Google DeepMind's top exec rose from Indiana cornfields to lead AI readiness

Lila Ibrahim's journey to Google DeepMind's executive ranks began in the cornfields of Indiana, where at age 14 she worked detasseling corn for "$1-something" an hour—a punishing summer job that left her with cuts and sores but also a resolve to pursue a different path. "I grew up in really humble beginnings," she told Fortune. Her parents were both immigrants; her Lebanese father, who had lost both parents as a young child before moving to the U.S., worked as an engineer developing early heart pacemakers and car-safety technology. Her Palestinian mother was, in Ibrahim's description, "too ambitious" to remain in her home country and was among the few working mothers in her community who took regular business trips. Growing up as a first-generation Arab American in the Midwest, often one of the only women in her electrical-engineering classes, Ibrahim learned early to be comfortable standing out. "Despite having dark hair, English as a second language, and growing up in the Midwest of the United States, I was taught that opportunity is everywhere, and you are not defined by anything other than your own curiosity," she recalled.

That curiosity led her from the cornfields to a Purdue lab, where while still in high school she worked as a research assistant on fruit fly DNA. She then spent two decades at Intel, working her way up through positions in Santa Clara, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. By the time she left Intel in 2010—just after having twins—she had become chief of staff in charge of 85,000 people. Rather than continue climbing within the semiconductor giant, Ibrahim moved into venture capital and edtech, roles that positioned her as an outsider in new industries. "I always felt like I saw opportunity where others didn't, and I saw solutions in places where others didn't," she explained. That willingness to take on unfamiliar territory made her an unlikely but successful candidate for Google DeepMind's first-ever chief operating officer role in 2018, despite her lack of formal AI background. "I spent more than 50 hours interviewing for" that position, she recalled.

Earlier this year, Ibrahim was promoted to another first role at the company: chief AI readiness officer, tasking her with helping the world get ready for AI. Her tenure there has unfolded against a backdrop of significant organizational turbulence. Co-founder CEO Demis Hassabis has just stepped down to a more advisory role amid delayed models, a wave of high-profile departures, and reports of low morale. Yet Ibrahim has remained in place, one of the most senior executives left standing at Google DeepMind. Her persistence through the shakeup underscores her capacity to navigate instability—a skill honed, she suggests, by a lifetime of being the outsider. "I had to get really comfortable very early on in my life that I was just an outsider," she said. "When there were openings and opportunities, I was the first to raise my hand."