Álvaro Martínez-Higes is the CEO and co-founder of Luzia, a “Local AI” assistant designed for everyday life in local languages and contexts. Under his leadership, Luzia has reached over 60 million downloads and 5 million weekly active users, focusing on simple, social, and high-retention experiences across Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets.

Based in Madrid, Álvaro combines strategy, product, and engineering to turn frontier AI capabilities into practical products for real-world markets. He is recognized for his work on the economics of “good-enough” models, practical evaluation, and building consumer AI that is accessible and relevant, especially in Spain and LATAM.

Álvaro’s current interests include memory and safety systems, user-respecting monetization, and cost-efficient deployment across cloud and edge. Outside of work, he is a proud father and advocates for technology that benefits families and everyday users, not just power users.