The character arc of Rana el Kaliouby
Born in Cairo in 1978. She grew up between Egypt and Kuwait, fell for computers young, and studied computer science in Cairo before leaving home for a PhD at Cambridge and research at MIT. Between then and now sit the founding of Affectiva, a whole new field called emotion AI, a memoir, an acquisition, and a new life backing AI founders. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Rana el Kaliouby?
From a girl in Cairo to the scientist who taught machines to read feeling.
The line starts in Cairo, in 1978, and moves early between Egypt and Kuwait, where her father worked. She grew up in a home that prized learning, took to computers as a girl, and studied computer science at the American University in Cairo, finishing her degree in 1998 and a masters in 2000. Then came a harder choice: she left home for a PhD at the University of Cambridge, and later a research post at the MIT Media Lab, years spent far from family in pursuit of one question, whether a machine could read how a person feels.
At MIT she worked in the Affective Computing group with Rosalind Picard, and in 2009 the two of them spun their research into a company, Affectiva. Together they built a new field, emotion AI, software that reads a face or a voice and senses the feeling behind it. She became chief executive in 2016, raised more than fifty million dollars, and carried the work into more than ninety countries. Along the way she turned down money that would have aimed the technology at surveillance, holding it instead to uses she could stand behind.
In 2020 she published a memoir, Girl Decoded, part science and part her own story of perseverance. A year later Affectiva was acquired by Smart Eye, and she stayed on to keep scaling the work. Since then she has turned to backing others, co-founding Blue Tulip Ventures to invest in human centred AI, teaching at Harvard Business School, and hosting a weekly show on the people building the field. The line reaches today still climbing, a girl from Cairo who taught machines to understand the most human thing we have.
The moments
Rana el Kaliouby's timeline.
The 1970s
Born in Cairo
Milestone. Born in Cairo in 1978, into an Egyptian family that valued learning and moved with her father's work.
The 1980s
A childhood across borders
Everyday. Her early years ran between Egypt and Kuwait, a childhood shaped by two homes and a house full of books and early computers.
The 1990s
Computer science in Cairo
Milestone. She finished a degree in computer science at the American University in Cairo, near the top of a field with few women in it.
The 2000s
A masters in Cairo
Milestone. She stayed on for a masters, already circling the question of whether a machine might one day read human feeling.
Leave home to chase it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go abroad for the work, taken, or stay close to home. The years abroad led straight to the MIT Media Lab, to Affectiva, and to a field that had not existed before.
The years away from home
Setback, and it changed her direction. The work abroad came at a cost, long stretches in Cambridge and Boston far from the family she loved in Egypt, held to by sheer persistence.
A PhD at Cambridge
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She earned a doctorate in computer science at the University of Cambridge, building software that could read the expressions on a face.
Emotion research at MIT
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She joined the Affective Computing group at the MIT Media Lab, working with Rosalind Picard on machines that could sense emotion.
Co-founded Affectiva
Milestone, and it changed everything. With Rosalind Picard she spun the lab research into a company, Affectiva, and set out to build emotion AI as a real field.
The 2010s
Turn down the money
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: hold the line on ethics, taken, or take the surveillance deals. She kept emotion AI pointed at consumer and wellbeing uses, and it became the reputation the company was known for.
Named CEO of Affectiva
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She took over as chief executive, raised more than fifty million dollars in funding, and grew the work across more than ninety countries.
The 2020s
Her memoir Girl Decoded
Milestone. She published Girl Decoded, part the science of emotion AI and part her own story of perseverance from Cairo to the front of the field.
Affectiva sold to Smart Eye
Milestone, and it changed everything. Smart Eye acquired Affectiva in a deal worth about seventy three million dollars, and she stayed on to keep scaling the work worldwide.
Co-founded Blue Tulip Ventures
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She turned to backing others, co-founding Blue Tulip Ventures as a general partner to invest in startups building human centred AI.
A podcast on AI
Milestone. She launched Pioneers of AI, a weekly show of conversations with the founders, builders and thinkers shaping the field.
Still shaping the field
Everyday. Still investing in human centred AI, teaching at Harvard Business School, and carrying forward a career spent keeping the technology humane.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it set moving is already out in the world: a whole field that teaches machines to read human feeling, and every person who left home with one question and decided to chase the answer.
In her words
Quotes by Rana el Kaliouby
You don't have to be a genius to be a scientist, but you do need to be persistent.
I want to humanize technology before it dehumanizes us.
Embrace your emotions.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
Hers began in Cairo with one stubborn question and is still being drawn. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about a minute.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Rana el Kaliouby.
- Rana el Kaliouby, official site, ranaelkaliouby.com/about.
- Rana el Kaliouby, Girl Decoded, Penguin Random House, 2020.
- Wikipedia, Affectiva (Smart Eye acquisition, June 2021).
- The Boston Globe, Tech Power Players 2024, Rana el Kaliouby, Blue Tulip Ventures.
- Speak About AI, Rana el Kaliouby, Co-Founder and General Partner, Blue Tulip Ventures.