PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Remi Denton

Also known as Emily Denton

Remi Denton is a Google research scientist whose work spans image generation and the social effects of AI. They coauthored a Laplacian pyramid model for image generation in 2015 and wrote an NYU PhD thesis on deep generative image and video models in 2018. Their 2021 study of dataset use won a NeurIPS Datasets and Benchmarks Best Paper Award; they coauthored a NeurIPS Outstanding Paper on text-to-image diffusion in 2022 and a study of cultural representation in South Asian text-to-image models in 2023. As of October 2026, they are a Staff Research Scientist at Google's Technology, AI, Society, and Culture team, studying how generative AI shapes cultural knowledge and practice.

Timeline

  1. 2015

    Laplacian pyramid image generation

    In 2015, a generative image model by Denton, Soumith Chintala, Arthur Szlam, and Rob Fergus uses a cascade of convolutional networks and a Laplacian pyramid to generate images from coarse to fine.

  2. 2018

    A PhD in generative models

    In 2018, a PhD thesis by Denton at NYU's Computer Science Department studies deep generative models of images and video under advisor Rob Fergus.

  3. 2021

    A NeurIPS dataset award

    In 2021, the paper Reduced, Reused and Recycled by Denton, Bernard Koch, Alex Hanna, and Jacob Gates Foster tracks dataset use across machine-learning subcommunities; the study finds concentration on fewer datasets and on datasets from a small group of elite institutions, and earns a NeurIPS Datasets and Benchmarks Best Paper Award.

  4. 2022

    A NeurIPS Outstanding Paper

    In 2022, the paper Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding, coauthored by Denton, pairs a large language model with an image decoder and earns a NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Award. At Google in 2022, they are a senior research scientist studying AI's societal impacts and the conditions of AI development.

  5. 2023

    Text-to-image research in South Asia

    In 2023, the FAccT study AI’s Regimes of Representation, coauthored by Denton, examines cultural limits in text-to-image models and shows how generative AI can reproduce an outsider’s gaze on South Asian cultures.

  6. As of October 2026

    Staff research scientist at Google

    As of October 2026, Denton is a Staff Research Scientist at Google’s Technology, AI, Society, and Culture team, where they study how generative AI shapes cultural knowledge and practice.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Remi Denton yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Deep Generative Image Models using a Laplacian Pyramid of Adversarial Networks arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. NYU Computer Science Department cs.nyu.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Announcing the NeurIPS 2021 Award Recipients blog.neurips.cc. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Reduced, Reused and Recycled: The Life of a Dataset in Machine Learning Research arxiv.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Announcing the NeurIPS 2022 Awards blog.neurips.cc. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. CITP Seminar: Emily Denton - Data, Power, and AI Ethics: Critiquing and Rethinking Machine Learning Data Infrastructure spia.princeton.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Remi Denton research.google. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Fifth Workshop on Language Technology for Equality, Diversity, Inclusion (LT-EDI-2025) sites.google.com. Checked 19 October 2026.