A prominent AI researcher, alongside a Pakistani human rights lawyer and two women-led organizations, received the Sweden-based Right Livelihood Award on Wednesday for advancing a more just and peaceful world.
Established in 1980 by Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, the Right Livelihood Award honors exceptional achievements in environmental conservation and international development that are often overlooked by the Nobel Prizes.
The award is typically presented one week prior to the Nobel Prizes.
Right Livelihood announced that this year’s recipients, chosen from 200 nominations across 72 countries, are being recognized for their “resistance to systems that push people to the margins, and a shared insistence on putting people back at the center.”
Meet the 2026 Right Livelihood Award Recipients
AI Researcher Combating Algorithmic Bias
Timnit Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute, was awarded the prize for her groundbreaking work in identifying and addressing biases within artificial intelligence systems.
Right Livelihood stated she was honored “for challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and pioneering digital technology rooted in justice, lived experience and human agency.”
In 2020, Gebru, who was born in Ethiopia to Eritrean parents, co-authored a pivotal paper on the risks of biases in large language models (LLMs) while leading Google’s Ethical AI team. The jury noted that Google terminated her after she refused to retract the paper or remove her name without specific assurances.
Pakistani Lawyer Defending Vulnerable Communities
Jalila Haider of Pakistan received the award “for breaking barriers as the first female lawyer from her Hazara community to challenge ethnic, state, and patriarchal persecution, guided by the conviction that no human being is illegal.”
Haider is renowned for defending her nation’s most marginalized groups against state repression, gender discrimination, and ethnic violence. “Haider has secured justice for thousands targeted or ignored by those in power, specifically ethnic, gender, and religious minorities, as well as refugees,” the organization stated.
Southern African Rural Women’s Group Defending Land Rights
The Rural Women’s Assembly, uniting over 178,000 small-scale farmers across 11 Southern African nations, was recognized for its efforts. The jury praised the group for creating “a united force defending land, seed, and bodily autonomy against corporate and patriarchal dispossession.”
The Assembly has also worked to preserve local seed varieties, safeguarding the traditional practice of saving and exchanging seeds, the foundation noted.
Georgian Human Rights Group Safeguarding Civic Power
The prize was also awarded to the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), described by the foundation as “the moral compass of Georgian society.”
The jury highlighted the group’s work, founded in 1994, in “building and safeguarding Georgian democracy and sustaining civic power in the face of an autocratic crackdown.”
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