In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, CNET en Español, CNET’s Spanish-language sister site, today continues its tradition of honoring the contributions of Latinos working in science and technology by publishing its annual list of the Top 20 Most Influential Latinos in Technology. In recognition of the prominent role diversity plays in the evolution of artificial intelligence and machine learning, this year’s list includes six individuals whose work has made important strides in that space at Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Pandora, Mozilla, Qualcomm, Nvidia and Nuance.

“Our list shines a light on the vision and creativity of Latinos who play an important role in the tech industry,” said Gabriel Sama, Managing Editor of CNET en Español. “This year, experts in artificial intelligence appear prominently on the list. As A.I. technology improves, we need a tremendous amount of data from diverse sources, including voices in a variety of languages and accents. In this way, our machines can learn to serve a wider cross-section of the world’s population.”

Selected by the CNET en Español editorial staff, the list is comprised of professionals in STEM or creative fields that meet the following criteria: born in Spain or Latin America, or in the U.S. of Hispanic origin; working in the U.S. or at a company with operations in the country; and those who are in senior positions and involved in the decision-making processes or play key creative roles in the technology space.

“To be part of CNET en Español’s list of the 20 Most Influential Latinos in Tech for the second time is an honor,” said Pilar Manchón, Director of Cognitive Interfaces at Amazon. “Diversity is a very important aspect at all levels, but even more so in the field of artificial intelligence. My experience tells me that the most innovative solutions and opportunities often emerge from the confluence of different perspectives, disciplines and experiences. Diversity of thought, gender, education and points of view enriches the ecosystem, allows us to widen our perspectives and helps us advance in the right direction.”

This year’s list includes the following (in alphabetical order):

• Manuel Bronstein – Vice President of Product, YouTube
• Òscar Celma – Head of Research, Senior Director, Pandora
• Alberto Cerriteño – Principal Art Director 3D for Everyone, Microsoft
• Nonny de la Peña – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Emblematic Group
• Serafín Díaz – Vice President of Engineering, Qualcomm
• Luis Domínguez – Avionics Systems Engineer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Carlos Guestrin – Director of Machine Learning, Apple
• César Hidalgo – Head of the Collective Learning Group, MIT Media Lab
• Daniel Loreto – Engineering Manager, Airbnb
• Diana Macias – Software Engineering Manager, Mobile and Front-end Development, Twitter
• Pilar Manchón – Director of Cognitive Interfaces, Amazon
• Jessica J. Márquez – Research Engineer, Human System Integration Division, NASA Ames Research Center
• André Natal – Senior Speech Engineer, Mozilla
• Charlie Ortiz – Director of the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing Nuance
• Carolina Parada – Principal Deep Learning Engineer, Nvidia
• Santiago Pina Ros – Software Engineer, WhatsApp
• Joaquin Quiñonero Candela – Director of Applied Machine Learning, Facebook
• Enrique Rodríguez – Executive Vice President & Chief Technical Officer, AT&T Entertainment Group
• Katia Vega – Assistant Professor of Design, University of California, Davis
• Alberto Villarreal – Creative Lead, Consumer Hardware, Google