Pattie Maes

Pattie Maes is the Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab where she does research at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. Maes pioneered the concept of Software Agents in the 90s and remains focused on the question of how computer systems and digital devices might augment people and assist them with issues such as memory, learning, decision making, health and wellbeing. She  is the recipient of  several awards: Netguru selected her for "Hidden Heroes: the people who shaped  technology (2022), Time Magazine has included several of her designs in its annual list of inventions of the year;  The American Association for Artificial Intelligence gave her the "classic paper 2012"  prize, awarded to the most influential AI paper of the year,  Fast Company named her one of 50 most influential designers (2011); Newsweek picked her as one of the "100 Americans to watch for" (2000); TIME Digital selected her as a member of the “Cyber Elite,” the top 50 technological pioneers of the high-tech world; the World Economic Forum honored her with the title "Global Leader for Tomorrow"; Ars Electronica awarded her the 1995 World Wide Web category prize. Maes is the editor of four books, has published over 500 peer-reviewed articles, and is an editorial board member and reviewer for numerous professional journals and conferences. 

In addition to her academic endeavors, Maes has been an active entrepreneur as co-founder of several venture-backed companies, including Firefly Networks (sold to Microsoft), Open Ratings (sold to Dun & Bradstreet) and Tulip Co (privately held).

In 2025 she was recognized with the "Lifetime Achievement Award in Human Computer Interaction" by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).