How Anouk Dutrée, AI4Her Future Award Finalist, is redefining responsible AI in Europe

If Anouk Dutrée’s nomination for the AI4Her Future award proves only one thing, it’s that you don’t need to have it all figured out at the start of your career. In fact, if her success is anything to go by, experimenting can be quite the asset.

Guided by curiosity and a desire to create technology with positive impact, Anouk’s journey into AI has been anything but conventional. While bringing a unique, interdisciplinary perspective to the field, Anouk helps organizations stay in control of their data and technology.

Written by Berna Syuleymanoglu

“I’m someone driven by curiosity, always seeking new ways to make a positive impact with technology,” she says while explaining her rather unconventional educational background which spans Nanobiology (BSc, TU Delft), Computer Science (pre-master, TU Delft), and then Game Development (MA, Falmouth University). “That combination might not make sense to everyone, but for me it was the right path,” she adds. “It’s how I discovered my love for programming and learned to approach AI from different perspectives.” This journey shaped her understanding of how AI must function in the real world: at scale, in safety-critical environments, and within tightly regulated industrial contexts.

And it’s this ability to bring a different perspective to so many critical areas of AI in a relatively short space of time – from deepfake detection to cloud platforms – that has led to her selection as a finalist for the AI4Her Future Award, which celebrates young women under 30 whose work represents the next wave of innovation in Artificial Intelligence.

Championing Ethical and Sovereign AI in Practice

Amid so much variety in her career, her commitment to advocate for ethical, accessible, and sovereign AI perhaps stands out even more. With a clear focus on giving European organizations control over their data and AI infrastructure, this vision has shaped how Anouk builds and evaluates AI systems across various organizations.

At software company UbiOps, she played a key role in developing the AI platform, enabling data scientists to deploy and scale AI solutions without requiring extensive cloud expertise. Her work had real-world impact supporting applications such as powering deepfake detection, crop monitoring for farmers, and digital twin systems for heat grids. But a defining aspect of her work at UbiOps was addressing Europe’s dependency on American cloud providers. She led the development of hybrid-cloud features that allowed UbiOps to work with European cloud platforms. This resulted in building a network of more than 20 supported cloud providers worldwide, making European alternatives a viable option for AI workloads.

Today, as an AI Solution Architect at HPE, a global IT company, Anouk continues this mission by helping organizations build AI solutions on private cloud platforms that they fully control and own. Her work empowers customers to innovate with AI while maintaining autonomy, security, and compliance.

Driving Impact Through Practical, Responsible AI

Anouk is also deeply committed to knowledge sharing and raising awareness about AI on a more personal level too. She is the co-host of “De Dataloog,” the Netherlands’ largest AI podcast, reaching over 19,000 unique listeners annually. Her interviews with AI leaders and practitioners from organizations such as the Dutch Police, NPO, and PostNL highlight real-world AI use cases, practical lessons, and ethical considerations. “By sharing both successes and challenges, we help the sector develop a realistic understanding of AI,” she explains.

As part of her mission to inform, Anouk writes extensively for platforms including Towards Data Science, Python In Plain English, and Hackernoon, where some of her articles are read by over 15,000 people. She also focuses on cutting through AI hype and offering actionable, grounded insights through her speaking endeavors, including World Summit AI Amsterdam and MLOps World.

In addition, Anouk has served as a jury member for the Dutch Applied AI Awards for two consecutive years, helping impactful and responsible AI projects gain the recognition they deserve. “By fostering knowledge sharing, reducing barriers to AI adoption, and promoting the practical application of AI technologies I do my best to make an impact on the field of AI,” she emphasizes.

And while Anouk describes her work as “doing her best”, the impact is already clear. By advancing sovereign AI solutions and supporting organizations to stay in control of their data and technology, she is actively shaping a more responsible and independent future for us all.

Responsible AI starts with us.

To discover the ultimate winners of the AI4Her awards, join us at the AI4ALL Gala on February 6th 2026, in Amsterdam. The Gala raises vital funds to support our mission to make AI more inclusive, ethical and accessible for everyone. Get your tickets here.