Who’s Who In AI: A curated directory of influential builders, researchers, founders, engineers, investors, writers, and public figures shaping the future of artificial intelligence.
About This Directory
Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, driven by a relatively small group of individuals whose ideas, research, products, and companies influence the direction of the industry.
This directory serves as a practical reference guide for anyone seeking to understand the people behind today’s most important AI breakthroughs, businesses, platforms, and conversations.
Whether you’re researching industry leaders, discovering influential voices, following emerging startups, or simply learning who’s shaping the future of AI, this directory provides a structured place to begin.
Who’s Who in AI
There are currently 2 names in this directory beginning with the letter P.
Peggy Johnson
CEO, Agility Robotics
Peggy Johnson holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University and built her executive career across Qualcomm, Microsoft — where she was Satya Nadella's first hire as CEO and led the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn — and Magic Leap, before becoming CEO of Agility Robotics in March 2024.
Agility sits at a pivotal moment in humanoid robotics. In June 2024, it became the site of the world's first commercial deployment of humanoid robots, when its Digit bots began loading and stacking boxes in a GXO logistics warehouse in Flowery Branch, Georgia. Amazon and German automaker Schaeffler have since joined as customers, with Schaeffler also taking a minority investment in the company.
Johnson confirmed Agility's current valuation at approximately $2 billion, with its Salem, Oregon "Robofab" facility maintaining annual production capacity of 10,000 units. The next milestone is significant: by end of 2026, Agility will release a safety-certified version of Digit capable of working alongside humans outside protective "work cells" — ending the era of the safety cage.
On the role of AI, Johnson is clear-eyed: "AI just supercharged it," she says of Agility's decade of robotics fundamentals, allowing Digit to tackle a wider array of tasks than ever before.
TIME named Johnson to its 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025 list.
Submitted by: Admin Peggy Johnson holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University and built her executive career across Qualcomm, Microsoft — where she was Satya Nadella's first hire as CEO and led the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn — and Magic Leap, before becoming CEO of Agility Robotics in March 2024.
Agility sits at a pivotal moment in humanoid robotics. In June 2024, it became the site of the world's first commercial deployment of humanoid robots, when its Digit bots began loading and stacking boxes in a GXO logistics warehouse in Flowery Branch, Georgia. Amazon and German automaker Schaeffler have since joined as customers, with Schaeffler also taking a minority investment in the company.
Johnson confirmed Agility's current valuation at approximately $2 billion, with its Salem, Oregon "Robofab" facility maintaining annual production capacity of 10,000 units. The next milestone is significant: by end of 2026, Agility will release a safety-certified version of Digit capable of working alongside humans outside protective "work cells" — ending the era of the safety cage.
On the role of AI, Johnson is clear-eyed: "AI just supercharged it," she says of Agility's decade of robotics fundamentals, allowing Digit to tackle a wider array of tasks than ever before.
TIME named Johnson to its 100 Most Influential People in AI 2025 list.
Peter Thiel
Co-founder and Partner, Founders Fund
Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal and was Facebook's first outside investor — two early bets that established him as one of Silicon Valley's most consequential contrarian thinkers. He later co-founded Palantir Technologies, which has since become a dominant AI-powered data analytics platform for governments and enterprises.
In May 2026, Founders Fund closed its largest fund ever at $6 billion — its fourth growth-stage vehicle, raised in less than a year after its predecessor. Of that total, $1.5 billion came from Thiel and senior management themselves, an unusually large internal commitment that signals strong conviction in their thesis: concentrated late-stage bets on AI, defense, and deep tech.
His recent deal-making reflects that thesis in practice. Thiel led a $140 million Series B into Panthalassa, a startup building wave-powered AI data centers at sea — a direct play on the energy and compute constraints now defining the AI infrastructure race.
Thiel has also grown increasingly vocal about AI's workforce implications. He has warned publicly that AI poses a greater threat to technical and STEM roles than to creative thinkers — a view that inverts the conventional wisdom, and one that carries weight coming from an investor who has been right about technology's trajectory more often than most.
His broader philosophy — that progress requires doing things others consider impossible or unacceptable — remains the throughline connecting his career as a founder, investor, and provocateur.
Submitted by: Admin Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal and was Facebook's first outside investor — two early bets that established him as one of Silicon Valley's most consequential contrarian thinkers. He later co-founded Palantir Technologies, which has since become a dominant AI-powered data analytics platform for governments and enterprises.
In May 2026, Founders Fund closed its largest fund ever at $6 billion — its fourth growth-stage vehicle, raised in less than a year after its predecessor. Of that total, $1.5 billion came from Thiel and senior management themselves, an unusually large internal commitment that signals strong conviction in their thesis: concentrated late-stage bets on AI, defense, and deep tech.
His recent deal-making reflects that thesis in practice. Thiel led a $140 million Series B into Panthalassa, a startup building wave-powered AI data centers at sea — a direct play on the energy and compute constraints now defining the AI infrastructure race.
Thiel has also grown increasingly vocal about AI's workforce implications. He has warned publicly that AI poses a greater threat to technical and STEM roles than to creative thinkers — a view that inverts the conventional wisdom, and one that carries weight coming from an investor who has been right about technology's trajectory more often than most.
His broader philosophy — that progress requires doing things others consider impossible or unacceptable — remains the throughline connecting his career as a founder, investor, and provocateur.
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