Sasha Luccioni

Sasha Luccioni is a prominent researcher at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change. She currently works as the AI & Climate Lead at Hugging Face, where she focuses on making AI systems more sustainable. One of her notable achievements is the development of tools that help quantify the carbon footprint of AI models, which has raised awareness about the environmental impact of large AI systems. Named in the TIME 100 AI list in 2024 alongside personalities such as Jensen Huang & Demis Hassabis, Sasha is one of the leading figures in the AI, climate change, technology and sustainability field.

Sasha’s academic background includes a PhD in Cognitive Computing from UQAM and a Master's in Cognitive Science from École Normale Supérieure in Paris. In her capacity as Research Scientist at Mila – Quebec AI Institute, she has worked on projects like "This Climate Does Not Exist," studying the potential impacts of climate change through AI-generated images. She also co-authored a study on the carbon emissions of BLOOM, a major AI model, revealing its substantial environmental cost. Additionally, Sasha is a founding member of Climate Change AI and advocates for responsible AI practices through her speaking engagements and publications. She is also developing a rating system to compare the energy efficiency of different AI models, aimed at promoting more climate-friendly AI development.

Sasha’s resume is rife with prominent positions such as AI Researcher at Morgan Stanley, Lecturer at UQAM, Computational Social Scientist at UN Global Pulse, and Member of the Working Group on AI Ethics & SDGs at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. She is currently a Member of the OECD.AI Expert group where she shares her research on the environmental costs of compute. Outside of her work at Hugging Face, Sasha also serves as an Adjunct Professor at McGill University, teaching at the School of Computer Science. One project at the time, Sasha is revolutionising the AI, technology and sustainability sectors.

In 2023, MIT Tech Review listed Sasha as one of the 35 Innovators Under 35, in recognition of her exemplary work. Sasha’s TED talk “AI is Dangerous, But Not for the Reasons You Think” has amassed over 1.1 million views – a testament to her excellence as a speaker. Passionate about sharing her message, Sasha was the Lead Organiser of the Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning workshop in Rwanda and also delivered a keynote address at the Canadian Entomological Society. Sasha Luccioni is now available to speak at your next event, sharing her expertise on artificial intelligence, technology, climate change and sustainability. Hire her today!