Want to expand your knowledge of the AI world? Make sure you’re following these industry leaders on Twitter.
The world of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics is evolving all the time, with job opportunities and new products springing up constantly.
It’s never been a better time for someone interested in building a career in AI. While the jobs, companies and skills may vary, the wider industry trends are always worth keeping an eye on if you’re serious about an AI career.
One of the best ways to keep yourself immersed in the AI world is by following the leaders, experts and influencers in the field. To help you start building that industry knowledge, we’ve chosen 10 major AI players for you to start following on Twitter right now.
Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg)
Anyone who wants to pursue a career in AI should know Andrew Ng. Widely considered an AI star, Ng founded the Google Brain deep learning project. He also was Chinese tech giant Baidu’s chief computer scientist until he left in 2017.
Ng transformed the AI strategies of Google and Baidu, where he laid the foundation for some of their biggest products to date.
If your company wants to ramp up in AI, how should you choose your first few projects? I just wrote a Harvard Business Review @HarvardBiz article with practical suggestions. This fleshes out the first step from the AI Transformation Playbook. https://t.co/PaDN6oIm2l
— Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) February 14, 2019
Last year, Ng unveiled the AI fund, raising $175m to invest in new start-ups. He is also writing a book for those interested in machine learning, which he distributes for free.
Joanna Bryson (@j2bryson)
Joanna Bryson is an associate professor in the department of computing at the University of Bath. She works on AI, ethics and collaborative cognition.
Bryson is an internationally renowned expert on AI ethics, developing AI and understanding human intelligence, human cooperation and cultural change, including why inequality covaries with political polarisation.
Diversity was not its ordinary issue @WLinAI but also not the main #techpolicy issue on the table. Brilliant event!@AllisonCGardner @IvanaBartoletti pic.twitter.com/4mBAYW08R7
— Joanna J Bryson (@j2bryson) February 6, 2019
In 2017 she won an outstanding achievement award from Cognition X. She regularly appears in US national media talking about human-robot relationships and the ethics of AI.
Spiros Margaris (@SpirosMargaris)
Venture capitalist Spiros Margaris has reached ‘the triple crown’ of influencer rankings by being ranked the global number one influencer in fintech, AI and blockchain by Onalytica.
In 2017, he published an AI white paper, ‘Machine learning in financial services: Changing the rules of the game’, for the enterprise software vendor SAP. Margaris regularly examines how AI and machine learning can impact the world of fintech.
Robots as Learning Facilitators
in #Classroomshttps://t.co/FG2l8Z6H3n @Analyticsindiam #fintech #AI #MachineLearning #DeepLearning #robotics pic.twitter.com/siUWS5iicX
— Spiros Margaris (@SpirosMargaris) February 18, 2019
He is also the founder of advisory boutique firm Margaris Ventures and has more than 25 years’ experience in investment management.
Kate Crawford (@katecrawford)
Kate Crawford is a leading researcher, academic and author who has spent the last decade studying the social implications of data systems, machine learning and AI.
Crawford is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research New York, and a visiting professor at the MIT Media Lab. She is also co-founder and co-director of the AI Now Research Institute, an interdisciplinary research centre dedicated to studying the social impacts of AI.
This is VERY bad idea. Why should we be forced to submit to facial recognition just to buy groceries? So brands can test if their ad campaigns work? Umm no thanks. This invades your physical privacy and profiles you, for bad data. https://t.co/Ynnm5qlbSh
— Kate Crawford (@katecrawford) January 26, 2019
In July 2016, she co-chaired the Obama White House symposium on the impacts of AI in the near term.
Martin Ford (@MFordFuture)
Futurist and author Martin Ford is a major voice in the world of AI and the future of work, focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics on society and the economy.
This is going to be a huge challenge over the coming few years… #AI
Artificial intelligence, #deepfakes, and the uncertain future of truth https://t.co/s6QEIgbrF0 via @BrookingsInst @JohnDVillasenor— Martin Ford (@MFordFuture) February 15, 2019
He has written three books on AI, the most recent of which came out last year. Ford gave a 2017 TED talk on the impact of AI and robotics on how we will earn money and the future of jobs. Ford has also written on future technology for various publications including The New York Times, Forbes, The Washington Post and The Guardian.
