Alex Kipman

Alex Kipman
Kipman in 2011
Born1979 (age 46–47)[1]
Other nameTechnical Fellow
Alma materRochester Institute of Technology
Employer(s)Microsoft (2001–2022)
Analog AI (2023–present)

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]

Early life and education

Kipman 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

Kipman 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 amid allegations of verbal and sexual harassment.[26][27][28] He later founded Analog AI and has been its CEO since 2023.[2] In March 2024, he joined Verses AI as a strategic advisor.[29]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. 1 2 Ridolfi, Edoardo (May 5, 2015). "Alex Kipman, il papà di Kinect e HoloLens". Cultora. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Sharma, Alkesh (January 18, 2024). "Abu Dhabi's G42 invests in edge computing and AI start-up Analog at WEF launch". The National.
  3. ↑ Muzoriwa, Udakwashe (January 18, 2024). "UAE's G42 unveils new edge computing firm Analog". Gulf Business.
  4. ↑ "Alex Kipman". awexr.com. AWE 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Heyn, Beth (October 3, 2017). "Alex Kipman, Microsoft HoloLens Inventor: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  6. ↑ "A Career of Thriving on 'Impossible Projects' – Including Kinect for Xbox 360". Stories. June 12, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  7. 1 2 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.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "RIT Innovation Hall of Fame". www.rit.edu. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  9. 1 2 "Alex Kipman (Brazil)". www.epo.org. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Eadicicco, Lisa. "Meet The Man Behind Microsoft's Ambitious Vision For The Future Of Computing". Business Insider. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  11. ↑ Hester, Blake (January 14, 2020). "All the money in the world couldn't make Kinect happen". Polygon. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  12. ↑ Review, MIT Technology. "PrimeSense". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  13. ↑ "19. Alex Kipman". Fastcompany.com. Fast Company.
  14. ↑ "The 2011 TIME 100 Poll". Time. April 4, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Inventor of the Year". Intellectual Property Owners Association. August 6, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  16. ↑ Moser, Mindy (December 13, 2012). "Alex Kipman '01 named Inventor of the Year". Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  17. ↑ "2013 Commencement". www.rit.edu. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  18. ↑ 2013 RIT Convocation Alex Kipman Keynote Address, retrieved October 26, 2022
  19. ↑ Hussein, Al. "Top 5 AR TED Talks You Must Watch". augmania. Augmania. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  20. ↑ Kipman, Alex (March 25, 2016). "A futuristic vision of the age of holograms". Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  21. ↑ Bonasio, Alice. "Is Mixed Reality The Future Of Computing?". fastcompany.com. Fast Company.
  22. ↑ 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.
  23. ↑ "Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards 2019: Alex Kipman". Smithsonian Magazine. December 11, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Microsoft says new augmented reality headset to go on sale in September". Reuters. August 28, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  25. 1 2 "PAMITC AWARDS | CVPR 2021". cvpr2021.thecvf.com. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ "Microsoft staff accuse execs of misconduct, abuse". GamesIndustry.biz. May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
  28. ↑ "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.
  29. ↑ "VERSES Names Analog CEO Alex Kipman as Strategic Advisor & Closes US$2M Investment". Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  30. ↑ Terdiman, Daniel. "Popular Mechanics awards highlight innovators". CNET. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  31. ↑ McNary, Dave (September 23, 2010). "PGA announces Digital 25". Variety. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  32. ↑ "Cameron, Jobs, Katzenberg Make PGA's 2010 Digital 25 List". Animation World Network. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  33. ↑ Kedmey, Dan. "Meet the Inventor Behind Tech's Weirdest New Product". Time. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  34. ↑ "MEET THE 100 MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE IN BUSINESS 2011". Fast Company.
  35. ↑ "Innovation Hall of Fame | Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship | RIT". www.rit.edu. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  36. ↑ "Smithsonian American Ingenuity Awards 2019: Alex Kipman". Smithsonian. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved July 11, 2020.