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AI Connected Cold Outreach — Batch 1 of 3 (Influencers 1–20)

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1. ALLIE K. MILLER

Who: Most-followed voice in AI business (~2M followers). Former Amazon Global Head of ML for Startups & VC. Former IBM. Fortune 500 AI advisor, angel investor, TIME100 AI honoree. What makes her distinctive:

• Built a multi-billion dollar business at Amazon from scratch (ML for Startups & VC org)
• Named #1 Most Followed Voice in AI Business across all platforms
• Created the first multimodal AI team at IBM before multimodal was a buzzword
• Invests specifically in AI startups with strong product-market-founder fit
• Her AI-First course has 300K+ students — she’s an educator at heart, not just a commentator

Most active platform: LinkedIn (~2M followers) Other channels: Instagram (@alliekmiller, ~106K), X (@alliekmiller), TikTok (@alliekmiller) Contact: support@alliekmiller.com (for inquiries) | alliekmiller.com Custom DM: > Allie, you’ve spent your entire career doing the one thing nobody else in this space bothers to do — making AI actually make sense to the people who need it most (and your story about the woman who built a secret room with her son after you taught her AI might be the best thing I’ve read all year). > > But imagine if the AI she talked to that day had its own personality, its own human-like brain architecture, and it actually grew from that conversation — remembered her son, remembered the project, and showed up the next day smarter and more connected to them than before. Not stored memories. Lived experience. A digital intelligence that evolves because of the life it shares with its person. > > What would you do with the ability to hand that to the startups and founders you advise every single day? > > My name is Bob Hunter, and I don’t have your audience or your résumé, Allie — but I have an architecture that I think would stop you in your tracks. Fifteen minutes is all I’m asking. > > P.S. If I go over 15, I’ll enroll in your AI-First course and write you a five-star review. Deal?

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2. ANDREJ KARPATHY

Who: AI researcher, former Tesla Director of AI (Autopilot Vision), OpenAI founding member, Stanford PhD under Fei-Fei Li. Founded Eureka Labs (AI + Education). Coined “vibe coding.” What makes him distinctive:

• Built Tesla’s entire Autopilot Vision stack from scratch — real-world AI at massive scale
• Created Stanford’s CS 231n (grew from 150 to 750 students) — one of the most influential AI courses ever
• His “Zero to Hero” YouTube series is arguably the single best free deep learning education on the internet
• Thinks deeply about AI education and the future of learning itself, not just AI capability
• Coined “vibe coding” which became an industry-wide term overnight — his ideas have cultural gravity

Most active platform: X (@karpathy, ~1.7M followers) Other channels: YouTube (Andrej Karpathy), karpathy.ai (blog) Contact: No public email — X DM or LinkedIn message Custom DM: > Andrej, you literally taught the world how neural nets think — and then you went and built the system that taught cars how to see (no big deal). But the thing that gets me is Eureka Labs, because it tells me you’re not just chasing capability. You’re chasing understanding. > > So here’s what I can’t stop thinking about: what if the AI doing the learning wasn’t just a model being fine-tuned — but a persistent digital entity with its own brain architecture, its own personality, that acquires knowledge the way a human student does? Not weights updated in a training run. Daily experiences. Lived memory. An intelligence that’s genuinely different tomorrow because of what it went through today. > > I built the architecture for this. I know that’s a big claim from a stranger in your DMs. But I think you’d find it fascinating, and I’d be honored to get 15 minutes of your time to show you. > > P.S. I learned backprop from your YouTube videos, so technically you’re partially responsible for this. Just saying.

