Top AI & Emerging Tech Thought Leaders Global (2026)

Curated list of AI & emerging tech thought leaders, global, influential and frequently cited across research, industry, and public discourse. Profiles include bios and contact details. Updated weekly.

80 Influencers found • Last updated 1 hours ago
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#1
Qiaoyin Yang avatar
Qiaoyin Yang
Washington, Seattle
Active in the past 20 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#2
Zane Motiwala avatar
Zane Motiwala
Active in the past 25 days
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AI & Data Lead
#3
Satoshi Sekine avatar
Satoshi Sekine
Active in the past 12 days
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Team Lead, Founder and CEO
#4
Ruben Mansilla avatar
Ruben Mansilla
Active in the past 6 days
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Chief Technology Officer
#5
Avinatan Hassidim avatar
Avinatan Hassidim
Active in the past 25 days
linkedin
VP Research
#6
Tomas Pfister avatar
Tomas Pfister
California, Sunnyvale
Active in the past 11 days
linkedin
Head of AI Research, Cloud
#7
Choong-Ki Kim avatar
Choong-Ki Kim
Active in the past 26 days
linkedin
Research Scientist, Research Professor
#8
Dong Huang avatar
Dong Huang
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Active in the past 17 days
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Co-Founder&Chief Scientist
#9
Jerry Tworek avatar
Jerry Tworek
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 20 days
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VP of Research
#10
Luoping Zhang avatar
Luoping Zhang
Beijing, Beijing
Active in the past 18 days
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CTO
#11
Jackwu Jackwu avatar
Jackwu Jackwu
Guangdong, Shenzhen
Active in the past 5 days
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CTO
#12
Bovivian Liu avatar
Bovivian Liu
Beijing, Beijing
Active in the past 27 days
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CEO Assitant
#13
Mir Safari avatar
Mir Safari
Active in the past 12 days
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Research Scientist
#14
Watwd avatar
Watwd
Active in the past 1 days
linkedin
CEO
#15
Shoaib Lari avatar
Shoaib Lari
California, Palo Alto
Active in the past 23 days
githublinkedin
CTO & Co-Founder
#16
Emil Vatai avatar
Emil Vatai
Tokyo, Tokyo
Active in the past 24 days
linkedin
Research Scientist
#17
Yannis Flet-Berliac avatar
Yannis Flet-Berliac
Active in the past 11 days
githublinkedin
Research Scientist
#18
Karis Wilson avatar
Karis Wilson
New York, New York
Active in the past 20 days
linkedin
Research Scientist
#19
Nirmal Merchant avatar
Nirmal Merchant
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 14 days
githublinkedin
Head of AI Solutons
#20
Junaid Ahmed avatar
Junaid Ahmed
Active in the past 10 days
linkedin
CEO
#21
David Perconte avatar
David Perconte
Active in the past 7 days
linkedin
Research Scientist
#22
Nick Ryder avatar
Nick Ryder
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 13 days
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Member of Technical Staff
#23
Rongxingjun Mu avatar
Rongxingjun Mu
Beijing, Beijing
Active in the past 28 days
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Chief Technology Officer
#24
Rongjunrui Mu avatar
Rongjunrui Mu
Beijing, Beijing
Active in the past 19 days
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CTO
#25
Julian Parker avatar
Julian Parker
England, London
Active in the past 23 days
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Research Scientist
#26
Farnam Jahanian avatar
Farnam Jahanian
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Active in the past 14 days
linkedin
Chief Executive Officer
#27
Aidan Gomez avatar
Aidan Gomez
Ontario, Toronto
Active in the past 19 days
linkedin
Giving Technology Language @ Cohere.
#28
Michael Zollhoefer avatar
Michael Zollhoefer
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Active in the past 21 days
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Director, Research Scientist
#29
Karandeep Anand avatar
Karandeep Anand
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 23 days
facebookgithublinkedintwitter
CEO
#30
Hanno Basse avatar
Hanno Basse
California, Los Angeles
Active in the past 28 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#31
Dario Amodei avatar
Dario Amodei
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 5 days
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CEO and Co-Founder
#32
Dhruba Borthakur avatar
Dhruba Borthakur
California, Los Altos
Active in the past 24 days
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Co-founder and CTO
#33
Saurabh Baji avatar
Saurabh Baji
Washington, Seattle
Active in the past 4 days
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CTO
#34
Byron Singh avatar
Byron Singh
California, Mountain View
Active in the past 4 days
linkedin
Co-founder CTO
#35
Richard Newcombe avatar
Richard Newcombe
Washington, Seattle
Active in the past 10 days
facebookgithublinkedin
VP, Research Science
#36
Koji Tsubouchi avatar
Koji Tsubouchi
Kanagawa, Yokohama
Active in the past 2 days
linkedin
Representative Director and CEO
#37
Leofer Knley avatar
Leofer Knley
Texas, Dallas
Active in the past 10 days
linkedin
Chief CEO
#38
Rolando Amaya avatar
Rolando Amaya
Active in the past 27 days
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Chief Technology Officer
#39
Ali Okyay avatar
Ali Okyay
California, Palo Alto
Active in the past 14 days
