# Ishita Gupta Applied AI engineer at Cognition (Devin, Windsurf); Stanford CS; ex-Snowflake AI observability; Stapoo co-founder Cognition United States ## At Cognition - Role: Applied AI engineer (Engineering) - Joined: Jul 2026 - How they joined: Directly - Before Cognition: Research Scientist Intern, Snowflake - Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Stanford University (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together) ## Identity - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185 - Domain: cognition.com ## Notes - Joined Cognition as an Applied AI engineer in Jul 2026, after Cognition had acquired Windsurf (agreement announced 2025-07-14, covering Windsurf's IP, product, brand and people); her role is customer-facing: working with and traveling to customers to teach them how to apply AI. (https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf) - Took a leave from her Stanford research master's (Distinction in Research, Google-funded per her profile) to join Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185) - Public headline says "Applied AI @ Cognition | Stanford CS". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185) - Ishita Gupta authored a LinkedIn post introducing Dora, an AI-powered travel planning tool that crafts a video itinerary based on a user's TikTok profile. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_ai-travelplanning-genztravel-activity-7171912278634643456-tcQ2) - Ishita Gupta wrote that 80% of Gen Z relies on TikTok for travel planning. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_ai-travelplanning-genztravel-activity-7171912278634643456-tcQ2) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: "With finals week fast approaching and your spring break trip still unplanned, it's tempting to scroll through TikTok for inspiration." (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_ai-travelplanning-genztravel-activity-7171912278634643456-tcQ2) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: "Embrace the future of trip planning with Dora, because who really has time to browse TripAdvisor anymore?" (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_ai-travelplanning-genztravel-activity-7171912278634643456-tcQ2) - Ishita Gupta was listed as a founder/team member of Stapoo in Duke Innovation Studio's Spring 2022 Entrepreneurship Cohort, identified as 'Ishita Gupta (Stanford '25)'. (https://duke-innovation-studio.medium.com/introducing-our-spring-2022-cohort-growth-portfolio-a1933d5a51a3) - Ishita Gupta's Stapoo co-founders/team members were Aayushi Patel (Duke '25) and Aditya Gaur (Duke '25). (https://duke-innovation-studio.medium.com/introducing-our-spring-2022-cohort-growth-portfolio-a1933d5a51a3) - Ishita Gupta spoke about Stapoo during Stanford's Startup Demo Day organised by StartX and the Stanford Graduate School of Education. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_i-loved-speaking-about-stapoo-during-stanfords-activity-6849396996651016192-J0Wr) - Ishita Gupta thanked Aayushi Patel, Aditya Gaur and Anya Sukhtankar for being the best team ever. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_i-loved-speaking-about-stapoo-during-stanfords-activity-6849396996651016192-J0Wr) - Ishita Gupta wrote that she met many amazing, inspiring entrepreneurs with amazing stories at Stanford's Startup Demo Day. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_i-loved-speaking-about-stapoo-during-stanfords-activity-6849396996651016192-J0Wr) - Ishita Gupta authored the World Bank Voices blog post titled 'The future is in the decisions we make now'. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: 'The possibilities are truly endless.' (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: 'Change is all around us. With 55 per cent of the world connected to the internet, websites like Khan Academy and Coursera are bringing incredible learning material to students even in the most rural parts of the world, free of cost.' (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: 'Mastery and project-based learning will form the cornerstones of a futuristic education system.' (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: 'A curriculum unique to each learner can help focus efforts on weaker areas and stimulate development in stronger ones.' (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Ishita Gupta wrote verbatim: 'Classroom design would also be largely redefined.' (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Ishita Gupta was a winner of the World Bank Group and Financial Times blog writing competition 'How Would You Reimagine Education?' alongside Nhi Doan from The Olympia Schools in Hanoi, Vietnam. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Ishita Gupta and Nhi Doan were announced as winners at the World Bank Group Spring Meetings event on the Learning Revolution. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Ishita Gupta and Nhi Doan were photographed at the World Bank Group headquarters in Washington, DC moments before receiving their award. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Was interviewed with co-winner Nhi Doan by the World Bank Group in its Global Voices series at the 2019 Spring Meetings (20-minute video). (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXJu3KRY3so) - When Ishita is not in school, she enjoys long distance running, photography and participating in the Model UN. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Ishita Gupta's winning blog post is titled 'The future is in the decisions we make now'. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Ishita Gupta is one of two winners in the World Bank Group and the Financial Times blog writing competition on reimagining education for the coming century. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - I am currently on a leave from my master's by research at Stanford. I am an applied AI engineer at cognition. Broadly, in life I am interested in exploring how we can scale high quality education. My work frequently involves Artificial Intelligence, as upskilling entire workforces on how to use AI is a significant problem, and also AI is an interesting; this comes from the profile summary and preserves the person's own positioning. