PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Fabrizio Nunnari

At DFKI, Fabrizio Nunnari's AI work connects virtual humans, sign-language technology and machine learning for human behavior. He earned a PhD in computer science in 2005, built interactive 3D applications in Turin, and joined DFKI in 2012 to work on sign-language animation. He developed virtual characters through YALLAH and joined the Affective Computing group; later work examines emotion regulation for industrial robots and sentiment in sign language. As of October 2026, he is a senior researcher at DFKI.

Now at
DFKI

Timeline

  1. 2005

    A computer science PhD

    He earns a PhD in computer science in 2005, with work on real-time 3D data visualization.

  2. 2005–2012

    Research programming in Turin

    From 2005 to 2012, he works as a research programmer at the Virtual Reality and Multimedia Park in Turin. He develops interactive 3D applications for cultural heritage, entertainment and sign-language synthesis.

  3. 2012

    Sign-language tools at DFKI

    He joins DFKI's Sign Language Synthesis and Interaction group in 2012 and uses natural user interfaces to author sign-language animations.

  4. 2020–2024

    Affective computing and SocialWear

    He joins DFKI's Affective Computing group in 2020 and remains through 2024. His projects include SocialWear, which develops corpora and technologies for sign-language recognition and synthesis in desktop and augmented-reality settings.

  5. By 2025

    YALLAH for virtual humans

    By 2025, he develops YALLAH, a framework for generating real-time interactive virtual characters, agents and avatars.

  6. January 2025

    Emotional co-regulation with robots

    In January 2025, he coauthors a study on an avatar-embodied cobot for industrial assembly. Its BASSF model anticipates and co-regulates counterproductive emotions among operators under stress.

  7. February 2025

    Introducing the SCAAI group

    In February 2025, he writes the first post on DFKI's new SCAAI website. It describes the group as a merger of former Affective Computing and Ambient Assisted Living groups.

  8. As of October 2026

    Sentiment analysis for sign language

    In June 2026, he presents DGS-Fabeln-1-SE, an extension of a sign-language fairy-tale corpus with sentiment estimation. The team uses four LLMs and majority voting to label each segment. As of October 2026, he is a senior researcher at DFKI whose work includes virtual humans, sign-language production and machine learning for interpreting human behavior.

Career

  1. Since 2012DFKISenior researcher
  2. 2005–2012Virtual Reality and Multimedia ParkResearch programmer

From the biography.

  1. Nonprofit roles are 2.3 times as common in AI safetyIncludes DFKI. We estimate where people focused on safety, alignment and evaluation work. Nonprofit roles appear for 25.1% of safety people with known affiliations, compared with 11.0% in other areas.
  2. The top 10 organizations employed 22% of people shaping AI in 2025: 51% of company researchers and 21% of university researchersIncludes DFKI. We estimate the share of people shaping AI who worked at the top 10 organizations each year from 1955 to 2025, comparing concentration across companies, universities, and institutes and labs.
  3. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes DFKI. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes DFKI. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Team – Social, Cognitive and Affective AI scaai.dfki.de. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Fabrizio Nunnari - Professional Web Page fnunnari.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Socially interactive industrial robots: a PAD model of flow for emotional co-regulation frontiersin.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. SCAAI web site launched! scaai.dfki.de. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. DGS-Fabeln-1-SE online scaai.dfki.de. Checked 21 October 2026.