Rana el Kaliouby

Rana el Kaliouby is a celebrated author whose work has explored the intersection of technology, emotions, and the human experience. Her books, which address topics such as artificial intelligence, emotions, and identity, have won numerous awards and been featured in The New York Times, Wired, and Forbes.

Rana was born in Egypt, and moved to the United States when she was a young adult. She earned a Ph.D. in 2004 in Affective Computing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her highly-acclaimed master’s thesis explored how we can use technology to recognize, interpret, and respond to emotions. Later, while working at the MIT Media Lab, she invented a new way to detect emotion in videos and images. This breakthrough technology turned into the startup Affectiva, which she co-founded in 2009.

In 2014, Rana published her first book, Affective Computing: A Non-Technical Introduction, which uses personal anecdotes and insights to explain the complex concepts of affective computing to readers. She writes about the history of artificial intelligence, as well as the potential of emotion-aware computers and robots to transform our lives in the future.

Rana is also the author of a second book, The Human Face of Machine Intelligence: Automating the Emotion Revolution. In this book, she explores the science of emotions, along with the ethical and practical considerations of developing and deploying automated emotion recognition systems. She also delves into how this technology can be used to improve well-being and increase autonomy in humans.

Rana's most recent book, Emotion AI: The Rise of Affective Computing, takes on the challenge of developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems that understand and respond to human emotion. She argues that AI systems, properly designed and integrated into everyday life, would offer new hope to those suffering from depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

Rana el Kaliouby's books are insightful explorations of the wide-ranging implications of technology and emotion. Her books are written not only for a professional audience but for anyone interested in better understanding the complicated relationships between humans and computers. As technology advances every day, and new discoveries lead to deeper insights, Rana’s work shines a light on the future of humanity, offering a vision of a better tomorrow.