I was born in a little city in central Brazil called Uruaçu. I became fascinated with the computer at 8 years old, but it was not yet accessible to my family at the time. Only high-income people had a computer at home, so my eyes would light up when I went to a house of a neighbor who had a machine.
Continuing my childhood curiosity for computer science, I enrolled in the Federal Institute of Goiás (IFG) to take a technical course on informatics. Then, I decided to stay in the area and get a degree at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). My final research project during my undergraduate studies used AI to predict the dispersion of a soybean disease from meteorological data and past disease data. Luckily, my research poster won the top prize at the Brazilian Congress of Precision Agriculture (ConBAP). This was the first time I realized AI’s power to create change by analyzing complex situations.
I have become increasingly confident in my chosen field, finished my master’s degree in AI and social science, and plan to further my AI research in Barcelona while I work on my PhD. My faith in AI and how it can be used for the well-being of humanity only continues to grow.
I am just one small piece of this gigantic, amazing puzzle that we call life. And, in spite of that smallness, I realize that any move I make can bring about change, big or small, in other people’s lives. Our words and attitudes are powerful, and our stories can transform our lives. And with technology on our side, the possibilities are limitless.
My dream is to live to see the world transformed through the use of technology as a force for social good. Until then, my daily dream is that each day I can be a 1% better person than I was yesterday.