Global Influence in the Mission for Accountability in AI

Abeba Birhane is a world leading cognitive researcher in Ireland and is globally recognised beyond academia as a leader in AI accountability.

Abeba joined a select group of global leaders in AI who convened at the Vatican AI Summit in 2025, producing “The Global Appeal” – a first of its kind report calling on global leaders, policymakers, Industry, researchers, and all of society to follow a core set of principles to determine how AI can best serve all of humanity.

Abeba’s research journey began with a UCD-based PhD with the Lero Research Ireland Centre for Software, where she exposed harmful bias in AI training data. This led to the withdrawal of 80 million Tiny Images, an image dataset from MIT.

Abeba has since featured in the Time100 list of most influential people in AI in 2023, advised the UN Secretary General, and is on the Irish Government AI Advisory Council. Currently the Director of the AI Accountability Lab at the ADAPT Research Ireland Centre, Abeba and her team continue to challenge systemic inequalities.

Abeba’s career reflects Research Ireland’s role in supporting early career researchers through to independent research leadership, ensuring Ireland has the talent, skills, and supports to have global impact.

A future where human dignity, justice, and rights guide AI development is possible. Continual dialogues and meaningful measures for accountability in the development and deployment of AI systems is central to achieving this.

– Dr Abeba Birhane, Trinity College Dublin

Partners:

Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, MacArthur Foundation, Omidyar Group, Luminate Foundation, European AI & Society Fund, Bestseller Foundation, and UK Dept For Science, Technology, and Innovation.