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AI 2017: Top 100 Influencers, Brands and Publications

by | May 25, 2017 | Influencer Lists,

Artificial intelligence – or AI – is a true part of our world, as well as a substantial hub of interest for science and business. Companies are ferociously investing in, engaging in and including artificial intelligence in their operations. It is a fascinating technology that enables new options for companies, from detecting security intrusions to anticipating future consumer purchases.

Some significant moves from tech giants to acquire AI competitiveness have been made in the past five years. This includes the creation of Microsoft Ventures’ fund for AI startups and Uber’s acquisition of AI startup Geometric Intelligence; both in December 2016, Apple acquiring Emotient in early 2016, Google buying Deepmind for $400 million in 2014, and IBM pairing up with Nvidia to enable faster responses for the cognitive system, Watson.


WHAT ARE THE INFLUENCERS SAYING?

We reached out to some of the top influencers to ask them for their views on artificial intelligence. We spoke to Mike Quindazzi (#6), John Hagel (#12), Gary Marcus (#14), Jeremiah Owyang (#15) and Sandy Carter (#17). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on the best content and resources on artificial intelligence!


Mike Quindazzi –  Managing Director at PwC
Are you ready for artificial intelligence ? The global potential of AI as an emerging technology has taken hold in the form of virtual assistants, chatbots, machine learning (and deep learning), autonomous systems, and natural language processing with advancing algorithms being developed in the cloud and available as-a-service to enterprises. This democratised approach is providing unprecedented access across both the world’s developed and developing nations, not only to leverage but also made available to the crowd to further develop “skills”. Much like the proliferation of mobile apps in the app store growing from just 500 apps in 2008 to over 2.2 million today, the level of AI innovation and sophistication is poised for an exponential growth curve. These factors, in addition to increasing computational power, are positioning AI to extend far beyond the forms I mentioned – and these other forms are rapidly developing. Taking the form of assisted intelligence, augmented intelligence or even autonomous intelligence. AI, when coupled with robotics, has the ability to break down additional barriers, provide personalization to the masses and solve many more of the world’s most important global challenges. In fact, PwC recently surveyed 2,500 consumers and business decision makers on AI’s impact in the business world, the evolution of AI acceptance by consumers and AI’s changing role in addressing socioeconomic issues. 63% of consumers agreed – AI will help solve complex problems that plague modern societies, while 72% of business leaders believe AI will be the business advantage of the future. It is incumbent on business leaders and workers at all levels to embrace the technology – if not to develop it – but to at least understand it’s ability to integrate and automate our most mundane and repetitive tasks. To explore partnerships between man and machine, that form collaborative solutions, to solve the daily challenges facing business and create new opportunities.


John Hagel – Founder and Co-Chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge
AI technology will continue to evolve at an exponential pace but the key to unleashing the full economic value of this technology will hinge on two things. First, it requires the ability to generate and aggregate relevant data to fuel the AI engines. Without data, AI remains dumb. Second, people will need to become more adept at framing really powerful questions and re-imagining their own tasks in ways that more fully leverage their own unique human capabilities to generate greater impact from the insights that AI delivers.


Gary Marcus – Founder and CEO of Geometric Intelligence, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at NYU

“Someday AI will change the world. But it is important to realize that statistics ≠ knowledge, and that “deep learning” is much more superficial than people realize. We still have a long way to go.”


Jeremiah Owyang – Founder and CEO of Crowd Companies

In my lifetime, we will create a “God” an all knowing, artificial human that’s able to recall, process, and think. Will it feel? Will it hurt? that remains to be seen. We know that the world will become more efficient as technology rapidly empowers faster everything. God creates man, and man creates a god.


Sandy Carter – Vice President of Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services has become the center of gravity for artificial intelligence, with companies of all sizes in virtually all industries using AI to build new capabilities for existing services, or define entirely new categories of products and experiences. Today, customers are using AI on AWS for everything from the American Heart Association, who are helping to streamline registration in charity walks, to Capital One, who are providing new ways to interact with customers’ bank accounts, to startups like TuSimple who are using computer vision in autonomous vehicles, to Stanford University who are providing early detection of diabetic complications for patients. We’re just getting started, and we couldn’t more excited to be on this journey with our customers.


MAPPING THE COMMUNITY

We were very interested in seeing which individuals, brands and publications were leading the social media debate around AI, so we analysed over five million tweets mentioning the key words: AI OR “artificial intelligence” OR artificialintelligence; from 1st January – 18th May 2017. We then identified the Top 100 most influential individuals, brands and publications leading the discussion .
Regarding individuals, David Brin is the top AI influencer since the beginning of 2017. Below, is our network map of his recent interactions around the AI topic. This map was created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM). Be sure to click on the map to enjoy the full size network diagram in greater detail.

Below you can see another network map created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM) showing the number one brand IBM Watson at the centre, as well as all the AI conversations to and from the influencers in its field.


Below, you can discover yet another network map created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM) with the number one publication WIRED at the centre of all interactions.

If you are interested in learning more about identifying, managing and engaging with influencers click here to get in touch!


