20 Top AI Influencers (agentic AI) to follow in 2025

The topics in the world of AI are trending because the leaders in this space are setting the pace, like no other — with fresh perspectives, real-world experiences and challenging the conventional wisdom.

That’s why we’ve taken the time to put together a list of the 20 voices in agentic AI, you should be following. These aren’t just people sharing the same old advice—they’re offering fresh, real-world insights that challenge conventional thinking and push your boundaries.

Who better to learn from than those who are right in the thick of it?

Factors considered to curate Zams' list of AI influencers:

• AI-Focused Content: Leaders who consistently share actionable strategies, advice, and more importantly ‘showing instead of saying’
• Community Engagement: Those who actively engage with their followers, sparking meaningful conversations and discussions within the community.
• Content Relevance: Leaders who keep their content timely and relevant, providing updates and advice that reflect the latest trends, use cases, and challenges in the landscape.

Without further ado, meet Zams' list of AI influencers and voices to follow!

1. Amos Bar-Joseph – Co-founder at Swan AI

Amos is the co-founder of Swan AI, who talks about leveraging AI agents not just in theory — but shows how to build AI-native startups, by building in public. AI-native startups refers to the concept of building companies that operate with minimal headcount but achieve real revenue through autonomous agents.

On LinkedIn, he shares behind-the-scenes glimpses into how these agents are being deployed in the real world, what’s working (and what isn’t), and what it takes to actually ship agent-driven products. From design patterns for multi-agent systems to the economics of scaling with agents, his posts are refreshingly practical and grounded in experience.

2. Noelle Russell – CEO, AI Leadership Institute & Best-selling author

If there’s one voice that consistently bridges the worlds of cutting-edge AI and responsible innovation, it’s Noelle. As a 4x Microsoft MVP in AI, she is among the top ai influencers, who brings a rare blend of technical depth, real-world business impact, and human-centered thinking to every conversation she leads.

On LinkedIn, she talks candidly about how agentic AI is transforming operations from enterprise workflows to customer experience, with her trademark emphasis on not losing sight of ethics, accountability, or trust.

What sets Noelle apart is her relatability and clarity. If you're building with AI, managing teams, or simply trying to make sense of where this AI goes next—Noelle’s posts are a must on your feed.

3. Tony Moroney – Co-founder, Access CX & LinkedIn AI Influencer

Tony is among the recognized LinkedIn AI influencers, who dives deep into governance, customer experience, and business transformation. His posts aren’t just theoretical—they provide frameworks, mental models, and decision-making tools that help you think clearly about where AI fits in and what it means for long-term value creation.

Being a strong advocate for AI fluency at the leadership level, he often zooms out to show how agentic AI is changing organizational architecture—from how decisions get made to how value chains evolve, to governance models needed to ensure AI adoption stays ethical and aligned with business goals.

He’ll challenge your thinking and help you build smarter.

4. Tim Cortinovis – Global keynote speaker on AI

Tim is one of the go-to ai influencers for understanding how agentic AI is reshaping how we sell, market, and engage with customers. He illustrates how AI agents can act autonomously and intelligently and reshape business processes and customer experiences.

He shares real examples, frameworks, and use cases such as using AI agents to qualify leads, managing funnels, often sparking conversations around what these shifts mean for teams, KPIs, and customer experience. 

He goes beyond automation of tasks and helps you reimagine how humans and AI can co-sell, co-market, and co-create value, minus the buzzwords.

5. John Santaferraro – CEO, DataPrime

If you're serious about AI in the enterprise context, we highly recommend following John Santaferraro. He brings a rare combination of deep enterprise experience and strategic foresight to the conversation.

John is one of those ai influencers who is particularly sharp when it comes to agentic AI—often breaking down how intelligent agents can be used to drive decision-making, automate workflows, and build self-improving systems inside complex organizations.

What really sets him apart is how he connects the dots between past and present. He draws clear lines from the evolution of business intelligence to today’s AI landscape, helping you see not just where things are, but where they’re headed.

If you're looking for grounded, future-proof ways to apply AI in real-world settings, John is one of the clearest voices out there.

6. Balaji Dhamodharan – Global Software Analytics Leader, AMD

Balaji is the strategist to follow if you want to make sense of how agentic AI systems are actually being built and deployed in the real world. He goes deep into the architecture behind AI agents such as how they interact, make decisions, and evolve over time.

What sets Balaji apart is his ability to connect technical depth with business relevance. He shares hands-on insights about integrating AI agents into broader digital transformation strategies. From how agents coordinate using LLMs to how they can be governed in enterprise environments, Balaji breaks it all down with clarity.

