Timnit Gebru is one of four recipients of the 2026 Right Livelihood Award, announced in Stockholm on September 30. The Ethiopian-born AI researcher was cited for challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and advancing technology grounded in justice, lived experience and human agency. She founded the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), whose work examines discrimination, labor conditions and the environmental costs behind AI systems. The other recipients are Pakistani human-rights lawyer Jalila Haider, the Rural Women’s Assembly in Southern Africa and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association. Chosen from 200 nominations across 72 countries, this year’s group places scrutiny of AI beside struggles for legal rights, democracy and control of land.

Gebru asks who chooses the data, pays for computing, performs the work that prepares systems, and receives their benefits. DAIR’s distributed model brings researchers and communities into that inquiry, challenging an industry where a few companies control the tools and resources. The award places AI design and governance in a civic register, where decisions can be examined for their effects on people facing discrimination. Public recognition cannot give affected communities a route to contest automated decisions or require companies to reveal training data. The foundation says the award includes long-term support for laureates, extending resources for Gebru’s community-based research beyond the December 1 ceremony in Stockholm.