Fei-Fei Li (@drfeifei)
Dr Fei-Fei Li is a professor at the computer science department at Stanford University. She was chief scientist at Google Cloud, until she relinquished her role in 2018 to return to Stanford University full-time.
Li is currently the co-director of the Stanford Human-Centered AI (HAI) Institute, a Stanford University institute to advance AI research, education, policy and practice to benefit humanity by bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship across the university.
Wow @UvA_Amsterdam, I’m truly surprised and humbled! It’s heartwarming to see the celebration of women scientists world-wide! And thank you for the acknowledgment of @ai4allorg ! <3 https://t.co/BEq6hYmckt
— Fei-Fei Li (@drfeifei) February 12, 2019
Li is also co-founder and chairperson of the national non-profit organisation AI4ALL, dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in AI education.
Rodney Brooks (@rodneyabrooks)
If you follow trends in AI, you’ll want to follow robotics entrepreneur Rodney Brooks (if you don’t already).
Brooks is a former director of the computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory at MIT and co-founder of iRobot, the company that created the Roomba.
Automation has been transferring load to the end user human from service providing humans for a long time. Not much has changed. It continues. Except we have all gotten more individual power, less reliant on others. https://t.co/b8K60HECEv
— Rodney Brooks (@rodneyabrooks) January 31, 2019
He was the CTO, chair and founder of Rethink Robotics, which raised nearly $150m in funding over the course of 10 years before closing its doors late last year. However, German automation specialist HAHN Group acquired all of the patents and trademarks from Rethink Robotics.
Kathleen Walch (@kath0134)
AI and machine learning expert Kathleen Walch is a serial entrepreneur, savvy marketer and tech industry connector.
She is principal analyst, managing partner, and founder of Cognilytica, an AI research and advisory firm, and co-host of the popular AI Today podcast. She also frequently writes for Forbes on the topic of AI.
In this #AIToday #podcast we interview Tim Custer, Senior Vice president – North America land, business development and real estate with Apache to discuss how #AI and #ML technologies are being used to extract valuable info from unstructured content, how… https://t.co/5jONUTOiWR pic.twitter.com/iGLxX3Td6h
— Kathleen Walch (@kath0134) February 6, 2019
Walch also spent many years as the content and innovation director for TechBreakfast, a monthly morning tech meet-up in the US. She is also a SXSW Innovation Awards judge and AI and hardware meet-up organiser.
Yann LeCun (@ylecun)
Yann LeCun is a French computer scientist working in machine learning, computer vision, mobile robotics and computational neuroscience.
LeCun is currently vice-president and chief AI scientist at Facebook AI Research and a part-time professor at New York University.
Behind the Facebook Portal smart camera: a squeezed-down version of Mask R-CNN, and some expert knowledge from Hollywood camera operators.
Mask R-CNN2go runs on the Qualcomm… https://t.co/BhSZszzIOO
— Yann LeCun (@ylecun) February 15, 2019
He is also the co-founder of Element, which develops and distributes a mobile-based, software-only platform for biometric identity.
Tessa Lau (@tessalau)
Formerly known as the chief robot whisperer at robotics company Savioke, Tessa Lau is now the founder and CEO of Dusty Robotics, which aims to improve construction productivity by automating the dull and dirty jobs performed on construction sites.
Previously, Lau was a research scientist at Willow Garage, where she led an effort to develop simple interfaces for personal robots based on end-user programming. She also spent 11 years at IBM Research developing end-user programming systems for enterprises.
Job displacement from automation is coming, but it's not evenly distributed. Young people in rural areas are most at risk, according to research by Brookings: https://t.co/EwOV4qoMSr /cc @AndrewYangVFA
— Tessa Lau (@tessalau) January 26, 2019
Lau helped organise IBM’s Grace Hopper conference for women in computing. She also serves on the board for the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research.