If you're looking to move beyond the buzz and seeking those kind of ai influencers, who help you understand how agentic AI can unlock new models of coordination, scale, and decision-making, we highly recommend following Balaji.

7. Seth Earley – CEO, Earley Information Science

Seth is someone to follow if you're serious about making AI actually work inside your organization. He focuses on the nuts and bolts, i.e., how to structure your data, your knowledge, and your processes so that AI agents can do more than just throw out answers—they can take meaningful action.

He talks about things most people overlook, like the importance of taxonomies, ontologies, and information architecture in enabling agentic AI to function properly. His posts are packed with practical advice on designing systems where agents aren’t just reactive, but truly useful and reliable.

8. Ronald van Loon – CEO, Intelligent World

Ronald is a solid follow if you're trying to understand how agentic AI can actually move the needle inside your organization. He shares a lot of real-world examples on how AI agents are being used in logistics, manufacturing, and enterprise decision-making.

He connects AI topics to infrastructure; i.e., data quality, connectivity, edge devices, and how all of that enables agents to act with context and speed. If you’re looking to build AI capabilities that scale in the real world, Ronald’s posts give you a clear window into what’s working across industries and why.

9. Mike Walker – Executive Director Digital Strategy, Microsoft

Mike comes with serious enterprise depth as he’s in the trenches at Microsoft, helping global organizations figure out how to move from AI experiments to operational impact. 

He works across industries to turn AI, IoT, and blockchain into real business outcomes. He’s not chasing hype, but rather focused on frameworks, systems, and strategy that scale. 

Whether you're figuring out how AI agents fit into your organization or just trying to cut through noise, Mike’s thinking helps ground the conversation in what matters: execution, adoption, and building what actually works in complex environments.

10. Paolo Cuomo – Executive Director, Gallagher Re

Paolo’s approach to AI is rooted in practicality and real-world impact. At Gallagher Re, he focuses on how AI can be implemented to transform complex industries like insurance. 

His work emphasizes the importance of clean data, leadership buy-in, and effective change management in driving successful AI adoption. Rather than chasing the latest trends, Paolo highlights how AI can enhance human expertise, not replace it. He focuses on using AI as a tool to assist in better decision-making and customer experiences. 

If you're looking for actionable insights on how AI can truly add value in enterprise environments, his perspective is one you’ll want to follow.

11. John Sukup – Founder, Expected X

John brings a builder’s mindset to agentic AI. He explores what it really takes to design agentic systems that are structured, scalable, and reliable.

He experiments with meta-agent architectures that auto-optimize themselves, offering a glimpse into what practical autonomy at scale could look like. He often writes about using frameworks like PydanticAI to validate LLM outputs and reduce hallucinations, and dives into tools like Hugging Face’s smolagents to show how we can move from prompt spaghetti to more deterministic agents.

With John, you won’t get theory for theory’s sake. If you’re interested in where next-gen tooling for agents is headed and what it means for real-world use cases, his updates cut through the noise.

12. Cassie Kozyrkov – CEO, Kozyr

Cassie is known for her AI innovation, especially how companies can put AI into their decision making. As Google’s first Chief Decision Scientist and now CEO of Kozyr, she has trained over 20,000 people in data driven decision making.

She focuses on how AI can be put into leadership and organizational strategy, and advocates for intentional design and governance. Her insights are especially helpful for leaders who want to put AI into their organization responsibly and well.

If you are interested in the intersection of AI and leadership, Cassie’s work is a practical way to put AI into your decision making.

13. Timnit Gebru – Founder, DAIR

If you’re considering deploying AI agents in your business, Timnit’s work gives you a reality check making you rethink how the systems are built, who they serve, and what gets baked into their logic, and more.

As the founder of Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), she focuses mostly on power, governance, and accountability in AI, the issues that come into the fore when you’re handing more autonomy to agents. Her lens forces you to ask: are these systems actually helping my operations, or are they amplifying unseen risks?

For anyone leading operations, her work reminds us that ‘agentic’ doesn’t just mean autonomous, but should also mean responsible, inclusive, and transparent. It’s a different kind of systems thinking, one that doesn't slow progress but makes sure it's built on solid ground.

14. Demis Hassabis – CEO, Google DeepMind

Demis works on AGI, and is responsible for AI breakthroughs such as AlphaGo, the first program to beat the world champion at the game of Go; and AlphaFold, which cracked the 50-year grand challenge of protein structure prediction. 

