Introdcution
There's a lot of noise in “Top AI influencers” land. Some folks are shipping code at 2 a.m.; some are summarizing research so you don't have to; some are just… loud. I'm collecting the signal—people who consistently teach, build, challenge, or inspire. Different flavors, same rule: if I don't learn from them in a week, they're not here.
You'll see a mix: researchers, founders, explainers, curators, educators, testers. If your goal is to learn enough to apply AI at work (or just to stop doom-scrolling and start doing), this directory will save you a lot of “who should I follow?” DMs.
Small warning: I don't worship follower counts. They help, sure. But consistency >
clout.
How I Picked (so you can argue with me later)
What counts as “influence” here?
- Usefulness: Did their last 10 posts help someone do something?
- Credibility: Are they building, publishing, or teaching—not just reacting?
- Breadth vs. depth: Some are broad explainers. Others are niche snipers (agents, safety, video gen, MLOps).
- Cadence: Weekly or better. If they vanish for months, they slide down.
- Platform fit: Not everyone shines on every network. That's fine. I'll tell you where they're actually good.
Followability Score (1-5): quick, opinionated gut-check on how easy it is to get value from them week to week. It's subjective. It'll change. That's healthy.
Quick Index
- Top 70+ AI Influencers Master Table
- AI Influencers by Category
- AI Influencers by Platform
- Leading Women Influencers in AI
- Rising Female Voices in AI to Watch
- How to Follow & Engage with AI Influencers
- Conclusion
- FAQ - Top AI Influencers 2025
Each person has: Who they are • Best platform(s) • Why follow now • Followability.
Top 70+ AI Influencers Master Table
| S.No. | Influencer | Category | Best Platforms | Role & Expertise | Followability | Notable Contribution |
| 1. | Demis Hassabis | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X, Interviews | Co-Founder & CEO of Google DeepMind; CEO of Isomorphic Labs; AI breakthroughs in AGI, games, and science | 5/5 | Led AlphaGo (first AI to beat Go world champion) and AlphaFold (solved 50-year protein structure challenge, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024) |
| 2. | Yann LeCun | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X, LinkedIn | Professor at NYU; Chief AI Scientist at Meta; ACM Turing Award Laureate; veteran in AI, deep learning, computer | 5/5 | Pioneered convolutional neural networks; champion of open science in AI |
| 3. | Ethan Mollick | Research & Education | Substack, X, LinkedIn | Wharton professor; AI in work & learning | 5/5 | “One Useful Thing” newsletter |
| 4. | Allie K. Miller | AI for Business & Product | LinkedIn, YouTube | AI business strategist; most followed AI business voice; former AWS Global Head of ML for Startups & VC | 5/5 | Advised top global companies on AI adoption; built multimodal AI team at IBM; 2M+ social followers |
| 5. | Geoffrey Hinton | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X, Talks | Deep learning pioneer; cognitive psychologist | 5/5 | Turing Award laureate; foundational work in neural networks |
| 6. | Allie Miller | AI for Business & Product | LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube | AI strategist; most followed AI business voice; former AWS Global Head of ML | 5/5 | Advises top companies; built multimodal AI team at IBM |
| 7. | François Chollet | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, GitHub | Deep learning researcher at Google; creator of Keras; AI author | 4.9/5 | Created Keras framework; author of Deep Learning with Python |
| 8. | Oriol Vinyals | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X, Talks | VP of Research at Google DeepMind; deep learning lead; Gemini co-lead | 4.9/5 | Key contributor to AlphaStar, AlphaFold, AlphaCode, WaveNet, seq2seq |
| 9. | Jensen Huang | Generative AI Thought Leaders | LinkedIn, X | Co-founder & CEO of NVIDIA; AI hardware visionary | 4.9/5 | Made NVIDIA GPUs the backbone of AI computing; led company past $4T valuation |
| 10. | Andrej Karpathy | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X, YouTube | Founder, Eureka Labs AI; ex-Director of AI at Tesla; founding team at OpenAI; deep learning educator | 4.8/5 | Created Stanford's CS231n course; advanced large-scale neural network training |
| 11. | Andrew Ng | AI for Business & Education | LinkedIn, Courses | Co-founder of Coursera, DeepLearning.AI | 4.8/5 | Made AI literacy accessible to millions |
| 12. | Soumith Chintala | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, LinkedIN, Talks | Co-founder & lead of PyTorch at Meta; robotics researcher at NYU; open-source AI advocate | 4.8/5 | Built PyTorch into one of the most widely used deep learning frameworks |
| 13. | Jay Alammar | Technical Builders & Open-Source | Blog | Visual explainer of AI models | 4.8/5 | “Illustrated Transformer” |
| 14. | Jim Fan | Agents & Search | X, Linkedin | NVIDIA robotics/agents researcher | 4.8/5 | Insights on embodied AI |
| 15. | Ian Goodfellow | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, Talks | Research scientist at DeepMind; inventor of GANs | 4.8/5 | Created Generative Adversarial Networks; AI research leader |
| 16. | Timnit Gebru | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Talks, X, Linkedin | Founder & Executive Director, DAIR; co-founder of Black in AI; former Google Ethical AI co-lead | 4.8/5 | Co-authored “Stochastic Parrots” paper; leading voice on AI ethics, bias, and accountability; TIME 100 honoree |
| 17. | Rowan Cheung | AI for Business & Product | Newsletter, X | Founder, The Rundown AI & AI University; top AI educator on X; AI news and education leader | 4.8/5 | Built the world's largest daily AI newsletter (1.5M+ readers); partnered with leading AI companies for major launches |
| 18. | Soumith Chintala | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, GitHub | Co-founder & lead of PyTorch at Meta; robotics researcher at NYU | 4.8/5 | Built PyTorch into one of the world's most used deep learning frameworks |
| 19. | Fei-Fei Li | Generative AI Thought Leaders | Talks, X, LinkedIn | Stanford CS Professor; Co-Director, Stanford HAI; Co-founder, The World Labs; AI, computer vision, healthcare | 4.7/5 | Built ImageNet, transformed computer vision research |
| 20. | Louis Bouchard | Research & Education | YouTube | Founder, Towards AI; AI educator on YouTube, newsletter, and podcast | 4.7/5 | Demystifies AI research and applications weekly for a broad audience |
| 21. | Károly Zsolnai-Fehér | Research & Education | YouTube | Two Minute Papers host | 4.7/5 | Short, engaging AI research explainers |
| 22. | Kirk Borne | AI for Business & Product | X, Talks | Founder @LeadershipData; data science & AI advisor; PhD in astrophysics | 4.7/5 | Global speaker and top influencer in AI, big data, and IoT |
| 23. | Refik Anadol | AI for Creatives | Instagram, Exhibitions | AI artist; data sculptures | 4.7/5 | MoMA/Guggenheim installations |