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Founder and CTO OkyayTech, Visiting Scholar
#40
Simon Mashala avatar
Simon Mashala
New York, New York
Active in the past 19 days
linkedin
Startup COO | Co-Founder | Research Scientist
#41
Kayla Ellingston avatar
Kayla Ellingston
Arkansas, Little Rock
Active in the past 24 days
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Head of Artificial Intelligence
#42
Mohammadhosein G avatar
Mohammadhosein G
Active in the past 12 days
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Head of Artificial Intelligence
#43
Prashant Kumar avatar
Prashant Kumar
Active in the past 12 days
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Research Scientist
#44
Async Await avatar
Async Await
Arizona, Chandler
Active in the past 4 days
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CTO
#45
Issey Sukeda avatar
Issey Sukeda
Tokyo, Tokyo
Active in the past 1 days
linkedin
Applied Mathematics / CTO & Co-Founder
#46
Umberto Rossi avatar
Umberto Rossi
England, London
Active in the past 2 days
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Chief Technology Officer
#47
Jinhyeok Lee avatar
Jinhyeok Lee
Illinois, Chicago
Active in the past 5 days
linkedin
System Administrator Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder
#48
Low Wee avatar
Low Wee
Singapore
Active in the past 18 days
githublinkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#49
Nora Mohamed avatar
Nora Mohamed
Ontario, Guelph
Active in the past 2 days
linkedin
Chief Executive Officer
#50
Barracuda Coin avatar
Barracuda Coin
Masovian Voivodeship, Warsaw
Active in the past 26 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#51
Vikram Voleti avatar
Vikram Voleti
Ontario, Kitchener
Active in the past 9 days
linkedin
Research Scientist
#52
Gavin Luke avatar
Gavin Luke
Singapore
Active in the past 20 days
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Chief Technology Officer
#53
Antonio Vr avatar
Antonio Vr
Veracruz, Heroica Veracruz
Active in the past 26 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#54
Daniel Kiecza avatar
Daniel Kiecza
Massachusetts, Boston
Active in the past 9 days
linkedin
CTO
#55
Christoph Tavan avatar
Christoph Tavan
Baden-Wuerttemberg, Freiburg
Active in the past 17 days
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Engineering Manager, Founder, CTO
#56
Bryan Veloso avatar
Bryan Veloso
Metro Manila, Taguig
Active in the past 8 days
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Chief Technical Officer
#57
Gabriella Ip avatar
Gabriella Ip
California, Sunnyvale
Active in the past 13 days
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Co-Founder & CTO of Setting The Change
#58
Matthew White avatar
Matthew White
Active in the past 28 days
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Head of AI Research
#59
Stuart Little avatar
Stuart Little
Active in the past 24 days
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Chief Scientific Officer
#60
Frida Kahlo avatar
Frida Kahlo
Florida, Deerfield Beach
Active in the past 25 days
linkedin
CEO
#61
Prem Akkaraju avatar
Prem Akkaraju
California, Los Angeles
Active in the past 1 days
facebooklinkedintwitter
Chief Executive Officer
#62
Anthony Jules avatar
Anthony Jules
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 2 days
githublinkedin
Co-founder and CEO
#63
Rodney Brooks avatar
Rodney Brooks
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 8 days
linkedin
CTO & Founder
#64
Andrew Bosworth avatar
Andrew Bosworth
California, Palo Alto
Active in the past 29 days
facebookgithublinkedintwitter
Chief Technology Officer
#65
Seraphina Goldfarb-Tarrant avatar
Seraphina Goldfarb-Tarrant
Scotland, Edinburgh
Active in the past 23 days
linkedin
Head of AI Safety
#66
Kathryn Glickman avatar
Kathryn Glickman
California, San Francisco
Active in the past 21 days
linkedin
Director, CEO Communications
#67
Muhammad Sinaga avatar
Muhammad Sinaga
Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Jakarta
Active in the past 8 days
linkedin
Head of AI (Indonesia)
#68
Phil Blunsom avatar
Phil Blunsom
England, Oxford
Active in the past 20 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#69
Kazuki Iimura avatar
Kazuki Iimura
Tokyo, Tokyo
Active in the past 13 days
linkedin
Founder & CEO
#70
Jason Fang avatar
Jason Fang
Washington, Seattle
Active in the past 4 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#71
Sophia Williams avatar
Sophia Williams
Active in the past 26 days
linkedin
Head of Artificial Intelligence
#72
Leonel Prado avatar
Leonel Prado
North Carolina, Charlotte
Active in the past 26 days
linkedin
Group CEO
#73
Benjamin M. avatar
Benjamin M.
Active in the past 16 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#74
Declan Murray avatar
Declan Murray
Illinois, Glenview
Active in the past 20 days
linkedin
Founder and CEO
#75
Dmitriy Marenich avatar
Dmitriy Marenich
Dubai, Dubai
Active in the past 11 days
linkedin
Chief Technology Officer
#76
Sasmika Deshan avatar
Sasmika Deshan
Active in the past 14 days
linkedin
Chief Executive Officer
#77
Hashimita Sanyal avatar
Hashimita Sanyal
Hyogo Prefecture, Kobe
Active in the past 3 days
linkedin
Research Scientist
#78
Won-Ho Choi avatar
Won-Ho Choi
Active in the past 9 days
linkedin
CEO
#79
Linda Mills avatar
Linda Mills
New York, New York
Active in the past 5 days
linkedin
Chief Executive Officer
#80
Zephram Harmonia Eternum avatar
Zephram Harmonia Eternum
Santiago Metropolitan Region, Santiago
Active in the past 20 days
linkedin
Head of Artificial Intelligence

