Alex Waibel
Also known as Alexander Waibel
Alex Waibel is a computer science professor whose work centers on speech translation and neural networks for speech. His Time-Delay Neural Network won an IEEE best paper award in 1990. His lab developed the first simultaneous lecture translation system in 2005, and Facebook acquired Jibbigo, a phone speech translator, in 2013. Zoom acquired his start-up KITES in 2021. He is a professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University, and he directs InterACT.
Timeline
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1976–1986
Studying at MIT and Carnegie Mellon
He studies electrical engineering and computer science at MIT from 1976 to 1979. He earns master's and PhD degrees at Carnegie Mellon in 1980 and 1986.
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1990
The Time-Delay Neural Network
His Time-Delay Neural Network is the first convolutional neural network, and the work wins an IEEE best paper award in 1990.
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1991–2000
C-STAR and the JANUS system
He helps found C-STAR, the speech translation consortium, in 1991. He chairs it from 1998 to 2000, while his team develops JANUS, the first American and European speech translation system.
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2005–2012
A simultaneous lecture translator
His lab develops the first simultaneous lecture translation system in 2005. He demonstrates the first automatic interpreting services at the European Parliament in 2012.
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2009–2021
Jibbigo, Facebook and KITES
Jibbigo, the first commercial speech translator on a phone, appears in 2009. Facebook acquires it in 2013, and Waibel serves as founding director of its language technologies group until 2014. He co-founds KITES in 2015, and Zoom acquires the company in 2021.
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2017–2023
Academy membership and an IEEE award
He is elected to the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina, in 2017. He receives the IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award in 2023.
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2025
A Vatican working group on AI
He joins the Vatican's AI Round Table in 2025 as one of 12 invitees.
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As of October 2026
Professor in Karlsruhe and Pittsburgh
He is a professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University, and he directs InterACT. He also works as a research fellow at Zoom, advising management on AI and speech products.
Sources and credits
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