| 24. | Erik Brynjolfsson | AI for Business & Product | X, Talks | Director, Digital Economy Lab at Stanford; leading researcher on AI's impact on economy | 4.7/5 | Influential in shaping global understanding of AI-driven economic change |
| 25. | Emily M. Bender | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Essays, Interviews | Professor of Linguistics, University of Washington; computational linguistics & NLP expert | 4.7/5 | Co-authored “Stochastic Parrots” paper; leading critic of large language model ethics and bias |
| 26. | Bernard Marr | AI for Business & Product | X, Talks | International bestselling author; futurist; business and tech advisor | 4.7/5 | Author of multiple AI and tech books; keynote speaker on future trends |
| 27. | Kate Crawford | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | Senior researcher at MSR-NYC; AI politics and power scholar | 4.7/5 | Author of Atlas of AI; TIME100 AI honoree |
| 28. | Kate Darling | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | Robotics ethics researcher at MIT Media Lab & Boston Dynamics AI Institute | 4.7/5 | Author of The New Breed; thought leader on human-robot interaction |
| 29. | John C. Havens | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Talks, LinkedIn | Exec. Dir., IEEE AI Ethics Initiative | 4.7/5 | Led creation of global AI ethics standards adopted by UN & OECD |
| 30. | Harrison Chase | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, GitHub | CEO, LangChain; LLM application tooling | 4.6/5 | Created leading framework for LLM apps |
| 31. | Chip Huyen | Technical Builders & Open-Source | Blog, LinkedIn | Co-founder, Claypot AI; bestselling AI author; Stanford ML educator | 4.6/5 | Wrote Designing Machine Learning Systems and AI Engineering; advanced practical MLOps education |
| 32. | Cassie Kozyrkov | AI for Business & Product | LinkedIn, Talks | CEO, Data Scientific; founder of Decision Intelligence; former Google Chief Decision Scientist | 4.6/5 | Trained 20K+ Googlers in AI & decision-making; widely recognized AI educator and LinkedIn Top Voice |
| 33. | Rumman Chowdhury | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Talks, X | Founder, Humane Intelligence | 4.6/5 | AI governance & safety testing |
| 34. | Sara Hooker | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Papers, Updates | VP of Research & Head of Cohere Labs; former Google Brain research scientist | 4.6/5 | Led breakthroughs in efficient LLMs; TIME Most Influential People in AI honoree |
| 35. | Abeba Birhane | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Talks, Research | AI Accountability Lab lead | 4.6/5 | Dataset accountability work |
| 36. | Cristóbal Valenzuela | AI for Creatives | X, Product Updates | CEO, Runway; gen-video pioneer | 4.6/5 | Brought AI video to film workflows |
| 37. | Aravind Srinivas | Agents & Search | X, Linkedin, Interviews | CEO, Perplexity AI | 4.6/5 | Agentic search innovations |
| 38. | Sean Gardner | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | Board member @FreeNPTech; AI ethics & AI law advocate; tech industry alum (Apple, Microsoft) | 4.6/5 | Global AI ethics voice with focus on law, LLMs, and responsible innovation |
| 39. | Ronald van Loon | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | AI-driven business strategist; top 10 global AI influencer | 4.6/5 | Helps enterprises generate value from AI, big data, and cloud |
| 40. | Sally Eaves | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | CEO & CTO advisor; advocate for tech for good, AI ethics, and ESG | 4.6/5 | Global thought leader in AI, sustainability, and inclusive innovation |
| 41. | Gary Marcus | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | AI entrepreneur, author, and critic of deep learning hype | 4.6/5 | Founded two AI companies; author of six books; leading voice on AI's limitations |
| 42. | Karen Hao | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Linkedin, Journalism | AI reporter; National Magazine Award winner | 4.6/5 | Known for deep investigative reporting on AI's societal impact |
| 43. | Monica Rogati | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, Talks | Data science and AI advisor; former VP of Data @Jawbone | 4.6/5 | Fractional CDO and equity partner at DCVC; influential in applied AI |
| 44. | Nathan Benaich | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X, Talks | Investor at Air Street Capital; AI industry analyst | 4.6/5 | Publishes influential State of AI report |
| 45 | Dr. Angelica Lim | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | Professor at Simon Fraser University; robotics & AI emotions researcher | 4.6/5 | Worked on human-robot interaction at SoftBank Robotics |
| 46 | Katie King | AI for Marketing & CX | LinkedIn, Talks | CEO of AI in Business; author on AI in sales/marketing | 4.6/5 | Advised O2, Harrods, Accenture; bestselling AI strategy books |
| 47. | Andrew Bolis | AI & Marketing Growth | LinkedIn, Instagram | AI & marketing consultant; influencer with 700+ brand collabs | 4.6/5 | Former CMO; drives AI/business growth content |
| 48. | Dario Amodei | Generative AI Thought Leaders | Talks, X, YouTube | CEO, Anthropic; AI safety & policy | 4.5/5 | Co-created Claude AI models |
| 49. | Sentdex (Harrison Kinsley) | Research & Education | YouTube | Python + ML educator, Founder, Towards AI; AI educator on YouTube, newsletter, and podcast | 4.5/5 | Demystifies AI research and applications weekly for a broad audience |
| 50. | Margaret Mitchell | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | Talks, Essays | Co-founded Google Ethical AI | 4.5/5 | Model reporting & fairness frameworks |
| 51. | Demi Guo & Chenlin Meng | AI for Creatives | X, Demos | Co-founders, Pika | 4.5/5 | Text-to-video innovation |
| 52. | Santiago Valdarrama | Rising Voices | X, YouTube | Practical ML tutorials | 4.5/5 | Hands-on AI builds |
| 53. | Antonio Grasso | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | Global B2B tech influencer; sustainability advocate | 4.5/5 | Leading voice on AI, digital transformation, and sustainability |
| 54. | Tamara McCleary | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | CEO @ThuliumCo; researcher on human purpose in AI-driven world | 4.5/5 | Thought leader in AI ethics, innovation, and future tech trends |
| 55. | Vincent Boucher | Generative AI Thought Leaders | X | President, Montreal.AI; AGI researcher | 4.5/5 | Prominent voice in AGI discourse; advocates for responsible development |
| 56. | Fabio Moioli | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | Consultant at Spencer Stuart; former tech exec at Microsoft, McKinsey, Capgemini | 4.5/5 | Advisor on AI strategy and human-machine collaboration |
| 57. | Rob Lennon | AI for Business & Product | X, Linkedin, Courses | AI educator and content strategist for entrepreneurs | 4.5/5 | Published 47+ books; teaches AI frameworks for business and side hustles |
| 58. | Randy Olson | Research & Education | X, Talks | Data science and ML researcher; community leader @DataIsBeautiful | 4.5/5 | Known for data visualization expertise and AI research communication |
