AI People: key figures in Artifiical Intelligence¶
This ranking is based on the overall impact of their work in the field of AI, considering factors like foundational contributions, widespread influence, and enduring legacy. The order is a general estimation and may vary based on different evaluation criteria.
| Rank | Name | Contribution/Significance | Active Decade(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alan Turing | Developed the concept of the Turing Test; pioneer in theoretical computer science | 1930s-1950s |
| 2 | John McCarthy | Coined the term "artificial intelligence"; developed Lisp programming language | 1950s-1980s |
| 3 | Marvin Minsky | Co-founded MIT's AI lab; contributions to AI and cognitive psychology | 1950s-2010s |
| 4 | Geoffrey Hinton | Key figure in the development of deep learning and neural networks | 1980s-Present |
| 5 | Herbert A. Simon | Developed the first AI program, Logic Theorist; studied human decision-making | 1950s-2000s |
| 6 | Yann LeCun | Contributions to neural networks and deep learning | 1980s-Present |
| 7 | Yoshua Bengio | Pioneering work in neural networks and deep learning | 1990s-Present |
| 8 | Ray Kurzweil | Futurist and author; predictions about AI and technological singularity | 1980s-Present |
| 9 | Demis Hassabis | Co-founder of DeepMind; advanced AI in problem-solving with projects like AlphaGo | 2010s-Present |
| 10 | Andrew Ng | Co-founder of Google Brain; contributions to machine learning and deep learning | 2000s-Present |
| 11 | Rodney Brooks | Pioneered behavior-based robotics | 1980s-2000s |
| 12 | Fei-Fei Li | Advanced the field of computer vision, particularly in image recognition | 2000s-Present |
| 13 | Stuart Russell | Co-author of "AI: A Modern Approach"; work on AI implications for humanity | 1990s-Present |
| 14 | Peter Norvig | Co-author of "AI: A Modern Approach"; significant figure in AI education | 1990s-Present |
| 15 | Donald Knuth | Author of "The Art of Computer Programming"; contributions to algorithms for AI | 1960s-Present |
| 16 | Nick Bostrom | Philosopher; work on existential risks associated with AI | 2000s-Present |
| 17 | Hans Moravec | Contributions to robotics and AI; formulated Moravec's paradox | 1980s-2000s |
| 18 | Sebastian Thrun | Work in robotics and AI, including founding Google's self-driving car project | 2000s-Present |
| 19 | Tim Berners-Lee | Inventor of the World Wide Web; implications for AI in data sharing and the internet | 1980s-Present |
| 20 | Richard Sutton | Key figure in reinforcement learning in AI | 1980s-Present |
| 21 | James Gosling | Father of Java programming language; influential in AI applications | 1980s-Present |
| 22 | Judea Pearl | Developed a theory of causal inference in AI and statistics | 1980s-Present |
| 23 | Luciano Floridi | Philosopher and ethicist; work on digital ethics and philosophy of information | 2000s-Present |
| 24 | Raj Reddy | Work in human-computer interaction and voice recognition technology | 1970s-Present |
| 25 | Gary Marcus | Critique of deep learning; advocacy for hybrid AI models | 2000s-Present |
| 26 | Tom Mitchell | Contributions to machine learning, particularly in concept learning | 1980s-Present |
| 27 | Leslie Valiant | Introduced "Probably Approximately Correct" (PAC) learning framework | 1980s-Present |
| 28 | Daphne Koller | Contributions to machine learning and computational biology | 2000s-Present |
| 29 | Michael I. Jordan |
Work in machine learning and data science impacting AI | 1980s-Present | | 30 | David Rumelhart | Developed the backpropagation algorithm | 1980s-1990s | | 31 | James McClelland | Work on the backpropagation algorithm for neural networks | 1980s-1990s | | 32 | Elaine Rich | Contributions to AI education and research in knowledge representation | 1980s-Present | | 33 | Joseph Weizenbaum | Creator of ELIZA, an early NLP computer program | 1960s-1980s | | 34 | Nils J. Nilsson | Foundational work in AI, including search algorithms and knowledge representation | 1960s-2000s | | 35 | Alan Kay | Work in object-oriented programming and graphical user interfaces | 1960s-2000s | | 36 | Elon Musk | Founder of OpenAI; influential in AI ethics and future implications | 2000s-Present | | 37 | Arthur C. Clarke | Science fiction writer; explored futuristic AI themes | 1950s-2000s | | 38 | Edsger W. Dijkstra | Contributions to programming and systems design relevant to AI development | 1950s-1990s | | 39 | Daniel Keys Moran | Science fiction author; influenced perceptions of AI | 1980s-2000s | | 40 | John Brunner | Science fiction author; works influenced AI futures | 1960s-1990s |
TIME100 AI list for 2023: Top people¶
The TIME100 AI list recognizes a diverse array of individuals, including CEOs, founders, co-founders, women, nonbinary individuals, government officials, researchers, activists, and creative minds, all of whom have contributed significantly to the field of AI and its impact on society. For the full list, you would need to refer directly to TIME Magazine's publication.
- Sam Altman: President of OpenAI.
- Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei: Associated with Anthropic.
- Demis Hassabis: Involved with Google DeepMind.
- Holly Herndon: Musician.
- Noam Shazeer: Co-founder of character.ai.
- Geoffrey Hinton: Esteemed AI researcher.
- Meredith Whittaker: President of Signal.