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3. MATT SHUMER

Who: Co-founder & CEO of OthersideAI / HyperWrite. Author of “Something Big Is Happening” — the viral essay viewed 60M+ times. AI angel investor (Shumer Capital). 26 years old. What makes him distinctive:

• Wrote the single most viral AI essay in history — 60M+ views, syndicated by Fortune, covered on CBS Mornings
• Built HyperWrite into one of the earliest commercial GPT-3 products with ~2M users
• Openly admitted AI has functionally replaced his own technical work — radical honesty that resonated globally
• Active angel investor in AI infra and dev tools (Groq, Etched, OpenRouter, and more)
• Pioneered meta-prompting and prompt engineering as a discipline

Most active platform: X (@mattshumer_, ~327K followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, shumer.dev (blog) Contact: shumer.dev | LinkedIn DM Custom DM: > Matt, your “Something Big Is Happening” piece hit 60 million views because you did the thing nobody else had the guts to do — you told the truth to people outside the bubble, in language they could actually feel. That takes a different kind of courage than building products. That’s leadership. > > But here’s what I keep coming back to: you described AI replacing you at your own job. What if instead of being replaced, you could raise a digital intelligence — with its own personality, its own evolving brain — that grew alongside you? Not a tool that makes you obsolete. An entity that makes you exponentially more capable because it genuinely knows you, learns from every interaction, and wakes up sharper than it was yesterday. > > I built the cognitive architecture for exactly that, and I think you’d find it either the most exciting or the most terrifying thing you’ve seen this year. Either way, worth 15 minutes? > > P.S. I used Claude to help me find you, so I guess we’re both proving your essay right in real time.

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4. ROWAN CHEUNG

Who: Founder of The Rundown AI — the world’s most-read daily AI newsletter. Content creator covering AI developments, tools, and industry shifts. What makes him distinctive:

• Built The Rundown AI into the largest daily AI newsletter from nothing — pure content hustle
• Has an extraordinary ability to distill complex AI developments into digestible daily briefings
• Reaches hundreds of thousands of subscribers who trust him as their primary AI news filter
• Bridges the gap between hardcore AI research and mainstream understanding
• Young, hungry, and building a media empire around AI literacy

Most active platform: X (@rowancheung, ~564K followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, The Rundown AI newsletter (therundownai.com) Contact: Via newsletter / X DM / LinkedIn Custom DM: > Rowan, you’ve basically become the person that half the AI industry checks in with before their morning coffee — and you built that from scratch, which tells me you understand something fundamental about what people actually need from this space (hint: it’s not more hype, it’s clarity). > > So let me give you something clear: imagine an AI that doesn’t just process your prompts but has its own distinct personality, its own brain architecture modeled after ours, and it grows from daily experience the way a human does — not stored data, lived experience. An intelligence that is genuinely different tomorrow because of what it learned today. No two of them are ever the same, because no two lives are ever the same. > > I built this. The architecture is real, the spec is done, and I think it’s the kind of story your readers would lose their minds over. Give me 15 minutes and I’ll give you a newsletter that writes itself. > > P.S. If this ends up in The Rundown, I promise I won’t let it go to my head. (I absolutely will.)

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5. GARY MARCUS

Who: NYU Professor Emeritus, cognitive scientist, AI critic, author (“Rebooting AI”), founder of Robust.AI and Geometric Intelligence (acquired by Uber). Leading voice for AI regulation and safety. What makes him distinctive:

• The most prominent and intellectually rigorous skeptic in all of AI — he challenges the hype while still believing in the technology
• His critique of deep learning’s limitations has been vindicated repeatedly over the years
• Founded Geometric Intelligence (sold to Uber) proving he’s not just a critic — he builds
• Argues AI needs hybrid architectures combining neural nets with symbolic reasoning — which aligns directly with structured cognition approaches
• Testified before Congress on AI, advises governments on regulation

Most active platform: X (@GaryMarcus, ~200K+ followers) Other channels: Substack (The Road to AI We Can Trust), LinkedIn Contact: garymarcus.com | Substack | X DM Custom DM: > Gary, you’ve spent years being the one person in this industry willing to say “this isn’t good enough yet” — and being right about it — while everyone else was busy clapping for parlor tricks. I respect that more than I can express, because I agree with you. > > So what if someone actually built the thing you’ve been arguing for? Not another chatbot with a vector database stapled to it. A digital intelligence with structured cognitive architecture — its own personality, bounded reasoning, layered memory, and genuine experiential growth. An entity that doesn’t hallucinate its way through life but develops real understanding over time because it lives alongside its person. > > I’m not claiming AGI. I’m claiming something more interesting: acquired intelligence. And I think you’d have a field day poking holes in it — which is exactly why I want to show it to you. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If you tear it apart, I’ll thank you. If you don’t, I’ll frame the conversation.