| 59. | Nicolas Babin | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | Author, consultant, and keynote speaker on AI and digital transformation | 4.5/5 | Advocates for AI, gamification, and sustainability |
| 60. | Helen Yu | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | Digital transformation strategist; CX and growth advisor | 4.5/5 | Bridges tech and humanity in AI, fintech, and cybersecurity |
| 61. | Satya Mallick | Technical Builders & Open-Source | X, Linkedin, Courses | CEO of LearnOpenCV; computer vision educator | 4.5/5 | Created widely used computer vision tutorials and courses |
| 62. | Inma Martinez | AI Ethics, Policy & Safety | X, Talks | AI governance leader; chair of EU AI expert group | 4.5/5 | Influences AI policy and multi-stakeholder strategy |
| 63. | Lex Fridman | Research & Education | Podcast | Interviews with AI leaders | 4.4/5 | Long-form AI thought leader convos |
| 64. | Varun Mayya | Rising Voices | X, YouTube | AI entrepreneur; content creator; building tools, games, and experiments for post-AGI world | 4.4/5 | Engages audiences with creative AI projects and experiments |
| 65. | Chris Messina | AI for Business & Product | X, Talks | Tech innovator; creator of the hashtag | 4.4/5 | Pioneered social media hashtag; active in AI and digital product strategy |
| 66. | Hassan Rashidi | AI for Business & Product | X, Talks | Engineer, keynote speaker, and product development advisor | 4.4/5 | Shares insights on manufacturing, innovation, and entrepreneurship |
| 67. | Giuliano Liguori | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | CEO of Kenovy; AI and digital transformation advisor | 4.4/5 | Provides daily insights on AI innovation and strategy |
| 68. | Sarah Burnett | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | Tech evangelist and author; board advisor | 4.4/5 | Focuses on AI, automation, and digital transformation |
| 69. | Kathleen Walch | AI for Business & Product | X, Linkedin, Podcasts | Managing Partner at Cognilytica; host of AI Today | 4.4/5 | Educates businesses through AI-focused podcasts and research |
| 70. | The SamurAI | AI Tools & Productivity | X (Twitter) | AI content strategist; prompt & tools educator | 4.4/5 | Guides audiences on leveraging AI prompts for productivity |
| 71. | Isabella Bedoya | AI Community & Tools | LinkedIn, Instagram | Founder of AI Billionaire Labs; AI tools & content creation educator | 4.4/5 | Built AI Trendz Directory with 3,600+ tools and learning resources |
| 72. | Colin Gallagher | AI Marketing & Lead Gen | LinkedIn lead generation specialist for AI businesses | 4.4/5 | Helps businesses book 3-5 sales calls weekly via LinkedIn | |
| 73. | Wilhelm Bielert | AI for Business & Product | X | Chief Digital Officer; shares insights on IIoT, AI, and digital innovation | 4.3/5 | Known for curating industry news and thought leadership |
| 74. | Ian Barkin | AI for Business & Product | X, LinkedIn | Entrepreneur, investor, and AI storyteller | 4.3/5 | Advisor on AI adoption and innovation strategy |
| 75. | AI Trendz (aitrendz_xyz) | AI Tools & Education | X (Twitter), Website | AI tools directory & academy | 4.3/5 | Curated one of the largest AI tools/news/resource hubs |
AI Influencers/Leaders by Category
Generative AI Thought Leaders
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Sam Altman | Co-founder & CEO of OpenAI; driving force behind ChatGPT | Combines vision, policy advocacy, and behind-the-scenes AI developments | X, Blog |
| Jensen Huang | Co-founder & CEO of NVIDIA; AI hardware architect | Shares market-shaping insights on AI infrastructure and future computing | LinkedIn, X |
| Geoffrey Hinton | Nobel-winning pioneer of deep learning | Learn from the “Godfather of AI” on AI risks, neural networks, and research | X |
| Fei-Fei Li | Stanford AI professor; founder of ImageNet | Advocates for human-centered AI and research education | LinkedIn, X |
| Dario Amodei | Co-founder & CEO of Anthropic | Deep, balanced commentary on AI's potential and risks | X, Podcasts |
| Yann LeCun | Chief AI Scientist at Meta; CNNs pioneer | Candid takes on AI myths, future architectures, and ML research | X, LinkedIn |
| Demis Hassabis | Co-founder & CEO of Google DeepMind | AGI vision, AlphaFold breakthroughs, and AI science innovation | LinkedIn, X |
| Andrew Ng | Co-founder of Coursera, DeepLearning.AI | Practical AI education, startup insights, and global AI literacy | LinkedIn, X |
| Andrej Karpathy | AI researcher, ex-Tesla & OpenAI | Hands-on AI tutorials, technical deep dives, and open-source work | X, YouTube |
| Emad Mostaque | Founder of Stability AI | Open-source AI advocate; updates on generative AI tools and ecosystem | X |
| Mustafa Suleyman | CEO, Microsoft AI | Policy-aware AI entrepreneurship and product vision | LinkedIn, X |
Technical Builders & Open-Source
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Andrej Karpathy | Founding member OpenAI; ex-Tesla AI lead; founder Eureka Labs | Clear, hands-on AI education and deep technical breakdowns | X, YouTube |
| Jeremy Howard | Co-founder of Fast.ai; former Kaggle president | Makes cutting-edge AI accessible through open courses & research | X, fast.ai forums |
| Soumith Chintala | Co-creator of PyTorch at Meta AI | Insights on PyTorch development, open-source AI ecosystem | X, GitHub |
| Sebastian Raschka | Author of “Machine Learning with PyTorch & Scikit-Learn” | Practical ML code, research summaries, and reproducible tutorials | X, GitHub |
| Chris Lattner | Creator of Swift & LLVM; co-founder Modular AI | Deep dives on AI infrastructure, compilers, and ML tooling | X, LinkedIn |
| Harrison Chase | Co-founder & CEO of LangChain | Updates & examples on AI agent frameworks and retrieval-augmented generation | X, GitHub |
| François Chollet | Creator of Keras; Google DeepMind research scientist | Thoughtful commentary on AI alignment, reasoning, and tooling | X, GitHub |
| Yohei Nakajima | Creator of BabyAGI | Experimentation with autonomous AI agents and open codebases | X, GitHub |
| Ethan Mollick | Wharton professor experimenting with AI in real work | Real-world use cases & frameworks for generative AI in daily workflows | X, Substack |
| Shawn Wang (swyx) | Latent Space podcast host; AI dev advocate | Interviews & takes on AI dev tooling and ecosystem trends | X, Podcast |
| Sara Hooker | Head of Cohere Labs; ex-Google Brain | Breakthrough research on efficient LLMs and open research culture | X, Personal site |
Research & Education
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Geoffrey Hinton | Nobel laureate; “Godfather of AI”; pioneer of neural networks | Insightful commentary on AI's risks, future, and societal impact | X, InterviewsX, Interviews |
| Yann LeCun | Chief AI Scientist at Meta; deep learning pioneer | Technical perspectives on ML, computer vision, and AI reasoning | X, LinkedIn |
| Fei-Fei Li | Stanford professor; co-director HAI; creator of ImageNet | Human-centered AI research and ethical computer vision | X, LinkedIn |
| Andrew Ng | Co-founder of Coursera & DeepLearning.AI | Accessible AI/ML courses and frameworks for learners | LinkedIn, X |
