Sam Sepah is a global leader transforming the future of AI for over one billion people with disabilities and deafness. His work spans the intersection of Google Research, the Deaf community, and the global accessibility tech industry. Sam specializes in taking complex AI innovations from the research laboratory and delivering them as real-world tools that enrich millions of lives.

As a Senior Lead AI Accessibility Research Program Manager at Google, Sam was an early founding member of the Natively Adaptive Interfaces (NAI) initiative. This innovative AI agent advances the quality of user experience by allowing technology to learn and adapt to individual needs. Sam’s horizontal leadership is further defined by his role as a Co-founder of Sign Language Research at Google. He played a pivotal role in the strategic delivery of SignGemma, a major breakthrough and a Big Tech industry-first Sign Language AI model. This work represents a historic milestone for the 460 million d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people worldwide. Beyond technology, he shapes global policy as the Chairperson of the AI Taskforce for the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and the Chairperson of Atomic Hands boards. He also serves on the boards of the NTID Foundation and the Ohlone College Foundation.

With a career spanning over two decades, Sam’s expertise is unique. He broke major corporate barriers as the only Culturally Deaf Human Resources leader in the Fortune 500, advising giants like IBM, NIH, and DOL. Today, he uses that leadership to ensure technology is built for everyone. A prolific speaker at hundreds of global conferences, Sam remains a humble but powerful advocate for the principle: “Nothing About Us, Without Us”. He holds an Undergraduate and Master’s from the Rochester Institute of Technology, continuing his mission to make technology a AI universal tool for advancing human potential.