Hi there, my name is Abdullah X. Ali, but you can call me Ax.

I'm a survivor of the Iraq war, and my life philosophy of "when life knocks you down, level up" is something that has helped me pursue excellence and innovation even in the face of adversity.

I have a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Washington, and I believe that "Everything is Designed." My work has focused on accessibility, particularly in dyslexia, and I'm proud to have co-invented Dytective, a game that detects dyslexia using AI. I also helped the Bing team cater to users with dyslexia during my time at Microsoft Research.

At Apple, I worked on multimodal interactions for the Apple Vision Pro. At AWS, as an innovation consultant, I engaged with various sectors, including banking, pharmaceuticals, and EV manufacturing, which gave me a nuanced perspective on innovation. I blend that insight with my academic background in my Clear Thinking workshops.

I'm a National Science Foundation Fellow and an author, with over 20 peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Currently, I am the co-founder and CEO of 3rd Brain, an app that uses AI to help families leverage their collective knowledge to live a better life.

My approach to solving problems by inventing technologies prioritizes people's needs, abilities, values, and preferences above all.