| Demis Hassabis | CEO & co-founder DeepMind; Nobel laureate in Chemistry | Insights into AGI, protein folding, and science with AI | X, LinkedIn |
| Daphne Koller | Co-founder Coursera; CEO of Insitro | AI + biology intersections and entrepreneurship in research | LinkedIn, X |
| Pattie Maes | MIT Media Lab professor; AR & cognitive enhancement pioneer | Visionary takes on AI for human augmentation and creativity | X, MIT site |
| Ian Goodfellow | Inventor of GANs; DeepMind scientist | Generative modeling and robust ML research | X, Research papers |
| Sergey Levine | UC Berkeley professor; robotics and reinforcement learning | Leading-edge RL applications for embodied AI | X, Berkeley AI Lab |
| Monica Rogati | AI & data science advisor; ex-LinkedIn, Jawbone | Practical guidance on applied AI research and data strategy | X |
| Kate Darling | Robotics ethics & policy researcher at MIT | Human-robot interaction and AI ethics in robotics | X, LinkedIn |
| Sebastian Thrun | Founder of Udacity, ex-Google X | Autonomous systems, self-driving cars, and AI education | LinkedIn, X |
AI for Business & Product
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Sam Altman | Co-founder & CEO of OpenAI | Industry-shaping views on AI's future, regulation, and product strategy | X, Blog |
| Katie King | CEO of AI in Business; author of “AI Strategy for Sales & Marketing” | Actionable AI marketing frameworks for executives | LinkedIn, X |
| Jensen Huang | Co-founder & CEO of Nvidia | Visionary insights on AI hardware, enterprise adoption, and scaling | LinkedIn, Interviews |
| Andrew Bolis | AI & marketing consultant; ex-CMO | Growth tactics for AI-powered business and B2B marketing | LinkedIn, X |
| Helen Yu | CXO & growth strategist | AI, cybersecurity, and customer experience leadership tips | LinkedIn, X |
| Andrea Isoni | Founder of AI Technologies; author of “Machine Learning for the Web” | Commercialization of deep learning & AI governance | LinkedIn, Conferences |
| Orlando Machado | Former Chief Data Officer at LEGO | Data-driven product innovation & ethical AI implementation | LinkedIn, Talks |
| Ali Sufian | AI tools & automation expert | Practical automation strategies for small business & creators | X, Newsletter |
| Colin Gallagher | AI marketing strategist | LinkedIn-based sales & AI-powered demand generation | |
| Isabella Bedoya | Founder of AI Billionaire Labs | Monetization strategies for AI creators and entrepreneurs | LinkedIn, Community |
| Saidul | AI & no-code educator | How to use AI tools productively for solopreneurs | X, Newsletter |
If your focus leans more towards security and compliance, here's our 2025 guide to top cybersecurity influencers & experts who shape industry thinking.
AI Ethics, Policy & Safety
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Geoffrey Hinton | Cognitive psychologist & AI pioneer; Nobel Prize winner | Foundational neural network research; candid warnings about AI existential risks | X, Interviews |
| Dario Amodei | Co-founder & CEO of Anthropic | Balanced perspective on AI potential and labor disruption; ethical AI advocacy | Blog, Podcasts |
| Fei-Fei Li | Stanford Professor; Co-Director of Stanford HAI | Human-centered AI research & policy; diversity in tech leadership | LinkedIn, X |
| Kate Crawford | Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research | Critical analysis of AI's societal, political, and environmental impacts | LinkedIn, Talks |
| John C. Havens | Executive Director, IEEE AI Ethics Initiative | Global AI ethics standards & sustainable tech frameworks | LinkedIn, Conferences |
| Pattie Maes | MIT Media Lab Professor | Human augmentation & ethical cognitive tech design | Conferences, Talks |
| Karen Hao | AI journalist & contributing writer at The Atlantic | Investigative reporting on AI governance & ethics | X, Articles |
| Giuliano Liguori | CEO of Kenovy; digital transformation advisor | Daily insights on ethical AI and tech innovation | LinkedIn, X |
| Kathleen Walch | Managing Partner at Cognilytica; AI podcast host | Practical discussions on responsible AI adoption | LinkedIn, Podcast |
| Demis Hassabis | CEO of Google DeepMind | AGI research with focus on safety & scientific discovery | Interviews, X |
AI for Creatives
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Rob Lennon | AI storytelling & content strategist | Deep dives on using AI for content, copywriting & creative entrepreneurship | X, Newsletter |
| Chris Messina | Inventor of the hashtag; product & UX innovator | Shares AI + design thinking insights for social & brand creativity | X, LinkedIn |
| Karen X. Cheng | Creative director & viral video maker | Experiments with AI video, photography, and interactive media | Instagram, YouTube |
| Claire Silver | AI artist & NFT pioneer | Unique AI art concepts merging fine art & generative models | X, SuperRare |
| Hassan Rashidi | Product development & creative engineering | Turning AI concepts into tangible prototypes & inventions | X, LinkedIn |
| Victoria L. | AI storytelling & branding | Shows brands how to blend AI with authentic narratives | LinkedIn, Medium |
| Allie K. Miller | AI business & creative innovation | Combines AI market trends with creative industry applications | LinkedIn, X |
| Paul Trillo | Experimental filmmaker | Pushing boundaries of AI-generated video & storytelling | X, Vimeo |
| Saidul | AI & no-code educator | Creative use cases for AI tools in solopreneur content creation | X, Newsletter |
| Isabella Bedoya | AI community builder | Teaching creative entrepreneurs to monetize AI-powered work | LinkedIn, Community |
Agents & Search
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Sébastien Bubeck | Work on AI at OpenAI, Former Microsoft Research scientist | Cutting-edge work on AI agents, reasoning, and mathematical problem-solving | YouTube, X |
| Harrison Chase | Co-founder & CEO of LangChain | Leader in AI agent frameworks & retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) | GitHub, X |
| Jerry Liu | Co-founder of LlamaIndex | Practical insights on AI knowledge graphs & document search | GitHub, LinkedIn |
| Simon Willison | Creator of Datasette; AI tools blogger | Sharp, real-world testing & commentary on AI agents | Blog, X |
| Yohei Nakajima | Creator of BabyAGI | Experimental & open-source autonomous agent projects | GitHub, X |
| Edo Liberty | Founder & CEO of Pinecone | Best practices for vector databases & semantic search at scale | LinkedIn, X |
| Aravind Srinivas | Co-founder & CEO of Perplexity AI | Insights on conversational search & retrieval-first LLMs | X, LinkedIn |
| Shawn Wang | AI developer advocate | Guides on building custom GPTs, AI workflows & agents | X, Newsletter |
| Jason Wei | AI researcher (OpenAI, Anthropic) | Research on reasoning agents & prompt engineering | X, Papers |
| Vikram Chatterji | Co-founder of Galileo AI | Applied ML for AI-powered search and analytics | LinkedIn, X |
Rising Voices
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Platforms |
| Adarsh Chetan | AI & Web3 content creator; DevRel advocate | Bridges AI with blockchain/Web3 for developers and innovators | X, LinkedIn |