- Shane Legg: Co-founder and chief AGI scientist of Google DeepMind.
- Greg Brockman: Co-founder and president of OpenAI.
- Ilya Sutskever: Co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI.
- Eric Schmidt: Co-founder of Schmidt Futures.
- Ted Chiang: Science fiction writer.
- Alondra Nelson: Policy adviser.
- Elon Musk: Associated with xAI.
- Rumman Chowdhury: Humane Intelligence
TIME100 AI list for 2023¶
| Rank | Category | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leaders | Dario and Daniela Amodei |
| 2 | Leaders | Sam Altman |
| 3 | Leaders | Demis Hassabis |
| 4 | Leaders | Robin Li |
| 5 | Leaders | Clément Delangue |
| 6 | Leaders | Lila Ibrahim |
| 7 | Leaders | Elon Musk |
| 8 | Leaders | Raquel Urtasun |
| 9 | Leaders | Alex Karp |
| 10 | Leaders | Reid Hoffman |
| 11 | Leaders | Greg Brockman |
| 12 | Leaders | Marc Andreessen |
| 13 | Leaders | Sandra Rivera |
| 14 | Leaders | Aidan Gomez |
| 15 | Leaders | Daniel Gross |
| 16 | Leaders | Kai-Fu Lee |
| 17 | Leaders | Jaime Teevan |
| 18 | Leaders | Andrew Ng |
| 19 | Leaders | Kevin Scott |
| 20 | Leaders | Jensen Huang |
| 21 | Leaders | Clara Shih |
| 22 | Leaders | Alexandr Wang |
| 23 | Leaders | Mustafa Suleyman |
| 24 | Leaders | Marc Raibert |
| 25 | Innovators | Ted Chiang |
| 26 | Innovators | Charlie Brooker |
| 27 | Innovators | Holly Herndon |
| 28 | Innovators | Pelonomi Moiloa |
| 29 | Innovators | Grimes |
| 30 | Innovators | Neal Khosla |
| 31 | Innovators | Stephanie Dinkins |
| 32 | Innovators | Sougwen Chung |
| 33 | Innovators | Cristóbal Valenzuela |
| 34 | Innovators | Lilly Wachowski |
| 35 | Innovators | Manu Chopra |
| 36 | Innovators | Kate Kallot |
| 37 | Innovators | Ziad Obermeyer |
| 38 | Innovators | Noam Shazeer |
| 39 | Innovators | Alison Darcy |
| 40 | Innovators | Nathaniel Manning |
| 41 | Innovators | Tushita Gupta |
| 42 | Innovators | Andrew Hopkins |
| 43 | Innovators | Linda Dounia Rebeiz |
| 44 | Innovators | Richard Socher |
| 45 | Innovators | Keith Dreyer |
| 46 | Innovators | Nancy Xu |
| 47 | Innovators | Rootport |
| 48 | Shapers | Alondra Nelson |
| 49 | Shapers | Ian Hogarth |
| 50 | Shapers | Audrey Tang |
| 51 | Shapers | Meredith Whittaker |
| 52 | Shapers | James Manyika |
| 53 | Shapers | Jack Clark |
| 54 | Shapers | Anna Makanju |
| 55 | Shapers | Omar Al Olama |
| 56 | Shapers | Kelly McKernan |
| 57 | Shapers | Eric Schmidt |
| 58 | Shapers | Margrethe Vestager |
| 59 | Shapers | Anna Eshoo |
| 60 | Shapers | Richard Mathenge |
| 61 | Shapers | Sneha Revanur |
| 62 | Shapers | Tristan Harris |
| 63 | Shapers | Joy Buolamwini |
| 64 | Shapers | Eliezer Yudkowsky |
| 65 | Shapers | Verity Harding |
| 66 | Shapers | Ted Lieu |
| 67 | Shapers | Sarah Chander |
| 68 | Shapers | Nina Jankowicz |
| 69 | Shapers | Romesh and Sunil Wadhw |
| 71 | Dan Hendrycks | Shapers |
| 72 | Jess Whittlestone | Shapers |
| 73 | John Honovich | Shapers |
| 74 | Geoffrey Hinton | Thinkers |
| 75 | Fei-Fei Li | Thinkers |
| 76 | Abeba Birhane | Thinkers |
| 77 | Shane Legg | Thinkers |
| 78 | Rumman Chowdhury | Thinkers |
| 79 | Yi Zeng | Thinkers |
| 80 | Timnit Gebru | Thinkers |
| 81 | Kate Crawford | Thinkers |
| 82 | Pushmeet Kohli | Thinkers |
| 83 | Ilya Sutskever | Thinkers |
| 84 | Yejin Choi | Thinkers |
| 85 | Yann LeCun | Thinkers |
| 86 | Inioluwa Deborah Raji | Thinkers |
| 87 | Max Tegmark | Thinkers |
| 88 | Yoshua Bengio | Thinkers |
| 89 | Emily M. Bender | Thinkers |
| 90 | Margaret Mitchell | Thinkers |
| 91 | Paul Scharre | Thinkers |
| 92 | Jan Leike | Thinkers |
| 93 | Paul Christiano | Thinkers |
| 94 | Kalika Bali | Thinkers |
| 95 | Stuart Russell | Thinkers |
| 96 | Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor | Thinkers |
| 97 | Shakir Mohamed | Thinkers |
| 98 | Stuart Russell | Thinkers |
| 99 | Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor | Thinkers |
| 100 | Shakir Mohamed | T |