Artificial intelligence influencers are driving conversations about AI news and trends across social media and beyond. They advise on company boards, build startups and are moulding an industry that is key in today’s tech world, with implications going far beyond.

Nearly 70 years on since Alan Turing posed the question: “Can machines think?”, artificial intelligence is finally beginning to have a significant impact on the global economy. Proponents of AI believe that it has the potential to transform the world as we know it, with Google’s chief executive officer Sundar Pichai describing AI as “more profound than electricity or fire” at an American television network MSNBC event in San Francisco.

But AI is still in its infancy, and needs the nurturing hands of its influencers to help it grow, in spite of the research and development effort that has been put into it over the years. In a decade’s time, today’s state-of-the-art AI will seem rudimentary and simplistic.

Here are the top ten influencers in AI according to research by GlobalData which carries an interactive dashboard covering influencers in AI.

  1. Spiros Margaris, VC, Margaris Ventures founder and member of advisory board for wefox Group

@SpirosMargaris with 66,700 Twitter followers

Margaris is based in Switzerland. A venture capitalist and founder of Margaris Ventures, he was also appointed to the advisory board of insurtech company wefox Group in 2018.

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  1. Evan Kirstel, thought leader, technology influencer and B2B marketer

@evankirstel 227,000 Twitter followers

Kirstel is based in Boston, the USA. He is a chief digital evangelist and co-founder of EviraHealth, a social media partner across health tech.

  1. Ronald van Loon, director at Adversitement

@Ronald_vanLoon 164,000 Twitter followers

van Loon is director of Adversitement, which helps data-driven companies create business value. He is based in The Netherlands and is also an advisory board member for Simplilearn, an educator in cybersecurity, cloud computing, project management, digital marketing, data science and others.

  1. Mike Quindazzi, business development leader and management consultant at PwC

@MikeQuindazzi 108,000 Twitter followers

Quindazzi is a managing director for PwC in Los Angeles, USA. He consults on emerging technology, including blockchain, augmented reality, 3D printing, drones, virtual reality, mobile strategies, internet of things, robotics, big data, predictive analytics, fintech, cybersecurity and insurtech.

  1. Kirk Borne, principal data scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton

@KirkDBorne 217,000 Twitter followers

Borne is an American data scientist and executive advisor at management and technology consulting and engineering services firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

  1. Ganapathi Pulipaka, a chief data scientist at Confidential

@gp_pulipaka 50,200 Twitter followers

Dr Pulipaka is based in Los Angeles, USA. He is a chief data scientist at Confidential, as well as author of The Future of Data Science and Parallel Computing.

  1. Tamara McCleary, chief executive officer of Thulium

@TamaraMcCleary  291,000 Twitter followers

McCleary is based in Boulder, USA. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Thulium, a brand amplification company in B2B social media marketing.

  1. Thomas Power, board member at 9Spokes

@thomaspower 338,000 Twitter followers

Power is a board member at several companies, including blockchain infrastructure company OST, data dashboard 9Spokes,Team Blockchain and the Blockchain Industry Compliance and Regulation Association. He is based in the UK.

  1. Sandy Carter, vice president at Amazon Web Services

@sandy_carter 79,600 Twitter followers

Carter is based in San Francisco, USA. She is vice president at Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing services.

  1. Larry Kim, chief executive officer at MobileMonkey

@larrykim 802,000 Twitter followers

Kim is based in Boston, USA. He is chief executive officer at MobileMonkey, a messenger marketing platform that amplifies Facebook advertising.

Top AI trends

These are the top ten trends talked about by AI influencers over the last 90 days according to research by GlobalData.

1.     Machine Learning
2.     Deep Learning
3.     Fintech
4.     IoT
5.     Big Data
6.     Robotics
7.     Data Science
8.     Insurtech
9.     Analytics
10.   Cloud Computing

 

Top AI companies

These are the top ten most influential companies on Twitter over the last 90 days when it comes to AI.

1.     Google
2.     IBM
3.     Intel
4.     GitHub
5.     Stanford University
6.     Tencent
7.     The Durable Slate Company
8.     Carnegie Mellon University
9.     GaN Corp.
10.   Perceptron

Methodology

GlobalData used a series of algorithms to identify Twitter users conversing using a set of keywords. The keywords are determined from in-depth web research on blogs, forums, social platforms and articles.

Cluster groups are formed based on influencer types and topics, and the frequency of tweets. Follower strength, average engagement and influencing ability and behaviours were also measured to identify the key influencers. A weighting is given to critical engagement metrics such as followers, mentions, retweets and favourites.

Deeper analysis was carried out on each influencer to understand their engagement levels: how their social activity is acknowledged and how successfully they drive discussions on new and emerging trends.