| Saidul | AI & no-code educator | Beginner-friendly AI tutorials and productivity workflows | X, Newsletter |
| Ali Sufian | Automation & AI tools reviewer | Explains affordable automation for small creators & startups | X, Newsletter |
| Colin Gallagher | AI marketing strategist for SMBs | Delivers LinkedIn-based AI-powered lead generation tactics | |
| Isabella Bedoya | Founder, AI Billionaire Labs | Teaching AI creators how to monetize and build communities | LinkedIn, Community |
| The SamurAI | AI prompts & productivity coach | Bite-sized AI hacks for creators and solo founders | X |
| Claris Michael | Media & marketing innovator in MENA | Shares AI-driven branding strategies in emerging markets | |
| Lior Barak | AI product growth consultant | Insights on AI for product-led growth in SaaS startups | |
| Victoria L. | AI storytelling & brand strategist | Merges AI tools with creative brand storytelling | LinkedIn, Medium |
| Ritik Malhotra | Savywealth founder | Behind-the-scenes learnings from building AI SaaS products | X, LinkedIn |
| Eva Shang | AI law & governance researcher | Explains emerging AI policy and startup compliance strategies | LinkedIn, Podcasts |
AI Influencers by Platform
Best AI Influencers on LinkedIn
| Influencer | Niche / Expertise | Why Follow | Notable Content / Series |
| Andrew Ng | AI education, machine learning, democratizing AI | Clear, structured explanations & practical AI applications | DeepLearning.AI courses, weekly LinkedIn AI tips |
| Allie K. Miller | AI business, generative AI, career guidance | Industry insights + career-building tips for AI professionals | Speaking clips, AI strategy breakdowns |
| Yann LeCun | Deep learning, neural networks, AI breakthroughs | Leading voice on next-gen AI research & open-source ideas | Meta AI updates & debates on AI futures |
| Demis Hassabis | AGI, neuroscience-inspired AI, healthcare AI | Visionary perspective on cutting-edge AI research | Google DeepMind breakthroughs & interviews |
| Bernard Marr | AI strategy, big data, ethical AI | Business-focused AI frameworks & real-world use cases | LinkedIn articles, Forbes columns |
| Steve Nouri | AI trends, diversity in AI, ethical AI | Community-focused AI knowledge sharing | AI news recaps, emerging tech explainers |
| Pascal Bornet | Intelligent automation, digital & healthcare AI | Insightful breakdowns of AI for business efficiency | Book excerpts, transformation case studies |
| Gary Marcus | AI ethics, machine learning safety, cognitive science | Balanced view of AI hype vs. reality | AI critique articles, podcast interviews |
| Kate Strachnyi | Data visualization, analytics, AI storytelling | Makes complex data insights accessible & engaging | Data storytelling tutorials, #DATAcated videos |
| Cassie Kozyrkov | Decision intelligence, applied AI, responsible AI | Bridges data science with decision-making strategies | “Decision Intelligence” content series |
| Katie King | AI in marketing, sales & CX | Actionable AI strategies for executives & marketers | Insights from AI Strategy for Sales & Marketing |
| Helen Yu | Digital transformation & customer experience | Combines AI, cybersecurity, and growth strategy | Leadership lessons & boardroom strategies |
| Andrea Isoni | Deep learning & AI governance | Bridges research with real-world AI business cases | Conference talks & AI policy insights |
| Orlando Machado | Data ethics & analytics leadership | Enterprise AI implementation & privacy-by-design | Talks on ethical AI adoption |
| Colin Gallagher | AI marketing & B2B lead generation | LinkedIn-based AI-powered demand generation | Sales automation case studies |
| Fei-Fei Li | Human-centered AI research | Academic & policy insights for human-beneficial AI | Stanford HAI research updates |
| Sam Altman | AI product strategy & governance | Industry-shaping views on AI's future & regulation | OpenAI announcements & essays |
| Jensen Huang | AI hardware & enterprise scaling | Visionary commentary on AI's infrastructure | Nvidia GTC keynotes & media interviews |
Best AI Influencers on Twitter/X
| Influencer | Niche / Expertise | Why Follow | Followers |
| Allie K. Miller | AI business, generative AI, Fortune 500 advising | Industry-leading insights, AI guidebooks, and practical business AI strategies | 70K+ |
| Matt Shumer | AI startups, LLM applications, automation | Breakthroughs in AI assistants & automation from HyperWrite and OthersideAI | 90K+ |
| Logan Kilpatrick | AI product leadership (Google AI, OpenAI) | Insider perspective on the Gemini-ChatGPT race and dev relations | 200K+ |
| Fei-Fei Li | Human-centered AI, computer vision | Societal impact, diversity in AI, and next-gen spatial intelligence | 516K+ |
| Andrew Ng | AI education, ML, real-world AI | Accessible AI learning, data-centric AI, and implementation strategies | 1.2M+ |
| Jeremy Howard | AI education, open-source, fast.ai | Practical tutorials, open-source tools, and democratizing AI knowledge | 257K+ |
| Demis Hassabis | AGI, AI for science, protein folding | AlphaFold breakthroughs, AGI progress, and AI for scientific discovery | 480K+ |
| Yann LeCun | Deep learning, AI architecture | Bold views on next-gen AI, alternative approaches to human-level AI | 938K+ |
| Andrej Karpathy | AI education, computer vision, LLMs | Insightful breakdowns of AI concepts and product innovation | 1.3M+ |
| Gary Marcus | AI ethics, cognitive science | Critical perspective on AI hype and safety challenges | 188K+ |
| Steve Nouri | AI trends, ethical AI | Daily AI news, inspiring case studies, and accessible summaries | 14K+ |
| Pascal Bornet | Intelligent automation, AI for business | High-value visual explainers on AI adoption and transformation | 121K+ |
| Cassie Kozyrkov | Decision intelligence, responsible AI | Engaging, practical posts on data-driven decision-making | 45K+ |
| François Chollet | AI philosophy, Keras creator | Insightful critiques and discussions on AI's limits and potential | 566K+ |
| Geoffrey Hinton | Neural networks pioneer | Nobel Prize-winning research and reflections on AI's risks | 489K+ |
| Sam Altman | AI governance, product strategy | OpenAI CEO — shaping global AI regulation and direction | 3.9M+ |
Best AI Influencers on YouTube
| Influencer | Niche / Expertise | Why Follow |
| 3Blue1Brown (Grant Sanderson) | Math, ML, AI concepts | Stunning animated explanations of complex mathematics & ML |
| Two Minute Papers (Károly Zsolnai-Fehér) | AI research, computer graphics | Simplifies cutting-edge AI papers into short videos |
| Andrej Karpathy | AI education, deep learning | Deep technical tutorials from a leading AI researcher |
| ColdFusion (Dagogo Altraide) | Tech history, AI trends | High-quality storytelling on AI breakthroughs |
| Matt Wolfe | AI tools, automation | Practical guides for AI in business & content |
| AI Explained | AI safety, AGI | In-depth, balanced analysis of advanced AI |
| Code Bullet | AI experiments | Entertaining AI coding challenges |
| David Shapiro | AI agents, safety | Deep dives into autonomous agents |
| Computerphile | AI basics, CS | Clear videos explaining AI & CS concepts |