BRAND AWARENESS AMONGST INDIVIDUALS

Below, you can find a pie chart which assesses the different shares of voice of each brand within the AI social media debate – amongst the top influencers listed in the full report. We have displayed the top 10 brands, from 1st January – 18th May. This pie chart was created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM).
Onalytica - Artificial Intelligence Top 100 Influencers, Brands and Publications Brand Share of Voice Pie
The most popular brand in this analysis is Google, which represents over a quarter (26%) of shares of voice. The most recent discussions around Google and AI focus on its speech recognition technology with a 4.9% word error rate and its AI abilities to create sounds that humans have never heard before.  IBM follows with 21% of shares, with Watson at the centre of its AI discussion – especially around the system’s constant improvement and the possibilities it enables, whether they are intended for medical use or business. On the last step of the podium is Microsoft (13%).

Following their lead are other tech giants: Amazon (11%), Facebook (8%) and Intel (6%). On the bottom of the top 10, we find Nvidia (5%), Apple (4%), Baidu (4%) and Salesforce (3%).


TOPIC ANALYSIS

Artificial Intelligence is an immense topic on its own, but we were interested in seeing which other topic were mentioned the most around it. We analysed tweets and blogs from the top 100 influencers, brands an publications between 1st January – 18th May 2017. We measured the frequencies of all the words used by the influencers in our programme related to “AI”. These words were then weighted and made into the word cloud shown below:
Onalytica - Artificial Intelligence Top 100 Influencers, Brands and Publications Word Cloud
It is interesting to see that Machine Learning, Deep Learning and – naturally – Artificial Intelligence accompany AI as the top topics. Also worth noticing, is the presence of Big Data, Data Science and FinTech as top AI-related topics.


TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top influencers around artificial intelligence. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the full report by clicking the download button below.

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RankTwitter HandleNameCompanyInfluencer Score
1@DavidBrinDavid Brin Epocene100
2@BernardMarrBernard Marr Advanced Performance Institute90.85
3@AndrewYNgAndrew Ng Baidu, Inc.82.21
4@drfeifeiFei-Fei- Li Google Cloud62.79
5@ValaAfsharVala Afshar Salesforce61.3
6@MikeQuindazziMike Quindazzi PwC58.56
7@elonmuskElon Musk SpaceX58.35
8@TamaraMcClearyTamara McCleary Thulium.co49.58
9@jackclarkSFJack Clark OpenAI49
10@BenioffMarc Benioff Salesforce48.32
11@evankirstelEvan Kirstel Kirstel Report47.04
12@jhagelJohn Hagel Deloitte & Touche46.55
13@erichorvitzEric Horvitz Microsoft46.27
14@GaryMarcusGary Marcus Geometric Intelligence43.95
15@jowyangJeremiah Owyang Crowd Companies41.51
16@pmddomingosPedro Domingos University of Washington40.95
17@sandy_carterSandy Carter Amazon Web Services38.63
18@EricTopolEric Topol Scripps Health35.15
19@ericschmidtEric Schmidt Google34.63
20@hannawallachHanna Wallach Microsoft33
21@SpirosMargarisSpiros Margaris Margaris Advisory32.29
22@peteratmsrPeter Lee Microsoft32.1
23@dharmeshDharmesh Shah HubSpot31.54
24@erikbrynErik Brynjolfsson MIT30.82
25@briansolisBrian Solis Altimeter Group30.64
26@cspennChristopher Penn SHIFT Communications27.7
27@KirkDBorneKirk Borne Booz Allen Hamilton27.67
28@andi_staubAndreas Staub FehrAdvice27.55
29@sidbanerjeeSid Banerjee Clarabridge27.39
30@dhinchcliffeDion Hinchcliffe 7Summits27.29
31@Ronald_vanLoonRonald van Loon Adversitement27.21
32@Timothy_HughesTimothy Hughes Digital Leadership Associates26.79
33@IoTRecruitingBill McCabe IoT Recruiting26.64
34@GlenGilmoreGlen Gilmore Gilmore Business Network26.39
35@nreed_trlNick Reed TRL Academy25.92
36@reckelRichard Eckel Microsoft25.43
37@davidwkennyDavid Kenny IBM25.25
38@robmccargowRob McCargow PwC24.79
39@Kasparov63Garry Kasparov Human Rights Foundation24.19
40@harryshumHarry Shum Microsoft24.18
41@willknightWill Knight MIT Tech23.42
42@ahierBrian Ahier AHIER23.22
43@2morrowknightSean Gardner World Communication Forum23.03
44@pauldaughPaul Daugh Accenture23.02
45@simonlporterSimon Porter ‎NGA Human Resources22.81
46@JimMarousJim Marous Digital Banking Report22.68
47@JohnGCourtneyJohn Courtney The Marketing Centre21.05
48@j2brysonJoanna J Bryson University of Bath20.68
49@timoreillyTim O’Reilly O’Reilly Media20.53
50@adamsconsultingDiana Adams Adams Consulting Group20.16

TOP 100 BRANDS

We also looked at all the brands engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top brands talking about artificial intelligence. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the report to get the full top 100 list, and see who are most the influential brands in artificial intelligence.

