Navigating the AI Maze: Top Influencers & Resources You Need to Follow

One of the questions I get a lot these days is: 'Who or what do you follow to stay on top of the development in Artificial Intelligence?'

There are many. And much as I try, I cannot keep up with them all every day of the week. But I have compiled a list of top influencers (I am hesitant to call anyone a Thought Leader in this brand new industry) and resources such as newsletters and video blogs or podcasts that I follow nearly religiously every week.

I have also included a list of 'honourable mentions' that I frequently enjoy but occasionally miss.

I hope you will find it useful ????

My favourite newsletters about A.I.

The Almost Timely Newsletter - by Chris Penn

Christopher S. Penn (Trust Insights) is a data scientist who explains the concepts around A.I. in simple, easy-to-understand terms better than anyone else out there that I have come across so far. Chris is passionate about making tech and data accessible as a topic to the rest of us. And his newsletter and videos are available as both text, video and audio - meaning you can consume them anywhere, anytime, in the format you prefer.

Follow Chris and the A.T.N. for a thoughtful reflection on the the A.I. / tech development, combined with helpful explainers, and most of all great analysis on how this is likely going to impact business and professions across the board.

You can find the weekly Almost Timely Newsletter on Substack and Linkedin. I really enjoy tuning in to Chris on Youtube because he also does a ton of Q&A videos, interviews and Ask-Me-Anything recordings that are extremely useful and interesting as well.

The Marketing Artificial Intelligence Show - by Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput

Do not let the title fool you. This weekly podcast / video blog by Paul Roetzer and Mike Kaput is relevant to a much broader audience than just marketeers (and I suspect the name may change in the future).

Each week Paul and Mike have a sort of talkshow recap of everything that has happened in the world of A.I. over the past week. But they don't just just summarise - they also comment on, analyse and give insights into what has been happening. And these two guys have a lot of background knowledge about the players, the companies, the history of the tech and a technical understanding of models and applications of tech that make this a uniquely pleasurable experience to listen to every week.

I use the M.A.I.S. to catch up on the week's A.I. news and get a perspective on where all the major tech developers seem to be headed with their new models and versions in an endless competitive cycle of "who's best?".

Their show is about an hour long - excellent listening for a commute or when walking the dog etc. And during the week they will usually break the main show up into smaller segments released as individual videos on their Youtube channel.

Because there are two hosts, the show has an excellent dynamic and as I said, I just really enjoy the perspective they bring to the table on the stories they cover. If I fall behind on episodes, this is always worth catching up on later instead of skipping past shows.

My favourite top influencers on the topic of A.I.

Ethan Mollick - Associate professor at the Wharton School

The daily output of Ethan Mollick here on Linkedin is nothing short of awe-inspiring. He is a teacher, researcher and experimentor and he is constantly pushing the limits of various Large Language Models and specialised A.I.s like ChatGPT, Claude, Bard etc. and sharing his findings along with his thoughts.

Ethan was first to post on Boston Consulting Group's productivity-with-A.I.-study published by Harvard and even though you can learn a lot by following him here on Linkedin, you really should also read his blog "One Useful Thing".

Make sure you 'click the bell' on Ethan's Linkedin profile, that way you get notifications whenever he posts (which is often several times a day) and it gets easier to make sure you don't miss anything.

Rowan Cheung - Founder and CEO of The Rundown

Honestly, I am not entirely sure what it is that Rowan Cheung does for a living. But he posts often and consistently of high quality about A.I. and various tech-related topics. I just quickly scan and ignore (most of) the other tech stuff and still get a lot of useful insights into the developments in the A.I. industry.

So, I follow Rowan on Linkedin because he more or less serves as a 24/7 news channel dedicated to A.I.

Andrew Bruce Smith - Director of Escherman

When it comes to exploring and understanding the possibilities for the use of A.I. in professional communication, Andrew Bruce Smith is who I dream of becoming when I grow up. ??

Andrew heads up the 'A.I. in PR' panel for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) in the U.K., and he has co-authored numerous reports and whitepapers on that topic. He is also a world-class curator of useful facts, reports and insights from the A.I. and communication industries, which he generously shares regularly here on Linkedin (and often with a useful A.I.-written digest).

Andrew is a driven experimentor and innovator and more often than not, I start fiddling with a use-case for A.I. in Public Relations because of something Andrew has first demonstrated in a post or expressed his thoughts on.

Andrew is one of very few people I would actually pay to be able to follow online - he's that good. And if you are a communication professional, you need to go follow him right now. Also, check out the video of his presentation at the conference 'Unlocking A.I. for Next-Generation Communication' here.

Some honourable mentions that did not make the lists

There is no denying it - my list above is terribly male. ?? And arguably also very UK/US-centric. But these are the sources that I have so far come to like, trust and enjoy a lot - and on a regular basis.

But it is still early days for A.I. as an industry and as a phenomenon. And I would encourage everyone to go explore the many great voices out there. And in 3-6 months perhaps some of the people and sources I mention below will appear on the lists above instead?

In no particular order, these people are all brilliant and well worth checking out:

• Peter Gostev - AI Strategy Lead, NatWest Group
• Jenny Nicholson - ECD, Queen of Swords
• Peter Heneghan - Founder, The Future Communicator
• Allie K. Miller - Fortune 500 AI Advisor
• Morten Rand-Hendriksen - Senior Staff Instructor, Linkedin Learning
• Stephen Waddington - Founder and managing partner, Wadds Inc.
• Alex Wang - AI4Diversity (and the Learn AI Together newsletter)
• Jason Gulya - Professor + Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Council, Berkeley College
• Rachel Woods - CEO, The AI Exchange
• The AI Explained Youtube channel

Who would you nominate for the lists?

Please add your own suggestions to the lists in the comments below and help others discover even more great sources of knowledge and learning about Artificial Intelligence.

My name is Jesper Andersen and I am a communication advisor specialising in Artificial Intelligence, Communication Measurement & Evaluation, Thought Leadership and Communication Strategy.

Besides consulting at Quantum (my company), I teach the MBA and Master's program at Quadriga University and speak at conferences around the world on the themes and topics mentioned above.

If you would like to discuss how I might be of help to your organisation, please reach out to me via [email protected]. Thank you.