Xavier Malina is a Franco-American AI researcher and artist with a background in data science. Xavier specializes in applied robotics, generative AI and fabrication technologies like 3D printing.
Xavier currently works as a Lead Imagineer for Research and Development at Walt Disney Imagineering, based in Los Angeles, California.
Before Disney, Xavier spent two years leading the Artificial Intelligence team at Ai Build. Here, Xavier spearheaded large language model R&D, launched the first-ever LLM product in a 3D printing slicer, and developed computer-vision and sensor-based defect detection systems for 6-axis large-format 3D printing. During the same period, Xavier also collaborated and consulted for artists interested in using 3D printing in and around Lourmarin, in Vaucluse, France.
Previously, Xavier spent nearly five years at Google working on data science teams at Nest and Google Search. Xavier was a presenter at Google’s annual data science summit, where he presented on data visualization.
After leaving Google, Xavier spent a year on sabbatical conducting research in Generative AI and 3D printing techniques and interviewed experts from Autodesk, Buro Happold, UC Berkeley and elsewhere. During this year, he produced a number of generative sculptures and projects using tools from Autodesk Rhino, Grasshopper, Fusion 360 and additive manufacturing methods. Xavier owns five 3D printers, and has explored creating molds for sand-resin mixtures as a method of construction, as well as creating several pieces in bronze using a lost-PLA method.
During the 2018/2019 academic year, Xavier was a lecturer at UC Berkeley, where he taught an undergraduate and graduate course in Data Visualization at the School of Information. Xavier is a Tableau Desktop Certified Associate and has taught courses on Tableau Software for over 20 different audiences. Xavier taught a seminar for journalists in Kazakhstan as part of TechForum Central Asia, a US state department program.
In 2020, Xavier co-founded and was CEO of Arroway.ai as a part of Entrepreneur First's fourth Paris-based cohort. Arroway.ai was a short-lived (failed) B2B company that used generative AI to power a new type of visual search for e-commerce stores.
Other than his work in the technology sector, Xavier has always looked for ways to engage in public service. He was a field organizer on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in Iowa, a staff assistant at the Obama White House in the office of White House Personnel, and a senior data scientist on Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Xavier has a BA in International Relations and Political Science from Tufts University, and a Master’s in Information Management and Systems from UC Berkeley. Xavier has also earned a short-course certificate in Computational Design for Manufacturing from MIT.