- ^ a b Ridolfi, Edoardo (May 5, 2015). "Alex Kipman, il papà di Kinect e HoloLens". Cultora. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- ^ a b Sharma, Alkesh (January 18, 2024). "Abu Dhabi's G42 invests in edge computing and AI start-up Analog at WEF launch". The National.
- ^ Muzoriwa, Udakwashe (January 18, 2024). "UAE's G42 unveils new edge computing firm Analog". Gulf Business.
- ^ "Alex Kipman". awexr.com. AWE 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Heyn, Beth (October 3, 2017). "Alex Kipman, Microsoft HoloLens Inventor: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
- ^ "A Career of Thriving on 'Impossible Projects' – Including Kinect for Xbox 360". Stories. June 12, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ a b Honorato, Renata. "'Kinect é só o primeiro passo', diz o brasileiro que está revolucionando o mundo dos games". veja.abril.com.br. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "RIT Innovation Hall of Fame". www.rit.edu. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- ^ a b "Alex Kipman (Brazil)". www.epo.org. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ a b Eadicicco, Lisa. "Meet The Man Behind Microsoft's Ambitious Vision For The Future Of Computing". Business Insider. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ Hester, Blake (January 14, 2020). "All the money in the world couldn't make Kinect happen". Polygon. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
- ^ Review, MIT Technology. "PrimeSense". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
- ^ "19. Alex Kipman". Fastcompany.com. Fast Company.
- ^ "The 2011 TIME 100 Poll". Time. April 4, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ "Inventor of the Year". Intellectual Property Owners Association. August 6, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ Moser, Mindy (December 13, 2012). "Alex Kipman '01 named Inventor of the Year". Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ "2013 Commencement". www.rit.edu. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ 2013 RIT Convocation Alex Kipman Keynote Address, retrieved October 26, 2022
- ^ Hussein, Al. "Top 5 AR TED Talks You Must Watch". augmania. Augmania. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ Kipman, Alex (March 25, 2016). "A futuristic vision of the age of holograms". Retrieved August 29, 2020.
- ^ Bonasio, Alice. "Is Mixed Reality The Future Of Computing?". fastcompany.com. Fast Company.
- ^ Warren, Tom (February 25, 2019). "Microsoft's new open model for Windows and HoloLens 2 impresses Epic's Tim Sweeney". theverge.com. Vox Media, LLC.
- ^ "Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards 2019: Alex Kipman". Smithsonian Magazine. December 11, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ "Microsoft says new augmented reality headset to go on sale in September". Reuters. August 28, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
- ^ a b "PAMITC AWARDS | CVPR 2021". cvpr2021.thecvf.com. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ Daniel Rubino (May 25, 2022). "A new report calls out Alex Kipman and other Microsoft execs for 'verbal abuse and sexual harassment'". Windows Central. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
- ^ "Microsoft staff accuse execs of misconduct, abuse". GamesIndustry.biz. May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
- ^ "HoloLens co-creator Alex Kipman is resigning from Microsoft following Insider's report about misconduct allegations". Insider. Archived from the original on June 8, 2022. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
- ^ "VERSES Names Analog CEO Alex Kipman as Strategic Advisor & Closes US$2M Investment".
- ^ Terdiman, Daniel. "Popular Mechanics awards highlight innovators". CNET. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ McNary, Dave (September 23, 2010). "PGA announces Digital 25". Variety. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ "Cameron, Jobs, Katzenberg Make PGA's 2010 Digital 25 List". Animation World Network. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ Kedmey, Dan. "Meet the Inventor Behind Tech's Weirdest New Product". Time. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
- ^ "MEET THE 100 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE IN BUSINESS 2011". Fast Company.
- ^ "Innovation Hall of Fame | Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship | RIT". www.rit.edu. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- ^ "Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards 2019: Alex Kipman". Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved July 11, 2020.