When Lila Ibrahim became Google DeepMind's first-ever chief operating officer in 2018, she brought no formal background in AI or research. What she did bring was a work ethic forged in the cornfields of Indiana, where at 14 she detasseled corn for "$1-something" an hour.

"I grew up in really humble beginnings," Ibrahim told Fortune in an exclusive interview. Her parents were both immigrants, navigating new careers in an unfamiliar country while raising three children, including one with cerebral palsy. "It was happy but challenging in many ways financially."

"So I worked in the cornfields of Indiana, literally pulling off tassels, coming home, cuts and sores and sweating. It was really hard labor," she recalled. The experience was enough to rule out any future in agriculture, but it instilled something enduring: "But I had this strong work ethic."

That determination carried her from Indiana cornfields to a Purdue University lab, where she worked as a research assistant studying fruit fly DNA while still in high school. From there, it sustained her through two decades of rising through the ranks at Intel, with assignments spanning Santa Clara, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. By the time she departed Intel in 2010, she had served as chief of staff overseeing 85,000 employees and had recently given birth to twins.

Today, Ibrahim stands among the most senior executives at Google DeepMind—the pioneering AI research lab behind achievements like AlphaGo—during a period of historic upheaval for the company. As Google races to keep pace with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic, co-founder and CEO Demis Hassabis has stepped into a more advisory role amid delayed AI models, a string of high-profile departures, and reports of declining morale. Ibrahim has remained, now tasked with helping the world prepare for AI in her capacity as chief AI readiness officer—a role she was promoted to earlier this year, at a moment when organizations and governments across the globe are grappling with how to safely adopt and govern AI technologies.

An Outsider From the Start

In 2017, Ibrahim underwent more than 50 hours of interviews before being named Google DeepMind's inaugural COO. The distinction of being a "first" was nothing new for her.

"I had to get really comfortable very early on in my life that I was just an outsider," Ibrahim explained.

Her father, who is Lebanese, lost both of his parents as a young child before immigrating to the United States. He went on to work as an engineer developing early heart pacemakers and automotive safety technology. Her Palestinian mother, whom Ibrahim described as "too ambitious" to remain in her home country, was one of the few mothers Ibrahim knew who held a job and regularly traveled for business.

"When I look back now, they shaped so much of who I am today," Ibrahim said.

Growing up as a first-generation Arab American in the Midwest—and later as one of the few women in her electrical-engineering classes—Ibrahim learned early to embrace being different.

"Despite having dark hair, English as a second language, and growing up in the Midwest of the United States, I was taught that opportunity is everywhere, and you are not defined by anything other than your own curiosity," she said. "And that's what started off my career."

A pattern of pursuing less obvious opportunities has defined her trajectory. She left a long tenure at Intel for venture capital, then edtech. In 2018, she relocated her family from Silicon Valley to London to become the first COO of an AI research lab—despite having no formal AI background.

"I always felt like I saw opportunity where others didn't, and I saw solutions in places where others didn't," she added. "I naturally, because of being an outsider, a non-traditional, a non-conformist in a sense, when there were openings and opportunities, I was the first to raise my hand."