Stockholm (AFP) – Artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru, a former Google employee who advocates for more ethical AI, won the Right Livelihood prize this Wednesday, known as the alternative Nobel.

First modification: 09/30/2026 - 14:50

The jury awarded her "for questioning the concentration of power" and "paving the way towards digital technologies based on justice."

In 2017 Gebru founded "Black in AI", an NGO focused on increasing the presence and visibility of black people in these technologies.

Three years later, she co-published a research paper on the risks of racist and sexist biases in language models. At that time he was still part of the leadership of Google's ethics team.

The American giant asked her to retract the results of said investigation, which she refused, leading to her dismissal, the jury considers.

The expert delved into this topic and, shortly after, created the DAIR reflection center, whose work highlights the harm that AI systems cause in the lives of people who are victims of discrimination and exclusion.

The Swedish foundation has also honored Pakistani human rights lawyer Jalila Haider for her fight "against ethnic, state and patriarchal persecution."

Another entity awarded for its commitment to women's rights is the ecofeminist social movement Rural Women's Assembly (RWA), which brings together more than 178,000 small farmers from 11 countries in Southern Africa.

The jury praised her efforts to mobilize women to defend "access to land and seeds" against companies and patriarchy.

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) has also been awarded for "having contributed to building and preserving Georgian democracy."

The award was created in 1980 by the German-Swedish Jakob von Uexküll after the Nobel Foundation rejected his proposal to create two new prizes for the environment and development.

© 2026 AFP

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