PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Irfan Essa

Also known as Irfan A. Essa

Irfan Essa is a computer vision and machine learning researcher whose work includes YouTube video stabilization and VideoPoet, a language model for zero-shot video generation. He trained at MIT, joined Georgia Tech in 1996, and founded its ML@GT center in 2015. His coauthored paper on blind navigation received ICLR’s 2023 Outstanding Paper Award, and VideoPoet received ICML’s 2024 Best Paper Award. As of October 2026, he is a Distinguished Professor of Computing at Georgia Tech and a Principal Research Scientist and Research Director at Google DeepMind.

Timeline

  1. 1990–1996

    Studying perception at MIT

    At MIT, he earned an MS in 1990 and a PhD in 1994, then served on the Media Lab research faculty through 1996.

  2. 1996

    Joining Georgia Tech

    He joined Georgia Tech’s faculty in 1996 and works in computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotics.

  3. 2011–2012

    Stabilizing YouTube video

    After joining Google in 2011, he led the Video Stabilization project for YouTube; its technique mimicked professional camera moves for handheld footage.

  4. 2015

    Founding ML@GT

    He founded Georgia Tech’s Interdisciplinary Research Center for Machine Learning (ML@GT) in 2015 and serves as its executive director.

  5. 2023

    Mapping blind navigation

    With Erik Wijmans, Manolis Savva, and colleagues, he coauthored “Emergence of Maps in the Memories of Blind Navigation Agents,” a study of spatial representations learned by blind AI navigators that won an ICLR 2023 Outstanding Paper Award.

  6. 2024

    Generating video with a model

    He coauthored VideoPoet, a large language model for zero-shot video generation that won the ICML 2024 Best Paper award.

  7. 2026

    A special venue award

    His team won the Visual Effects Society’s 2026 Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project award.

  8. As of October 2026

    Two research appointments

    He is a Principal Research Scientist and Research Director at Google DeepMind, as well as a Distinguished Professor of Computing at Georgia Tech.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Irfan Essa | School of Interactive Computing ic.gatech.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Irfan Essa | Professor, Researcher, Educator, ... irfanessa.gatech.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Video Stabilization on YouTube | Irfan Essa irfanessa.gatech.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Announcing the ICLR 2023 Outstanding Paper Award Recipients – ICLR Blog blog.iclr.cc. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. ICML 2024 – Research Impact & Leadership sites.gatech.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. ICML 2024 Awards icml.cc. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Irfan Essa research.google. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. OMSCS Buzz S4E3: Irfan Essa | Online Master of Science in Computer Science (OMSCS) omscs.gatech.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  9. Presenter - SIGGRAPH 2026 Conference Schedule s2026.conference-schedule.org. Checked 14 October 2026.