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RankTwitter HandleNameInfluencer Score
1@IBMWatsonIBMWatson100
2@googlecloudgooglecloud97.22
3@MicrosoftMicrosoft86.59
4@IBMIBM78.75
5@xprizexprize69.01
6@intelintel67.6
7@ITUITU61.44
8@IDCIDC60.44
9@MSFTResearchMSFTResearch52.79
10@IBMResearchIBMResearch50.78
11@nvidianvidia50.26
12@roboraceroborace48.31
13@KPMGKPMG40.4
14@IBMcloudIBMcloud37.13
15@MaluubaIncMaluubaInc36.94
16@awscloudawscloud35.37
17@AzureAzure34.61
18@ipfconline1ipfconline133.44
19@McKinseyMcKinsey33.38
20@royalsocietyroyalsociety31.83
21@IBMIoTIBMIoT31.16
22@lenovolenovo31.16
23@ToyotaToyota30.93
24@snipssnips29.93
25@BigCloudTeamBigCloudTeam29.24
26@AMDAMD29
27@thomsonreutersthomsonreuters28.63
28@MaRSDDMaRSDD28.1
29@MITSloanMITSloan28.02
30@innovateukinnovateuk27.5
31@ISpeakAnalyticsISpeakAnalytics27.27
32@AccuetHomeAccuetHome25.7
33@Analytics_EdgeAnalytics_Edge25.68
34@AccentureAccenture25.65
35@autodeskautodesk25.1
36@HCI_LabsHCI_Labs24.72
37@udacityudacity24.49
38@DevOpsSummitDevOpsSummit22.47
39@TVSNextTVSNext20.52
40@FastCoDesignFastCoDesign20.42
41@OReillyAIOReillyAI20.28
42@analyticbridgeanalyticbridge19.08
43@CMIContentCMIContent19.01
44@SMExaminerSMExaminer18.59
45@MSFT_BusinessMSFT_Business18.47
46@SR_SR_18.41
47@watsonanalyticswatsonanalytics18.22
48@Gartner_incGartner_inc18.17
49@DataScienceCtrlDataScienceCtrl18.13
50@lifeatgooglelifeatgoogle18.03

TOP 100 PUBLICATIONS

As part of our new analysis, we scanned all the publications engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top publications talking about artificial intelligence. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the report to get the full top 100 list.

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RankTwitter HandleNameInfluencer Score
1@WIREDWIRED100
2@techreviewtechreview93.64
3@CIOonlineCIOonline69.94
4@TechRepublicTechRepublic69.29
5@eMarketereMarketer53.8
6@CBinsightsCBinsights53.61
7@SCMP_NewsSCMP_News51.01
8@FastCompanyFastCompany50.11
9@ZDNetZDNet43.4
10@engadgetengadget43.2
11@EntrepreneurEntrepreneur42.78
12@BNNBNN42.61
13@ForbesForbes42.43
14@CNETCNET35.16
15@techstarstechstars35.09
16@XHNewsXHNews33.39
17@DigitalTrendsDigitalTrends33.26
18@BBCClickBBCClick31.13
19@CMO_comCMO_com30.65
20@TheEconomistTheEconomist29.7
21@guardianscienceguardianscience29.33
22@contentlycontently29.11
23@MarketingWeekEdMarketingWeekEd29.09
24@AFPAFP28.92
25@siliconrepublicsiliconrepublic28.77
26@gigaomgigaom28.52
27@DZoneDZone27.88
28@singularityhubsingularityhub27.45
29@FlipboardFlipboard27.27
30@coindeskcoindesk26.81
31@WSJWSJ26.7
32@TechCrunchTechCrunch26.5
33@StartupGrindStartupGrind26.21
34@euronewseuronews25.84
35@ProductHuntProductHunt25.78
36@VentureBeatVentureBeat25.62
37@DU_PressDU_Press25.53
38@sejournalsejournal25.47
39@InfoQInfoQ25.4
40@handelsblatthandelsblatt25.27
41@BankInnovationBankInnovation25.17
42@strataconfstrataconf24.97
43@dosedose24.26
44@BigchainDBBigchainDB23.73
45@TechCityNewsTechCityNews23.53
46@XconomyXconomy23.38
47@LiquidNewsroomLiquidNewsroom23.06
48@wefwef22.55
49@IDCUKIIDCUKI22.35
50@MyABJMyABJ22.22

 

 At Onalytica we love building these lists and want to give back to our loyal readers as much as we can. If you’re interested in other topics (such as Big DataVirtual RealityDigital Marketing) be sure to have a gander on our blog or why not propose some topics to us on twitter? We also build some very cool software to manage all of these influencers. Get a free demo today by clicking the button below!

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Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking is by no means a definitive measurement of influence, as there is no such thing. The individuals, brands and publications listed are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion around artificial intelligence.

The PageRank based methodology we use to extract influencers on a particular topic takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives. These calculations also take into account a user’s relevance (number of tweets on topic) and reach (number of followers). If you want to learn more, please read our article that outlines influencer identification.


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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 2017

TOP 100 INFLUENCERS, BRANDS AND PUBLICATIONS

Download this free report which reveals the top 100 artificial intelligence influencers, brands and publications