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185) - When Ishita is not in school, she enjoys long distance running, photography and participating in the Model UN. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Ishita Gupta's winning blog post is titled 'The future is in the decisions we make now'. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced) - Ishita Gupta is one of two winners in the World Bank Group and the Financial Times blog writing competition on reimagining education for the coming century. (https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times) - Previous roles include Research Scientist Intern at Snowflake; Computer Science Section Leader at Stanford University Department of Computer Science; Public Utilities Commission Research Intern at State of Hawaii; Vice President at Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES); Circular Economy Design at Cercle; Deep Technology Writer at Cicada Innovations; Founder at Stapoo; Assistant Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency at Harvard Model United Nations. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185) - Location is United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185) ## Experience - Applied AI engineer at Cognition - San Francisco Bay Area (Jul 2026 - Present) - Research Assistant at Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) - Palo Alto, California, United States (Jun 2024 - Present): Building observability-focused AI tools for education with Professor John Mitchell and Chris Piech. - Research Scientist Intern at Snowflake - Menlo Park, California, United States (Apr 2025 - Jan 2026): AI trust and observability Team. Built evaluation suite for AI agent tools using MCP-based systems, created debugging tools that surfaced critical bugs in Snowflake's agentic software. Taught a class at Stanford about my work (CS329T). - Computer Science Section Leader at Stanford University Department of Computer Science - Stanford, California, United States (Sep 2023 - Jun 2024): I am a Teaching Assistant for CS106A (Python Programming), and will be teaching CS106B (C++, Programming Abstractions) and 107e (Embedded Systems) in Winter 2023. - Public Utilities Commission Research Intern at State of Hawaii - Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States (Jun 2023 - Sep 2023): I worked at the PUC as part of their Grid Resilience and Energy Equity Docket. I wrote a Research Paper Analysing a potential Solar Farm in Rural Oahu. This internship is typically offered to Graduate Students aspart of the Shultz Energy Fellowships. - Vice President at Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) - Stanford, California (Apr 2022 - Apr 2023): I lead a team that organised biweekly speaker events with 100+ students attending at each of them. Speakers included founders of Unicorn Businesses like Quizlet, and partners at Y Combinator. - Circular Economy Design at Cercle - Sydney CBD, New South Wales, Australia (Feb 2021 - Dec 2022): I built a device that's preventing hundreds of thousands of cups from going to landfills in Sydney's Offices, and helped launched Australia's largest Circular Cup Sharing System. - Deep Technology Writer at Cicada Innovations - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Jun 2021 - Sep 2021): I wrote about deep technology startups in Australia. My writing was read by many Australian Members of Parliament. - Founder at Stapoo (May 2020 - Aug 2021): We built a beautiful game, many animated videos and interactive workshops so low income students could learn during the pandemic. We collaborated with teach for India (India's largest Ed-tech non profit). This was my passion project. (www.stapoo.org) - Assistant Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency at Harvard Model United Nations - Hyderabad Area, India (May 2019 - Jun 2020): Chairing a committee at the largest model UN conferences in India, and directing a committee of 70 delegates from all over the country - Winner of the world bank financial times on re-imagining education at World Bank Group - Washington D.C. Metro Area (Apr 2019 - Apr 2019): I won the world banks international competition on reimagining education, and was the youngest person to attend their spring meetings - Published in the Financial Times at Financial Times (Apr 2019 - Apr 2019): Article on re-imaging education for the 21st Century, highlighting the technological changes, as well as key curricula changes needed for the future - Intern at Chhoti si Asha - Chandigarh Area, India (Jan 2019 - Feb 2019): Filmed and Edited a short film to help increase sales of the NGO, which talked about the rural women who work there and shared their stories. - Intern at Musigma - Bangalore, India (Jul 2018 - Aug 2018): Developed a framework to help solve the customer churn problem in the telecommunications industry, using regression analysis. ## Education - Stanford University School of Engineering - Master's degree, Distinction in Research, Computer Science - (Jan 2025 - Jun 2026) - Stanford University - Bachelor's degree with Honors in Computer Science - (Sep 2021 - Jun 2025) I was also on Model UN, Student Council, Cross Country and Further Maths. ## Sources - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishita-gupta-a972a5185 - https://duke-innovation-studio.medium.com/introducing-our-spring-2022-cohort-growth-portfolio-a1933d5a51a3 - https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf - https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/world-bank-group-financial-times-blog-writing-competition-winners-announced - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXJu3KRY3so - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_ai-travelplanning-genztravel-activity-7171912278634643456-tcQ2 - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ishita-gupta-a972a5185_i-loved-speaking-about-stapoo-during-stanfords-activity-6849396996651016192-J0Wr - https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/voices/future-decisions-we-make-now-world-bank-group-financial-times Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/ishita-gupta ยท Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people