Anima Anandkumar is using AI to help solve the world's challenges faster. She has used the technology to speed up prediction models in an effort to get ahead of extreme weather, and to work on sustainable nuclear fusion simulations so as to one day safely harness the energy source. Accepting a TIME100 AI Impact Award in Dubai on Monday, Anandkumar--a professor at California Institute of Technology who was previously the senior director of AI research at Nvidia--credited her engineer parents with setting an example for her. "Having a mom who is an engineer was just such a great role model right at home." Her parents, who brought computerized manufacturing to her hometown in India, opened up her world, she said.