| Rob Miles | AI ethics, explainability | Fun, clear AI ethics content |
| AI Advantage | AI productivity | Tutorials on integrating AI into workflows |
| Brandon Rohrer | ML education | Visual explanations of AI topics |
| Sentdex (Harrison Kinsley) | Python, ML | Practical coding tutorials |
| Joma Tech | Data science, ML | Witty, educational tech & AI career content |
| CS Dojo | Python, web dev | Beginner-friendly AI & programming tutorials |
| Analytics Vidhya | Data science, ML | In-depth tutorials & AI project guides |
| Corey Schafer | Python, dev skills | Practical programming & ML tutorials |
| StatQuest (Josh Starmer) | Stats, ML | Clear, fun explanations of AI math |
| Alex The Analyst | Data analysis | Career tips & SQL/AI skills training |
| Brandon Foltz | Stats, ML, ops mgmt | Detailed lectures on AI-related topics |
| Harshit Vashisth | Python, web dev | Beginner coding & AI tutorials |
| Ken Jee | Data science, ML | Career advice & AI project insights |
| Data Science Dojo | AI, data science | Practical AI tutorials & talks |
| Abhishek Thakur | Data science, Kaggle | Practical ML & Kaggle competition tips |
| Lex Fridman | AI, robotics, philosophy | Deep interviews with AI pioneers |
Best AI Influencers on TikTok
| Influencer | Niche / Expertise | Why Follow |
| Jhon Bazan | AI & humanoid robotics | International speaker sharing AI & robotics innovations |
| Tommy Surya Teja | AI community building | Creator of AICO COMMUNITY, AI tools & trends |
| Gazi Jarin | AI coding & lifestyle | Mix of coding tutorials, AI projects, and personal insights |
| Riley Brown | AI education | Accessible AI learning for beginners & pros |
| Gan Yin Choong | AI marketing & productivity | Tips on AI tools to boost business productivity |
| Tony Aube | AI design | Insights from ex-Google AI designer |
| AI Century | AI news & highlights | Bite-sized AI updates and tool showcases |
| Harsha Tambareni | AI for business growth | Strategies to scale businesses with AI |
| Brand Nat | AI business automation | Teaching solo entrepreneurs AI-powered workflows |
| Kane Kallaway | AI trends & future tech | Tech + AI insights to stay ahead in the AI era |
| Jo Mendes | AI & creative tech | Tips on AI tools for creative professionals |
| Sinead Bovell | Futurism & AI policy | Commentary on tech's future & responsible AI |
| Justin Fineberg | AI in business | CEO of Cassidy.ai sharing AI-powered automation tips |
| Andy | AI agents & search tools | Demonstrates AI-powered custom agent building |
| Johanne | AI tools & education | Curates AI tool lists & learning resources |
| Gianluca Mauro | AI education & consulting | No-BS AI lessons from a decade of experience |
| Rachel Woods | AI-first business building | Insights on running AI-native companies |
| Madeline Salazar | AI + creative arts | Photoshop & AI-driven creative content |
| Chris Winfield | AI news in 90 seconds | Quick, daily AI insights |
| Fawzi Ammache | AI explained simply | Designer-engineer breaking down AI concepts |
| Victor Chirita | AI tutorials & updates | Practical AI tips and tool walkthroughs |
| Allie K. Miller | AI leadership & career | Former Amazon/IBM AI leader's business & career advice |
| Zita | AI monetization tips | How to build income streams with AI |
| Gregoire | AI photography & art | AI in travel, music, and visual creativity |
| Katrina Bahr | AI for entrepreneurs | Using AI to build digital businesses |
| Angelica Greenwood | AI automation in e-commerce | Print-on-demand & social media automation |
| Dylan Watkins | AI for entrepreneurs | AI automation & revenue generation apps |
| Rajiv Shah | Data science & AI humor | Simplifies data science with humor & clarity |
| John Soldatos | AI + IoT expertise | Veteran engineer in AI/IoT integration |
| Nicole Leffer | AI for B2B marketing | Teaches marketers how to use AI tools effectively |
| Azamat Galimzhanov | AI & neural networks | AI insights for Russian-speaking audiences |
| Le Ngoc Thach | AI education (Vietnam) | Data science career guidance & training |
| Dan Kauffman | AI automation | Tips for integrating AI into business operations |
| Alex Kantrowitz | AI & tech journalism | Insights from tech industry leaders |
| Hieu Ngo | NLP & AI | AI and NLP-focused educational content |
| Ahmed Aashowa | AI business building | Free courses on AI-powered online business |
| Mark Savant | AI news & strategy | AI updates and marketing tactics |
| Jean Lee | AI leadership & career | Founder sharing career growth in AI & tech |
Best AI Influencers on Instagram
| Influencer | Role & Expertise | Why Follow | Best Content Type |
| Dinis Guarda | Founder & CEO of Businessabc, AI Global Summit | Global perspective on AI, blockchain, and digital transformation | Thought leadership, industry updates |
| Varun Mayya | Founder of Aeos Group & Yaas Media | Latest trends in AI, tech entrepreneurship | Tech explainers, business insights |
| Tiffany Janzen | Tech consultant, host of Talk Tech with Tiff | Simple AI, robotics & coding explainers | Short-form videos, interviews |
| Chris Winfield | Founder of Understanding AI | AI strategy & media presence for businesses | Educational posts, motivational |
| Domenic Ashburn | Tech influencer | AI, gratitude, and lifestyle content | Tech lifestyle, personal branding |
| Sundas Khalid | Data scientist at Google | Data, AI, and career guidance | Data tips, career advice |
| Shira Rubinoff | Cybersecurity & AI thought leader | Trusted voice on AI, blockchain, and security | Speaking clips, expert takes |
| Nick Bondar | AI & freedom tech enthusiast | Personal take on AI tools & future of tech | AI tools demos, commentary |
| Trey Smith | CEO at Autofunnel | AI entrepreneurship & scaling businesses | Business growth content |
| Aniket Malik | Software developer | Daily tech & AI gadget updates | Product showcases, tutorials |
| Allie K. Miller | AI advisor, ex-Amazon & IBM | AI business strategy & industry trends | Practical AI tips |
| Ebere Oyekwe | AI & networking educator | Digestible AI & tech insights | Educational carousels |
| Linda Haviv | AI engineer, ex-AWS | AI & cloud explained in creative ways | Code tips, creative teaching |
| Phil Stringer | AI efficiency coach | Productivity with AI | Short motivational clips |
| Aishwarya Srinivasan | Global AI speaker, ex-Microsoft/Google | Career growth & AI learning | Keynote clips, tutorials |
| Kedasha Kerr | AI tools educator | How to use AI creatively | AI tips & hacks |
| Padebi Ojomo | Marketing & AI strategist | AI for content creation & lead generation | Content strategy tips |
| Sam Arami | Founder of The AI Clubhouse | AI entrepreneurship | Business insights |
| Ifiok Nkem | AIpreneur | Making money with AI | Monetization strategies |
| Ronald Van Loon | AI & big data influencer | Enterprise AI & analytics | Industry reports |
| Bernard Marr | Author, futurist | AI & business transformation | Thought leadership |
| Andy Pardoe | AI investor & advisor | AI investment trends | Investor insights |
| Carrie Soave | AI systems builder | AI for scaling businesses | Case studies |
