Alex Kipman

Alex Kipman
Kipman in 2011
Born	1979 (age 45–46)[1]
Other names	Technical Fellow
Alma mater	Rochester Institute of Technology
Employer(s)	Microsoft (2021–2022) 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 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

• 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

1. Ridolfi, Edoardo (May 5, 2015). "Alex Kipman, il papà di Kinect e HoloLens". Cultora. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
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. Heyn, Beth (October 3, 2017). "Alex Kipman, Microsoft HoloLens Inventor: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. 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. 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. "RIT Innovation Hall of Fame". www.rit.edu. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
9. "Alex Kipman (Brazil)". www.epo.org. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
10. 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. 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. 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. "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".
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.

External links

• Fastcompany interview
• Ted speech