AI only knows where we've been. Our job is to choose where it goes next.
Dr. Setor Zilevu is a Staff Researcher at Figma, where he leads AI Evals, building the evaluation frameworks for model quality across AI products. He is the founder of Choix Labs, a studio exploring how AI can extend, rather than replace, human intelligence, and he created the curricula for Applied UX Research and UX for AI as an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
He earned his PhD in Computer Science from Virginia Tech at the age of 26, becoming the youngest Ghanaian to receive a doctorate in Human-Computer Interaction. His dissertation, HCI for Complex Machine Learning, introduced the Z Methodology, a framework for a human-centric supervisor of machine learning systems designed to embed human intelligence throughout complex AI computing.
His work is deeply inspired by his father, a stroke survivor. Setor set out to understand how combining UX and Machine Learning could deliver hospital-quality stroke therapy at home, with high-fidelity feedback for both patients and clinicians. The resulting platform was tested at the world-renowned Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and supported by over $5M in grant funding. This work became the foundation of his mission to be a champion for the underdog.
His research has been recognized by MIT Technology Review on its 35 Innovators Under 35 Global List, profiled by PBS NOVA, and featured at AfroTech, Athena Health, the ACM CHI Conference, and Figma's Config, where he delivered the 2026 talk, "Own the Loop: How Researchers and Designers Win with AI Evals."
A Virginia Tech alumnus, he serves on the Advisory Board of the university's Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which named him a recipient of its 2026 Early Career Impact Award. His master's thesis, Interactive Interfaces for Capturing and Annotating Videos of Human Movement Performance, earlier earned the university's William Preston Society Master's Thesis Award in 2019, recognizing original graduate research with the potential to benefit all people.
He has delivered keynotes across the globe on the intersection of UX and AI, Model Quality, Human Behavior and AI, Innovation Strategies, Applied AI in Healthcare, and Education.
Prior to Figma, Setor was a Senior Researcher in Meta's Superintelligence Lab, where he led research for Meta AI consumer app and global AI Internationalization efforts to scale complex multi-modal models across diverse cultures. His broader industry and engineering footprint spans Google, Adobe, Intel, and the Department of Homeland Security, alongside serving as a board member for Grace Academy, an active venture ecosystem investor, and a strategic advisor to AI companies.