Alan S Cowen is the CEO and chief scientist at Hume AI, a research lab and technology company focused on developing emotionally aware AI, which released the very chatty Hume AI Chatbot. Cowen is also known for his work on the Hume Initiative, which aims to ensure AI serves human goals and emotional well-being.
With a PhD in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, Cowen has a robust background in computational emotion science. He previously worked as a researcher at Google, contributing to the development of human-centred AI, and was also affiliated with UC Berkeley’s Social Interaction Lab.
Cowen’s research involves using computational methods to understand and predict emotional behaviours, analysing brain representations of emotion, and measuring facial expressions in naturalistic videos.