| Rachel Woods | AI for agencies | Scaling B2B with AI | Agency growth tips |
| Ryan Baggott | Chatbot expert | Conversational AI | Chatbot demos |
| Tucker Ferwerda | AI business educator | AI for online courses | Business tutorials |
| Cassie Kozyrkov | Former Chief Decision Scientist at Google | Decision intelligence & applied AI | Strategic insights |
| Balogh Dávid | AI marketing expert | AI for marketing automation | Case studies |
| Reema Diab | AI ethics advocate | Responsible AI & entrepreneurship | Ethics insights |
| John Mendez | AI for real estate | Real estate productivity with AI | Industry-specific AI tips |
| Cynthia Respert | AI mobilization strategist | AI for innovators | Innovation strategies |
| Israa Lulu | AI & STEM educator | AI for education & robotics | EdTech demos |
| Audrey DeSisto | AI in marketing | SMB AI adoption | Marketing tutorials |
| Joanna Shields | AI policy leader | Governance & responsible AI | Policy discussions |
| Lillian Pierson | Data & AI growth strategist | Scaling AI startups | Growth strategies |
| Kate Crawford | AI researcher | AI ethics & societal impact | Academic insights |
| Diego Tapias | AI for sales | High-ticket sales with AI | Sales strategies |
Best AI Influencers on GitHub
| Influencer | Key Contributions / Expertise |
| Soumith Chintala | Co-founder and core maintainer of PyTorch; pivotal in modern deep learning frameworks, GAN research, and open-source ML tools. |
| François Chollet | Creator of Keras and Xception architecture; focuses on fast experimentation and AGI benchmarks. |
| Andrej Karpathy | Ex-Tesla AI director; created educational repos like char-rnn, minGPT, and contributed to ImageNet and OpenAI projects. |
| Thomas Wolf | Co-founder of Hugging Face; architect behind the Transformers library enabling state-of-the-art NLP. |
| Jeremy Howard | Co-founder of fast.ai; builds accessible deep learning courses, libraries, and advocates for democratizing AI. |
| Yann LeCun | Turing Award-winning AI pioneer; key contributor to convolutional neural networks and self-supervised learning. |
| Hugo Touvron | Researcher behind LLaMA models; focuses on large language model efficiency and scaling. |
| Ross Wightman | Creator of timm (PyTorch Image Models), a popular library for image classification and vision tasks. |
| Lucas Beyer | Contributor to Google Brain Vision projects including ViT (Vision Transformer). |
| Phil Wang | Known for re-implementing cutting-edge research papers in PyTorch; maintains 200+ open AI repos. |
| Ilia Karmanov | Works on scalable ML infrastructure and high-performance training systems. |
| Alec Radford | Core OpenAI researcher; co-authored GPT series and worked extensively on generative modeling. |
Best AI Influencers on Podcasts
| Influencer | Key Contributions / Expertise |
| Lex Fridman | Host of the Lex Fridman Podcast, interviewing top AI researchers and industry leaders. Known for deep, thoughtful discussions on AI, science, and ethics. |
| Sam Charrington | Creator of TWIML AI Podcast, simplifying complex ML topics. Interviews AI experts on applied AI in research and enterprise. |
| Noah Kravitz | Host of NVIDIA's AI Podcast, sharing stories of AI in real-world impact. Focuses on accessible storytelling for broad audiences. |
| Kathleen Walch | Co-host of AI Today Podcast, specializing in enterprise AI strategy. Covers adoption, challenges, and real-world use cases. |
| Ron Schmelzer | AI analyst and AI Today Podcast co-host. Expert in bridging AI hype with practical implementation strategies. |
| Daniel Faggella | Founder of Emerj AI Research and AI in Business Podcast. Focuses on AI's ROI, enterprise adoption, and future trends. |
| Tim Scarfe | Host of Machine Learning Street Talk, diving deep into AI research. Known for unscripted, technical, and philosophical discussions. |
| Nathan Labenz | Co-host of The Cognitive Revolution. Brings founder perspective on AI applications and startup adoption. |
| Erik Torenberg | Co-host of The Cognitive Revolution. Focuses on AI policy, entrepreneurship, and future tech opportunities. |
| Sarah Guo | Co-host of No Priors Podcast, sharing investor insights on AI startups. Expert in AI market trends and disruptions. |
| Gary Marcus | AI critic and cognitive scientist. Advocates for hybrid AI approaches and better AI safety. |
| Andrew Ng | AI pioneer, DeepLearning.AI founder, and global educator. Expert in AI for everyone and data-centric AI development. |
Best AI Influencers on Reddit
| Influencer | Key Contributions / Expertise |
| u/gwern | Independent researcher sharing deep AI experiments and essays. Known for long-form, critical AI analysis. |
| u/stealthispost | Moderator of r/accelerate, curating pro-AI content. Focuses on high-quality AI discussions. |
| u/thatguydr | Author of the “Super Harsh Guide to ML” on r/MachineLearning. Offers blunt, practical ML learning paths. |
| u/jeremie-harris | Co-host of Last Week in AI. Shares AI career guidance and industry insights on Reddit. |
| u/MetaKnowing | Active curator on AI subreddits. Posts timely AI news with clear context and explanations. |
| u/andreykurenkov | Editor at The Gradient and AI researcher. Shares detailed AI research and ethics discussions. |
| u/PeterMossack | Contributor to r/Artificial, highlighting AI breakthroughs. Focused on AI's role in science and innovation. |
| u/sqlinsix | Moderator of AI-focused subreddits. Encourages technical and engineering-oriented AI discussions. |
| Lead Mod, r/MachineLearning | Maintained post quality in the largest AI subreddit. Known for strict moderation of research-focused content. |
| u/tysam_and_co | Frequent technical contributor. Simplifies complex AI concepts for both beginners and experts. |
Leading Women Influencers in AI
| Influencer | Key Contributions / Expertise | Notable Role / Affiliation |
| Allie K. Miller | Builds AI-first strategies for brands; top LinkedIn voice on AI business leadership. | Former AWS AI lead; AI advisor & speaker |
| Cassie Kozyrkov | Makes decision science practical for enterprises; clear explainer of AI for decision-making. | CEO, Data Scientific; ex-Google Chief Decision Scientist |
| Clara Shih | Pioneered AI in CRM and productivity tools (Sales & Service GPT); voices AI governance. | CEO, Salesforce AI |
| Fei-Fei Li | Founded ImageNet; champions human-centric AI and inclusive education. | Professor at Stanford; Co-Director, Stanford HAI |
| Joy Buolamwini | Exposed bias in facial recognition through rigorous audits; leads fight for equitable AI. | Founder, Algorithmic Justice League |
| Kate Crawford | Highlights AI's political and ecological costs; author of Atlas of AI. | Senior Researcher, Microsoft; co-founder, AI Now Institute |
| Mira Murati | Architected breakthroughs like ChatGPT & DALL·E; vocal proponent of AI safety. | CTO, OpenAI |
| Noelle Russell | AI strategist and educator; fosters inclusive AI skill-building. | AI Solutions Lead, Accenture Federal |
| Rana el Kaliouby | Pioneered emotion-aware AI for empathetic technology; mindfulness focus. | Deputy CEO, Smart Eye; co-founder, Affectiva |
