PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Atoosa Kasirzadeh

Atoosa Kasirzadeh is a philosopher and AI researcher who studies AI ethics, value alignment and governance. She completed doctorates in applied mathematics at École Polytechnique de Montréal in 2015 and philosophy of science and technology at the University of Toronto in 2021. Her research with collaborators mapped language-model harms in 2021, examined how conversational agents can follow human values in 2022, and tested failures in automated AI scientists in 2025. She worked at the Australian National University and led research at Edinburgh’s Centre for Technomoral Futures before joining Carnegie Mellon in 2024. As of October 2026, she is a Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind and an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon, on leave, affiliated with its Philosophy and Software and Societal Systems departments.

Works
79
Citations
2,571
h-index
17
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2015

    Applied mathematics in Montreal

    In 2015, she earns a PhD in applied mathematics at École Polytechnique de Montréal and the Group for Research in Decision Analysis, where she works on large-scale system decision-making problems.

  2. 2019–2021

    ANU and a second doctorate

    In 2019, she is a research fellow at the Australian National University; by March 2021, she is a postdoctoral fellow in its Humanising Machine Intelligence grand challenge project. She completes a PhD in philosophy of science and technology at the University of Toronto’s Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology in 2021.

  3. December 2021

    Mapping language model harms

    In December 2021, she coauthors “Ethical and social risks of harm from Language Models”. The paper reviews 21 risks in six areas, including discrimination, misinformation, human-computer interaction and environmental harms.

  4. January 2022–June 2024

    Research lead at Edinburgh

    From January 2022 to June 2024, she serves as Chancellor’s Fellow and Research Lead at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Technomoral Futures, with an appointment in its Department of Philosophy. Her research examines the ethical and epistemological questions raised by mathematical and computational technologies.

  5. September 2022

    Aligning conversational AI with values

    In September 2022, she and Iason Gabriel present “In conversation with AI: aligning language models with human values”. Their work draws on pragmatics and philosophy to develop norms for conversations between people and AI across different social contexts.

  6. 2023

    Co-chairing ACM FAccT

    In 2023, she serves as programme co-chair of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. She is also principal investigator for the 2023 Edinburgh-Turing “New Perspectives on AI Futures” workshops.

  7. 2024

    An AI2050 fellowship

    In 2024, she begins a two-year AI2050 Early Career Fellowship from Schmidt Sciences to study AI value alignment, examining how AI systems can reflect human values and ethical principles.

  8. 2024–2025

    Professor at Carnegie Mellon

    She joins Carnegie Mellon University as an assistant professor of philosophy in 2024. In 2025, she holds a courtesy appointment in the Software and Societal Systems Department and studies AI risk governance and value alignment.

  9. September 2025

    Testing automated AI scientists

    In September 2025, she coauthors the preprint “The More You Automate, the Less You See: Hidden Pitfalls of AI Scientist Systems” with Ziming Luo and Nihar B. Shah. The study identifies four potential failures in automated research: inappropriate benchmark selection, data leakage, metric misuse and post-hoc selection bias.

  10. As of October 2026

    Research at Google DeepMind

    As of October 2026, she is a Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind and an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, on leave, with affiliations in the Philosophy and Software and Societal Systems departments. Her research examines the societal impacts, governance and future of AI.

Career

  1. NowCarnegie Mellon UniversityAssistant Professor (on leave), Philosophy and Software and Societal Systems
  2. NowGoogle DeepMindStaff Research Scientist
  3. 2022–2024University of EdinburghChancellor’s Fellow and Research Lead
  4. 2019–2023Australian National UniversityResearch Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2021University of TorontoPhD in Philosophy of Science and Technology
  2. 2015Polytechnique MontréalPhD in Applied Mathematics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. About me - Atoosa Kasirzadeh kasirzadeh.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Welcoming New Colleagues at ANU School of Philosophy | School of Philosophy philosophy.cass.anu.edu.au. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. New Chancellor’s Fellow appointed to Centre for Technomoral Futures - Edinburgh Futures Institute efi.ed.ac.uk. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. AI Safety and AI Ethics: bridging cultures of existential and social risk - Edinburgh Futures Institute efi.ed.ac.uk. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. [2112.04359] Ethical and social risks of harm from Language Models arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Atoosa Kasirzadeh — Centre for Technomoral Futures technomoralfutures.squarespace.com. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. In conversation with AI: building better language models — Google DeepMind deepmind.google. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Profile: Dr Atoosa Kasirzadeh, CTMF Research Lead and Chancellor’s Fellow — Centre for Technomoral Futures technomoralfutures.uk. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. 2024-2025 Year in Review — Centre for Technomoral Futures technomoralfutures.uk. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. Department of Philosophy < Carnegie Mellon University coursecatalog.web.cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  11. Faculty Spotlight: Atoosa Kasirzadeh - Department of Philosophy - Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences - Carnegie Mellon University cmu.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  12. [2509.08713] The More You Automate, the Less You See: Hidden Pitfalls of AI Scientist Systems arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  13. Atoosa Kasirzadeh - Atoosa Kasirzadeh kasirzadeh.org. Checked 27 October 2026.