PeopleofSuperintelligence

Lab leader

Lila Ibrahim

Also known as Lila Ibrahim Liebat

As of October 2026, Lila Ibrahim is Google DeepMind’s Chief AI Readiness Officer, helping prepare the world for more capable AI. She earned an electrical engineering degree at Purdue in 1993, spent 18 years at Intel, and moved to Kleiner Perkins and Coursera while co-founding Team4Tech. DeepMind appointed her its first COO in April 2018, where she helped shape the lab’s operations as it expanded. TIME named her to its inaugural TIME100 AI list in 2023, and the Royal Academy of Engineering elected her a Fellow in 2026.

Photo of Lila Ibrahim

Timeline

  1. 1993

    Electrical engineering at Purdue

    She earns a BSEE in electrical engineering at Purdue in 1993.

  2. By 2010

    Intel engineering and education

    Before joining Kleiner Perkins in 2010, she spends 18 years at Intel, starting as a Pentium microprocessor designer and later growing its global education business.

  3. 2010–2018

    Coursera’s first president

    She joins Kleiner Perkins as a partner in 2010, co-founds Team4Tech in September 2012, and becomes Coursera’s first president in August 2013 while remaining an operating partner at Kleiner Perkins. Before she joins DeepMind in 2018, she leads Coursera as COO.

  4. 2018–2019

    DeepMind’s first COO

    She joins DeepMind as its first COO in April 2018, helping design and manage the lab’s next stage of growth. By 2019, she leads much of the work to formalize DeepMind’s leadership team as it develops into a major scientific organization.

  5. 2023

    The TIME100 AI list

    TIME names her to its inaugural TIME100 AI list in 2023.

  6. 2026

    A Royal Academy fellowship

    She is elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2026 for significant contributions from the computing era to AI.

  7. As of October 2026

    Chief AI readiness officer

    As of October 2026, she is Google DeepMind’s first Chief AI Readiness Officer. Her remit is to help prepare the world for more powerful AI.

Sources and credits

Photo: Purdue Engineering, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY 3.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Ms. Lila Ibrahim Liebat - Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Purdue University engineering.purdue.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Welcoming Lila Ibrahim to Coursera blog.coursera.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Julie Clugage: At the One-Year Mark! team4tech.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Our first COO Lila Ibrahim takes DeepMind to the next level deepmind.google. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. From unlikely start-up to major scientific organisation: Entering our tenth year at DeepMind deepmind.google. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. TIME Reveals Inaugural TIME100 AI List of the World's Most Influential People in Artificial Intelligence prnewswire.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Lila Ibrahim - Team4Tech team4tech.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. Lila Ibrahim FREng raeng.org.uk. Checked 14 October 2026.