Frequently Asked Questions

Get answers to common questions about the listing

What types of thought leaders are included in this list?

This list focuses on individuals in artificial intelligence and adjacent emerging technologies who shape long-term thinking across research, industry, and public discourse. Included profiles demonstrate intellectual authority through published work, frequent citations, keynote talks, or widely shared insights.

How is this list different from broad influencer directories?

Unlike broad influencer or researcher directories, this selection prioritizes sustained intellectual influence evidenced by citations, peer-reviewed publications, and lasting public visibility. Profiles were curated to reflect cross-sector impact rather than short-term social media reach.

Who should use this list to inform long-term strategy?

This list is aimed at research leads, corporate strategists, policy makers, and journalists seeking authoritative voices in AI and emerging tech for long-term guidance. It helps stakeholders identify individuals whose ideas are repeatedly referenced across academia, industry, and public debate.

What specific criteria were used to select these thought leaders?

Selections were filtered by domain focus (AI and emerging technologies), evidence of intellectual authority (publications and citation counts), public outputs (talks, op-eds, widely shared analyses), and demonstrated cross-sector influence. Preference was given to individuals with sustained visibility and recurring references over time.

Are these thought leaders concentrated in particular regions or markets?

The list has a global scope but includes regional metadata where available to support targeted outreach and research. Distribution varies by subfield—certain research hubs and tech ecosystems host higher concentrations of influencers in specific specialties.

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