Karmel Allison  

Technical Advisor, AI Futures — Office of the CTO

AI is creating a transformative moment where the way humans and machines collaborate is changing. The next few years will bring rapid innovation as people with diverse perspectives and interests explore and discover applications for AI that haven’t yet been imagined. 

As a technical advisor to Microsoft’s chief technology officer, Karmel Allison explores what is happening at the cutting edge with AI and helps identify new ways Microsoft can apply artificial intelligence to both research and products in ways that can enrich people’s lives. 

Allison received a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkley in linguistics and a Ph.D. in bioinformatics from UC San Diego. As a Type 1 diabetic, Allison was inspired to get her Ph.D. in bioinformatics because she wanted to understand how computer science and machine learning could be used to better understand what’s going on inside our bodies when they become dysregulated. Allison worked for a while in biotech, applying machine learning techniques to novel spaces through deep sequencing. Prior to Microsoft, Allison was focused on AI and machine learning at Google and Quora. 

Allison has spent more than 15 years working in machine learning and artificial intelligence. During this time in the industry, she’s seen AI evolve from big data and analysis to a totally new category of tools for making human lives better.   

For Allison, the power of AI extends far beyond her work; she applies it to different aspects of her life, from managing her diabetes to playing music and teaching her kids. Allison is a lifelong Californian who enjoys surfing and freediving.  

“AI has an unparalleled opportunity to help us as humans spend more time being human.”  

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