Francesca Rossi

Francesca Rossi, the Global Leader for Responsible AI and AI Governance at IBM, is a key player in shaping how organizations build and use AI responsibly. A longtime AI researcher, her work focuses on neuro-symbolic AI, cognitive architectures, and AI value alignment. She’s quick to remind people that AI didn’t begin with ChatGPT, but rather, it’s the product of more than 70 years of innovation, from symbolic and rule-based systems to today’s generative and agentic models.

Francesca believes growth begins when you step outside your comfort zone. “If you stay in your lane, you stop learning,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to branch out and try something new.” That mindset inspired her to leave academia after more than two decades to join IBM, a move she credits to a life-changing sabbatical at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, where she learned the power of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Looking ahead, Francesca predicts that everyone will soon work alongside AI systems that assist with a wide range of cognitive tasks. Her advice? “For any task in your job, ask AI for help just as you would a colleague. Experiment, learn, and keep its strengths and limits in mind. The best way to prepare for the future of AI,” she says, “is to start working with it today.”