Kaufmann received his master's degree in Neuroscience and Economics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, United States.

In 2012, while at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Zurich Kaufmann initiated and developed a humanoid robot called Roboy, with Rolf Pfeifer.

Kaufmann takes on a more skeptical view on the current state of AI, in particular about the analogy that the brain is comparable to a computer.

In 2017, Kaufmann initiated the non-profit Mindfire foundation dedicated to progressing AI openly, responsibly and ethically.

[6][7] Kaufmann ist president of the Swiss AI Award dedicated to promoting artificial intelligence.