PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kris M. Kitani

Also known as K.M. Kitani, Kris Kitani

Kris Kitani is a computer-vision researcher at Carnegie Mellon University whose work models human activity from first-person video and supports hands-on learning. He earned a BS in electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, then MS and PhD degrees at the University of Tokyo, and held research posts in Tokyo and at CMU, where he directed the MSCV program. His papers modeled activities from first-person video and applied inverse reinforcement learning to forecast goals. He coauthored Ego4D and helped develop Origami Sensei; his work received a Marr Prize honorable mention at ICCV 2017 and best paper honorable mentions at CHI 2017 and 2020. He is an associate research professor in CMU's Robotics Institute and co-director of its Extended Reality Technology Center, and he consults for Roblox in 2026.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 2000–2003

    A USC degree and KLA-Tencor

    He earns a BS in electrical engineering at the University of Southern California in 2000 and works as an engineer at KLA-Tencor from 2000 to 2003.

  2. 2005–2011

    Tokyo degrees and professorship

    He earns an MS in 2005 and a PhD in 2008 at the University of Tokyo, then works as an assistant professor at UEC Tokyo from 2008 to 2011 with Hideki Koike.

  3. 2011–2022

    CMU research and program leadership

    He joins CMU as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2011 with Martial Hebert and Drew Bagnell, becomes a systems scientist in 2013, and an assistant research professor in 2016. He directs CMU's MSCV program from 2018 to 2022.

  4. 2016

    First-person activity forecasting

    At ACCV 2016, he coauthors Long-Term Activity Forecasting using First-Person Vision, which applies deep reinforcement learning to predict full activities from egocentric video. He also coauthors First-Person Activity Forecasting with Online Inverse Reinforcement Learning; its DARKO model forecasts goals and semantic states from first-person observations.

  5. 2017–2020

    Conference paper honors

    His work earns a Marr Prize honorable mention at ICCV 2017, plus best paper honorable mentions at CHI 2017 and CHI 2020.

  6. 2022

    The Ego4D dataset

    In 2022, he coauthors Ego4D, a CVPR dataset and benchmark for egocentric video that contains 3,670 hours of daily-life footage from 931 camera wearers across 74 worldwide locations.

  7. 2023–2025

    Meta research and Origami Sensei

    From 2023 to 2025, he works as an AI Research Scientist at Meta in RL, FAIR and MSL. In 2025, he leads the development of Origami Sensei with Dina El-Zanfaly, a mixed-reality AI system that uses computer vision and a projector to help beginners create origami; the team presents the research at CHI 2025.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and XRTC co-director

    He is an associate research professor in CMU's Robotics Institute and co-director of the Extended Reality Technology Center. In 2026, he consults for Roblox.

Career

  1. Since 2011Carnegie Mellon UniversityPostdoctoral Research Fellow, Systems Scientist
  2. 2023–2025MetaAI Research Scientist
  3. 2023–2025FAIR (Meta)AI Research Scientist
  4. 2023–2025Meta Superintelligence LabsAI Research Scientist
  5. 2008–2011University of Electro-CommunicationsAssistant Professor
  6. 2000–2003KLA-TencorEngineer

Education

  1. 2008University of TokyoPhD
  2. 2005University of TokyoMS
  3. 2000University of Southern CaliforniaBS

From the biography.

  1. 16% of AI career moves in the 2020s went from a university to a companyIncludes Kris M. Kitani. We estimate that 16% of AI career moves in the 2020s went from a university to a company; 29% of moves starting at a university went to a company, and 76% ended the university role.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Carnegie Mellon University. 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.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Carnegie Mellon University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Carnegie Mellon University. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

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. Kris Kitani PhD kriskitani.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Long-Term Activity Forecasting using First-Person Vision publications.ri.cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. First-Person Activity Forecasting with Online Inverse Reinforcement Learning arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Ego4D: Around the World in 3,000 Hours of Egocentric Video openaccess.thecvf.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Mixed-Reality AI Assistant Teaches Hands-On Skills cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. CMU Robotics Expertise and Facilities Attract IROS 2026 Conference Attendees news.pantheon.cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Kris M. Kitani - The Robotics Institute - CMU ri.cmu.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.