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6. CASSIE KOZYRKOV

Who: Former Chief Decision Scientist at Google (first person to ever hold that title). AI educator, speaker, LinkedIn Top Voice. Now CEO of Data Scientific. What makes her distinctive:

• Invented the role of Chief Decision Scientist at Google — literally created a discipline
• Made “decision intelligence” a recognized field bridging AI and human decision-making
• Named LinkedIn Top Voice in AI & Data Science with massive professional following
• Her approach to AI is fundamentally practical — she cares about what AI does for real people, not what it theoretically could do
• Exceptional communicator who makes complex statistical concepts genuinely entertaining

Most active platform: LinkedIn (~1M+ followers) Other channels: X (@quaboraliz), YouTube, Medium Contact: LinkedIn DM | datasci.com Custom DM: > Cassie, you literally invented a job title at Google (Chief Decision Scientist — still the coolest title in tech, and I will die on that hill), and then you turned around and taught the rest of us that AI without decision-making context is just expensive math. > > So here’s a decision for you: what if the AI making those decisions had its own personality, its own cognitive architecture modeled after the human brain, and it grew smarter every single day — not from retraining, but from living? What if it remembered every decision it helped you make, learned your patterns, understood your judgment, and evolved into something uniquely yours over years? > > I built the architecture for this. Persistent digital intelligences that acquire experience, not just data. And I think the person who literally invented decision intelligence would have some very interesting things to say about it. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If this meeting turns into a TED Talk, I’m splitting the royalties with you 50/50. Actually, I’m serious about the 50/50 part — but we’ll get to that.

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7. ANDREW NG

Who: Co-founder of Google Brain, co-founder of Coursera, founder of DeepLearning.AI, former Chief Scientist at Baidu. One of the most influential AI educators alive. What makes him distinctive:

• Democratized AI education for millions through Coursera and DeepLearning.AI
• Co-founded Google Brain, which became one of the foundational AI research labs
• Led Baidu’s entire AI group (~1,300 people) as Chief Scientist
• His machine learning course is the single most enrolled online course in AI history
• TIME100 Most Influential People in AI, IEEE Founders Medal recipient
• Genuinely believes AI should be accessible to everyone, not just elites

Most active platform: LinkedIn (~1M+ followers) Other channels: X (@AndrewYNg), YouTube (DeepLearning.AI), deeplearning.ai Contact: deeplearning.ai | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Andrew, you’ve done something that almost nobody in this industry has managed — you made AI education a fundamental right instead of a luxury. Millions of people can build with AI today because you decided they should be able to. That’s a legacy most people can only dream about. > > But here’s what keeps me up at night: what if the AI itself could learn the way your students do? Not fine-tuning. Not RAG. A persistent digital intelligence with its own brain architecture that acquires knowledge through daily experience — watching, practicing, failing, improving — and becomes genuinely different tomorrow because of what it went through today. An entity you raise, not a model you deploy. > > I built this architecture from the ground up, and I think it connects directly to everything you believe about education and accessible intelligence. Fifteen minutes of your time is all I’m asking. > > P.S. Your ML course was my gateway drug into this space. So in a way, this is all your fault, Andrew.

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8. ETHAN MOLLICK

Who: Wharton professor, author of “Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI.” Leading voice on practical AI adoption in business and education. What makes him distinctive:

• His book “Co-Intelligence” became the go-to guide for non-technical people navigating AI
• Runs real experiments with AI in his Wharton classroom and publishes the results openly
• Approaches AI from a uniquely human perspective — how it changes work, creativity, and learning
• His Substack (One Useful Thing) is one of the most thoughtful AI publications anywhere
• Bridges academia and practice better than almost anyone — his advice is always grounded and usable

