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Babak Hodjat

Chief AI Officer, Cognizant

Babak Hodjat is Cognizant's Chief AI Officer and leads Cognizant AI Lab. He co-founded Sentient Technologies (formerly Genetic Finance), serving as CEO and earlier chief scientist, building distributed evolutionary AI systems; Cognizant later acquired much of Sentient's AI IP. Earlier he co-founded Dejima, whose agent-oriented interface technology contributed to the lineage behind Apple's Siri. He holds a Ph.D. in AI from Kyushu University.123

At a glance

Current role
Chief AI Officer
Company
Cognizant
Sources cited
3
Profile reviewed

Accomplishments

  • Chief AI Officer at Cognizant; leads Cognizant AI Lab.1
  • Co-founder/CEO of Sentient; Dejima technology linked to Siri lineage.23

Cognizant and Sentient

At Cognizant, Hodjat leads AI research labs advancing differentiated AI capabilities and AI-for-good initiatives. He previously co-founded and led Sentient Technologies, described by the company as responsible for the core technology behind a large-scale distributed AI system; Sentient was dissolved in 2019 with IP sold to Cognizant and Ascend to Evolv.13

Dejima and Siri lineage

As co-founder, CTO, and board member of Dejima Inc., Hodjat was primary inventor of patented agent-oriented technology for intelligent mobile and enterprise interfaces that Cognizant and Wikipedia biographies connect to the technology behind Apple's Siri.12

Timeline

  1. Co-founded Dejima Inc.2
  2. Co-founded Genetic Finance / Sentient Technologies.3
  3. Sentient dissolved; IP acquired by Cognizant.3

Other documented roles

Roles the sources document that are not confirmed as current.

Where they work

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References

3 sources · profile reviewed Oct 24, 2026 · data updated Oct 24, 2026

  1. Babak Hodjat — Cognizant AI LabCognizant · Official page · accessed Oct 24, 2026
  2. Babak HodjatWikipedia · accessed Oct 24, 2026
  3. Sentient TechnologiesWikipedia · accessed Oct 24, 2026