| Timnit Gebru | Catalyzed AI ethics movement; co-authored key research on language model bias. | Founder, DAIR Institute; co-founder, Black in AI |
| Meredith Whittaker | Advanced tech accountability through activism and policy interventions. | President, Signal Foundation; co-founder, AI Now |
| Rumman Chowdhury | Built tools for fairness in AI; bridges gaps between tech, policy, and accessibility. | Founder, Parity; ex-Twitter ML ethics lead |
| Emily M. Bender | Critiques LLM overreach; advocates for linguistic diversity and responsible NLP. | Linguistics Professor, UW |
| Anima Anandkumar | Innovated tensor-based ML algorithms; pushes AI at the intersection of research and real-world impact. | Director, ML Research NVIDIA; Caltech Professor |
| Daphne Koller | Revolutionized AI education with Coursera; now shaping biotech with AI. | CEO, insitro; co-founder, Coursera |
| Safiya Noble | Exposes search engine bias and digital inequality; voices for equitable AI. | Professor, UCLA; author of Algorithms of Oppression |
| Hilary Mason | Makes cutting-edge ML practical; early AI thought leadership figures. | GM, Machine Learning at Dataiku; founder, Fast Forward Labs |
| Claire Silver | Explores AI-driven art blending nature with generative tech. | AI artist; exhibited globally |
| Ayanna Howard | Advanced inclusive robotics; develops AI systems for children with special needs. | Dean of Engineering, Ohio State University |
| Cynthia Breazeal | Built pioneering social robots; explores AI-human interaction for daily life. | Professor, MIT Media Lab; co-founder of Jibo, Inc. |
Rising Female Voices in AI to Watch
| Influencer | Key Contributions / Expertise | Notable Role / Affiliation |
| Inioluwa Deborah Raji | Called out facial recognition bias, pushing tech firms toward accountability. | Researcher, UC Berkeley; Mozilla Fellow |
| Sasha Luccioni | Researches AI's environmental impact and promotes sustainability in AI. | Research Scientist, Hugging Face |
| Rachel Woods | Makes AI approachable for creators and entrepreneurs through practical content. | Founder, The AI Exchange |
| Nina Schick | Illuminates generative AI risks like deepfakes; advises policy and business leaders. | Founder, Tamang Ventures |
| Renée Cummings | Advances AI fairness and equity; shapes inclusive tech dialogues. | Professor & AI Ethics Advisor |
| Abeba Birhane | Audits AI datasets for social harms; pushes for accountability in scale. | AI Accountability Advisor, Mozilla |
| Irene Solaiman | First to test GPT biases in underrepresented languages; now shapes AI policy. | Chief Policy Officer, Hugging Face |
| Giada Pistilli | Leads AI ethics in generative models, focusing on user safety and moderation. | AI Ethicist, Hugging Face |
| Stella Biderman | Champions open-source LLMs; guides decentralized AI research. | Exec. Director, EleutherAI |
| Sara Hooker | Advocates efficient, equitable ML via neural pruning and resource-aware research. | Director of Research, Cohere Labs |
| Sharon Zhou | Teaches AI via accessible tools; democratized AI research for learners. | VP of AI, AMD |
| Melissa Heikkilä | Reports AI advancements and societal impacts for a mainstream audience. | Senior Reporter, MIT Tech Review |
| Amba Kak | Shapes AI policy dialogues around power, rights, and regulation. | Co-Exec Director, AI Now Institute |
| Daniela Amodei | Leads Anthropic's mission for safe, trustworthy AI development. | Co-Founder & President, Anthropic |
| Sofia Crespo | Creates AI-generated nature art highlighting biodiversity and poetic form. | Generative Artist |
How to Follow & Engage with AI Influencers
So you've uncovered a stellar list of AI influencers—but what's next? Here's how to get the most out of following them:
- Organize by Platform
- Twitter/X: Create a private “AI 2025” List to track thought leaders, researchers, and practitioners separately.
- LinkedIn: Use “Creator Mode” to follow influencers and get notified when they post — without clogging your feed.
- YouTube/Podcasts: Hit Subscribe and turn on notifications so you never miss a research breakdown or expert interview.
- Comment Thoughtfully
- Don't drop a generic “Great post.” Make one insightful, relevant comment—data point, question, or mini-experiment. You might spark a conversation or even get a reply.
- Tap Into Their Ecosystems
- Many influencers host newsletters, GitHub repos, Webinars, or Discords. Sign up. These communities often have AMAs, early insights, and networking opportunities.
- Engage Across Platforms
- Follow an influencer on multiple channels. A YouTube deep-dive becomes an X thread, which becomes a blog post, which then sparks a conversation in your Slack community. Cross-platform following paints a richer picture.
- Deep-Dive Occasionally, Don't Just Scroll
- Pick an influencer whose work really interests you—maybe someone like Fei-Fei Li or Noelle Russell—and binge their content. Watch 3-4 videos, read their latest blog post, or implement one of their GitHub projects. Trust me—it's more memorable and actionable than skimming.
Conclusion
So, here's where I leave you. You've now got a map—a pretty detailed one—of who's worth following in AI right now. But the real trick? Maps are useless if you never start walking.
Pick one person from the list. Follow them. Read one thing they've written or watch one video. Leave a thoughtful comment. Then see where it takes you. Maybe it leads to a tool you never knew existed. Maybe you end up chatting with someone halfway across the world about generative agents.
That's the beauty of this space—it's moving, it's weird, it's full of people who are just as curious as you are. And who knows? In a year, you might be the one people are adding to their “Top AI Influencers 2026” list.
FAQ - Top AI Influencers 2025
1. Who are the top AI influencers to follow in 2025?
Our comprehensive guide includes 70+ of the most impactful voices across leadership, creativity, ethics, research, platforms, and emerging talent.
2. Should I follow AI influencers on Twitter or LinkedIn?
Both. Twitter moves fast and is great for breaking AI news; LinkedIn is better for thoughtful long-form insight and career-focused content.
3. Which platform has the most valuable AI content?
It depends-
- YouTube/Podcasts: In-depth tutorials and conversations.
- GitHub: Open-source models and code you can fork or run.
- TikTok/Instagram: Quick explainers that are great for beginners.
4. How can I connect with an AI influencer?
Engage with their content, add value in comments, share thoughtful takeaways. If you see they're open for DMs or have a newsletter, that's your direct in. Respectful outreach wins.
5. How often should I check in with these influencers?
Try a “micro-check” once a week (skimming headlines or tweets), and a “deep-dive” once a month (attend a livestream, read their long-form piece, or try their tools)
6. Which women are leading in AI right now?
Check our “Leading Women Influencers in AI” and “Rising Female Voices” sections—both showcase influential women shaping AI across research, policy, products, and creative domains.