Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with cross-appointment at the Cheriton School of Computer Science of the University of Waterloo at the University of Waterloo, and a Vector Institute Faculty Affiliate. He leads the Collaborative Human-AI Reasoning Machines (CHARM) Lab, dedicated to pioneering advances in AI to facilitate trustworthy human-AI collaborations.
Dr. Karimi's scholarly contributions have been showcased almost exclusively at top-tier AI and ML venues including NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI, AISTATS, ACM FAccT, and ACM AIES. He has authored influential publications such as a comprehensive survey paper in the prestigious ACM Computing Surveys, holds a patent, and is a contributing author of a book chapter. Dr. Karimi’s work on algorithmic recourse has notably elevated its prominence in responsible AI research, with its presence growing from almost none to hundreds on Google Scholar in just five years; algorithmic recourse is now a mandatory criterion in key sectors, including Canada’s Treasury Board Directive on Automated Decision-Making. Besides highlighted presentations at the aforementioned venues and serving on their respective conference program committees, numerous academic and industry research labs have invited Dr. Karimi to present talks, lectures, and tutorials. His invited talks span institutions like University College London, ETH Zurich, Cyber Valley Health, Harvard University, MIT, Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA), Institute of Mathematical Statistics, NEC Europe Labs, DeepMind, and Google Brain. Notably, Dr. Karimi gave a tutorial on Causal Explainable AI at KDD 2023 and one on Algorithmic Recourse at the Toronto ML Summit 2024. Committed to knowledge mobilization and reproducibility, his open-source code has earned over 100 GitHub stars.
Dr. Karimi is a firm believer in the strength of diverse perspectives and is dedicated to building inclusive spaces in academia and beyond. As a professor, he strives to inspire the next generation of AI researchers and engineers, helping them understand and responsibly apply the power of AI. Further emphasizing his commitment to inclusive learning, he co-founded "Prince of AI," an initiative that provides free education on basic and advanced AI topics to a community of over 30,000 individuals. This initiative aims to reduce barriers to education and offer opportunities to those who traditionally lack access. With a wealth of content equivalent to an introductory ML course, their platform facilitates active learning through technical posts, engaging video reels, and interactive webinars.
Prior to joining UWaterloo, Dr. Karimi accumulated significant industry experience at leading tech companies such as BlackBerry, Meta (Facebook), Google Brain, and DeepMind, and provided consulting services for various startups and incubators including for NEXT AI. His contributions have earned him multiple accolades, such as the UofToronto Spirit of Engineering Science Award (2015), the UWaterloo Alumni Gold Medal Award (2018), the NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctorate (2018), the Google PhD Fellowship (2021), the ETH Zurich Medal (2024), the NSERC Discovery Grants (2024), and the Igor Ivkovic Teaching Excellence Award (2024).
The mandate of the Collaborative Human-AI Reasoning Machines (CHARM) Lab is to enhance the integration of AI systems into human decision-making, ensuring they are not only powerful but also safe, reliable, and aligned with human values. As AI becomes more embedded in everyday life, e.g., 🏥 healthcare, 🎓 education, 💼 finance, and 🚗 transportation, our dependency on these systems grows, and so does the risk of potential consequential errors. Our mission is to develop AI systems that can detect 🕵️♂️ potential issues, correct 🛠️ mistakes, and ultimately perfect 🤝 human-AI partnership where humans and machines work together seamlessly to achieve better outcomes. 🌍✨
The CHARM Lab focuses on causal inference, explainable AI, and neuro-symbolic approaches in order to build systems that allow users to understand, challenge, and improve AI decisions. We occasionally also borrow insights from, and collaborate with leading experts in, such fields as social sciences, cognitive science, human-computer interaction, multi-agent reinforcement learning, game theory, and behavioral economics.
The lab is always on the lookout for exceptional and highly motivated students/visitors across all levels (bachelor's, master's, doctoral, postdoctoral). If you are passionate about building the future of trustworthy human-AI symbiosis, and have a strong background in machine learning, computer science, or related fields please fill out this form.
Amir-Hossein Karimi
Principal Investigator (PI)
Mina Kebriaee
PhD Student
(w/ Prof. Tahvildari)
Zahra Khotanlou
PhD Student
Maryam Ghorbansabagh
Master's Student
(w/ Prof. Grossmann)
Zachary Wu
Research Assistant
(w/ Prof. Tahvildari)
Abubakar Bello
Research Assistant
(next: Microsoft Inc.)
Mohammadreza Alavi
Research Assistant
Ahmad Ehyaei
Mentee
(w/ Prof. Farnadi)
(next: Intl. Max Planck Research Schools)
Miriam Rateike
Mentee
(w/ Prof. Valera)
(next: Google PhD Fellow 2023)
Maryam Yalsavar
Mentee
(w/ Prof. Ghodsi)
(next: Huawei)
Ricardo Dominguez-Olmedo
Mentee
(w/ Prof. Schölkopf)
(next: Intl. Max Planck Research Schools)
Kiarash Mohammadi
Mentee
(w/ Prof. Valera)
(next: MILA AI Institute)
Alexandra Walter
Mentee
(w/ Prof. Valera)
(next: Helmholtz Data Sci. Sch. of Health)
Most recent publications are available on Google Scholar.
‡ indicates equal contribution.
Having immigrated five times across three continents for studies and work, from Iran to Canada, and then onward to the USA, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, Dr. Amir-Hossein Karimi has accumulated over 15 years of technical experience in both research and industry roles. Now an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo and a Vector Institute Faculty Affiliate, he has held prominent research positions at Google DeepMind, Google Brain, alongside software engineering roles at BlackBerry and Meta (Facebook). His academic journey includes a Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute & ETH Zürich, with a focus on causal inference and explainable AI. Full CV in PDF.
Dr. Karimi is grateful for the generous funding support from the University of Waterloo, NSERC, Google, and Waterloo.AI, enabling his team to push the boundaries of human-AI research.
In addition to his academic contributions, Dr. Karimi has consulted internationally for several startups, leveraging his expertise for discovery, product-market fit, and scaling of operations, in addition to fundraising and grant writing . He is available to discuss how his research and experience can deliver value to your organization and stakeholders.
For press inquiries, feel free to reach out.