Gaurav Bharaj
Co-founder of Reality Defender, now serving in an advisory capacity (Advisory Council) after previously serving as Chief of R&D. PhD in Computer Science from Harvard. Previously held leadership roles at Flawless, The AI Foundation (VP Research), and Technicolor.
Bharaj holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard SEAS (2017), followed by postdoctoral research in 3D reconstruction and character animation at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. After a stint as senior researcher at Technicolor R&I, he became VP of Research at The AI Foundation, working on generative AI and virtual avatars, where concern over malicious use of synthetic media led him to co-found Reality Defender in 2021 with Ben Colman and Ali Shahriyari. As Chief Scientist/Chief of R&D there, he built the company's multimodal deepfake-detection research while concurrently serving two years as Chief Scientific Officer at Flawless AI, developing AI-powered film-editing tools; his audio-driven facial animation research won Best Paper at BMVC 2024. As of 2026 he has moved to an advisory/co-founder-emeritus role at Reality Defender.
Overview
- Role
- Co-Founder (Advisory Council), Reality Defender
- Based in
- New York, NY, USA
- Prior experience
- Flawless, The AI Foundation (VP Research), Technicolor
Affiliated funds0
No linked records yet.
Frequently asked
- Who is Gaurav Bharaj?
- Bharaj holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard SEAS (2017), followed by postdoctoral research in 3D reconstruction and character animation at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. After a stint as senior researcher at Technicolor R&I, he became VP of Research at The AI Foundation, working on generative AI and virtual avatars, where concern over malicious use of synthetic media led him to co-found Reality Defender in 2021 with Ben Colman and Ali Shahriyari. As Chief Scientist/Chief of R&D there, he built the company's multimodal deepfake-detection research while concurrently serving two years as Chief Scientific Officer at Flawless AI, developing AI-powered film-editing tools; his audio-driven facial animation research won Best Paper at BMVC 2024. As of 2026 he has moved to an advisory/co-founder-emeritus role at Reality Defender.
- What is Gaurav Bharaj's role?
- Gaurav Bharaj is Co-Founder (Advisory Council), Reality Defender, based in New York, NY, USA.
- Where did Gaurav Bharaj work before?
- Gaurav Bharaj's prior roles include Flawless, The AI Foundation (VP Research), Technicolor.
Sources & citations4
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
Gaurav Bharaj listed on Reality Defender's Advisory Council as Co-founder (not active Chief of R&D)
Reality Defender: CompanyReported2026-08-09 - 2
Gaurav Bharaj's Harvard PhD research and career at Technicolor, The AI Foundation, Reality Defender, Flawless AI
Harvard SEAS: Alumni Profile: Gaurav Bharaj PhD 17Reported2025-04-01 - 3
Gaurav Bharaj's personal site describes his Reality Defender co-founder/Chief Scientist role in the past tense
Gaurav Bharaj: Personal siteReported2026-08-09 - 4
Reality Defender secures $15 million in Series A funding led by DCVC
PR Newswire: Deepfake Detection Platform Reality Defender Secures $15 Million in Series A Funding Led by DCVCReported2026-08-09