# Marian Croak

VP, Responsible AI and Human Centered Technology, Google. TIME100 AI 2026, Thinkers. The social psychologist who co-developed text-to-donate and earned 200-plus patents is now Google's VP of Responsible AI and Human Centered Technology. ([ncwit.org](https://ncwit.org/blog/2026-ncwit-pioneer-in-tech-marian-croak/))

- Born: 1955-05-14, New York, New York, United States ([invent.org](https://www.invent.org/inductees/marian-croak), [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Croak))
- Education: PhD, Social psychology and quantitative analysis, University of Southern California; BA, Princeton University ([ncwit.org](https://ncwit.org/blog/2026-ncwit-pioneer-in-tech-marian-croak/))
- Career: Google (VP of Engineering, Responsible AI and Human Centered Technology, 2014 to now); AT&T (Senior Vice President, Applications and Services Infrastructure, 1982–2014) ([invent.org](https://www.invent.org/inductees/marian-croak), [ncwit.org](https://ncwit.org/blog/2026-ncwit-pioneer-in-tech-marian-croak/), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/marian-croak-926361bb))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/marian-croak/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/marian-croak

- Traces her interest in technology to age 5 or 6, when she was enchanted by the plumbers and electricians who came to fix things at home. ([blog.google](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/marian-croak-inventors-hall-fame/))
- Trained as a social psychologist; her dissertation studied what drives inter-group bias and altruistic behavior. ([blog.google](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/marian-croak-responsible-ai/))
- Holds more than 200 patents, nearly half of them on Voice over IP, the tech that carries phone calls over the internet. ([ncwit.org](https://ncwit.org/blog/2026-ncwit-pioneer-in-tech-marian-croak/))
- Co-invented text-to-donate; it raised $130,000 after Hurricane Katrina and $43 million after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. ([invent.org](https://www.invent.org/inductees/marian-croak))
- In 2022 she became one of the first two Black women inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. ([blog.google](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/marian-croak-inventors-hall-fame/))
- Her first Google job was bringing the internet to emerging markets, from fiber in Africa to public Wi-Fi in India's railway stations. ([blog.google](https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/marian-croak-inventors-hall-fame/))