In her new role, Carina will lead Robin AI’s R&D activities, ensuring the company’s research in machine learning and generative AI aligns with its product roadmap and commercial goals.

Carina comments: “I’m hugely excited to be joining Robin AI. It’s one of the few AI companies truly walking the walk, building real products to solve real customer problems, and doing so in a sector where the entry bar for AI products is very high, with no margin for error.

“AI has the power to transform how we all work and drive a step-change in productivity, but it’s vital that the products coming to market are accessible, intuitive and deliver genuine value. This is my core focus as a researcher, and I’m looking forward to applying my knowledge to the legal sector and helping further develop Robin AI’s product roadmap.”

Carina obtained a PhD in Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge University, and worked on AI for five and a half years at Microsoft – helping to build Microsoft Excel Copilot, and focusing on supporting non-technical users.

James Clough, CTO and co-founder of Robin AI said, “Carina has made a name for herself as one of the leading thinkers around the application of AI to everyday technology. We were impressed by her R&D work on improving staple Microsoft products and saw an obvious opportunity for her to bring her expertise over to the legal sector, where Word and Excel are the default tech tools for millions of legal professionals.

“Successful AI companies have to manage the dual focus of developing practical products that improve customers’ working lives, while also paying close attention to the ever-evolving technology landscape. This is the skill set Carina brings to the table.”

Carina’s appointment is the latest in a series of senior hires for the rapidly growing legal AI assistant, following the hire of prominent AI journalist Ryan Heath as Head of Communications and tech industry veteran Scott Casey as CFO.

At Robin AI 35% of management roles are held by women, around double the tech industry average.