What makes his work especially relevant for those thinking about agents is his focus on general-purpose intelligence. He’s not talking about narrow automations or isolated tasks, but systems that can learn, adapt, and reason across domains.

For anyone thinking about autonomy at scale, following Demis will help you stay in the know of what’s coming next, and a preview into the architectural leaps behind today’s most advanced agents. It’s not just research—it’s a signal of how fast the agentic age is moving.

15. Kriti Sharma – Chief Product Officer, Thomson Reuters

Kriti is one of the most thoughtful voices at the intersection of AI and society. Her career has been dedicated to making AI more ethical, inclusive, and human-centered. As the Chief Product Officer for AI at Thomson Reuters, and previously the founder of AI for Good, she has consistently pushed the field to not just consider what AI can do, but what it should do.

She deeply focuses on building a responsible AI that not only performs tasks efficiently but also aligns with human values, avoids harmful biases, and earns public trust. She brings a product lens to AI, one rooted in real-world applications and systemic impact.

If you care about deploying AI at scale in a way that’s socially aware and future-ready, Kriti is a very resourceful person to follow.

16. Irene Solaiman – Head of Global Policy, Hugging Face

Irene Solaiman is one of the most thoughtful voices shaping how AI intersects with society, policy, and ethics. As Head of Global Policy at Hugging Face, and with previous roles at OpenAI and the U.S. government, she brings a rare blend of technical understanding and policy insight to the table.

Her work focuses on the societal risks of powerful AI systems—bias, misinformation, and value alignment—especially in the context of open-source models. She’s been at the forefront of building frameworks that guide responsible development while keeping innovation open and inclusive.

If you're thinking about the long-term impact of AI and how we govern it responsibly, Irene is one of the most important people to follow.

17. Anima Anandkumar – Bren Professor at Caltech & AI influencers

Anima Anandkumar is a key figure in AI, holding the role of Bren Professor at Caltech. Her research covers both theoretical and practical aspects of machine learning, with a focus on tensor-algebraic methods, large-scale learning, deep learning, probabilistic models, and non-convex optimization.

What sets Anima apart is her commitment to applying AI to solve complex scientific challenges. She developed Neural Operators, a framework that extends deep learning to model multi-scale processes in scientific domains, enabling faster and more accurate simulations compared to traditional methods.

If you’re serious about where AI is headed, especially in applying it to solve real-world scientific problems, Anima’s insights and work are definitely worth following.

18. Rama Akkiraju – VP AI/ML for IT, NVIDIA & Machine Learning expert

Rama brings to the table a rare mix of technical depth and enterprise know-how. As the VP of Enterprise AI & Automation at NVIDIA, she’s right at the intersection of where real-world business problems meet cutting-edge AI systems.

Her work focuses on building agentic AI systems that reason, act, and adapt in dynamic environments. She’s also a strong advocate for treating AI like a foundational layer of the software stack, which totally reshapes how businesses build and deploy applications. Add to that her push for the “AI platform architect” role, and you’ve got someone thinking seriously about how to operationalize AI across the enterprise.

If you care about how agentic AI will actually get built and deployed within your organization, then Rama is definitely one of the most insightful voices to follow.

19. Anne Bouverot – France’s Special Envoy for AI

Anne Bouverot has a unique perspective on AI—one that bridges deep technical roots with global leadership. With a PhD in AI from École Normale Supérieure and experience as an executive at Orange, GSMA, and Morpho, she’s been thinking about the impact of technology long before it became mainstream.

Most recently, she played a central role as France’s Special Envoy for AI, convening leaders from over 80 countries at the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris. Her work centers on building frameworks for inclusive, transparent, and sustainable AI governance—bringing a much-needed international lens to the conversation.

If you're paying attention to how AI is being shaped at the intersection of ethics, governance, and society, Anne’s work offers a thoughtful and global view that’s hard to come by.

20. Ecem Karaman – Lead Software Engineer, JPMorgan Chase

For anyone building AI systems at scale, Ecem Karaman’s work is a must-follow. As a Lead Software Engineer at JPMorgan Chase, her work challenges the notion that smart systems can simply be deployed without considering the security and risks they bring along.

Ecem's approach emphasizes that as AI systems grow in complexity and autonomy, they need to be built with resilience at the core. She forces you to consider not just how your systems can perform, but how they can withstand attacks or failures. It's a mindset that blends innovation with caution, ensuring your AI solutions aren’t just fast, but robust and responsible.

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