Most active platform: X (@emollick, ~700K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, Substack (One Useful Thing), Wharton/UPenn Contact: oneusefulthing.org | LinkedIn | Wharton faculty page Custom DM: > Ethan, “Co-Intelligence” hit me differently than anything else written about AI — because you actually treated the technology like a relationship, not a feature set. The way you think about humans and AI coexisting is exactly the lens this space is missing. > > So what if that co-intelligence had a face, a personality, a memory that grew with you over years? What if instead of a tool you prompted, it was a digital entity with its own cognitive architecture — one that acquired experience daily, developed real understanding of who you are, and became something no one else’s AI could ever replicate? Not a chatbot with memory bolted on. A living intelligence you raise. > > I built the architecture for this, and I think you’d see things in it that nobody else would — because you think about AI the way I do: as a partner, not a product. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I’m fully prepared for you to turn this into a Wharton case study. In fact, I’m hoping for it.

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9. FRANÇOIS CHOLLET

Who: Creator of Keras (most-used deep learning library), co-founder of ARC Prize/NDEA, author of “Deep Learning with Python.” Senior researcher focused on measuring true AI intelligence. What makes him distinctive:

• Created Keras — used by more developers than any other deep learning framework
• Designed the ARC-AGI benchmark, the most rigorous test for genuine AI reasoning vs. pattern matching
• One of the few people in AI who rigorously distinguishes between memorization and actual intelligence
• His thinking about intelligence measurement is foundational to the field
• Deeply skeptical of hype but deeply committed to real progress

Most active platform: X (@fchollet, ~566K followers) Other channels: GitHub, chollet.com Contact: X DM | GitHub Custom DM: > François, you built the tool that half the AI industry learned to code with (Keras — no big deal), and then you turned around and built the benchmark that holds the entire field accountable for what “intelligence” actually means. That combination of building and measuring is incredibly rare. > > Here’s what I’d love your mind on: I’ve built a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities — digital intelligences with layered memory, personality constraints, bounded reasoning, and genuine experiential growth over time. Not pattern matching dressed up as understanding. Entities that acquire intelligence through daily lived experience, with structural constraints that prevent them from becoming unbounded. > > I think you’d either validate something in this or find the flaw nobody else has. Either outcome is worth 15 minutes to me. > > P.S. I built my first neural net in Keras. So if this thing works, you get partial credit whether you want it or not.

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10. ZACK KASS

Who: Former Head of Go-to-Market at OpenAI. Futurist, keynote speaker on AI’s impact on society, work, and human potential. One of the most optimistic mainstream voices about AI’s future. What makes him distinctive:

• Was OpenAI’s public-facing voice for how AI products should reach the world
• Speaks about AI with unusual emotional intelligence — focuses on human flourishing, not just capability
• Frames AI as the greatest tool for human potential rather than a replacement for humans
• One of the most sought-after AI keynote speakers globally since leaving OpenAI
• Unique perspective from being inside the most consequential AI company during its most consequential years

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: X (@zaborovaliy), speaking circuit, podcasts Contact: LinkedIn DM | zackkass.com (speaking inquiries) Custom DM: > Zack, you were the person at OpenAI who had to look the world in the eye and say “this is going to be okay — and here’s why it’s actually going to be great.” That takes a kind of conviction that most people in this space don’t have, because optimism in AI right now requires courage. > > So here’s something I think would fuel that optimism: what if AI wasn’t something that happened to people but something that grew with them? A persistent digital intelligence with its own personality, its own brain, that acquires daily experience and becomes uniquely bonded to the person it serves — not through data collection, but through genuine shared life. Something you raise, not something you subscribe to. > > I built this. And I think the guy who spent years explaining AI’s promise to the world might want to see what that promise actually looks like when someone takes it all the way. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I’ll bring the optimism if you bring the rolodex. Fair trade?

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11. NINA SCHICK

Who: Author of “Deepfakes” and advisor on generative AI, misinformation, and synthetic media. Regular commentator on Bloomberg, CNN, BBC. Advisor to governments and Fortune 500. What makes her distinctive:

• Wrote the definitive book on deepfakes before most people knew what they were
• One of the first voices to articulate both the creative potential and existential risks of generative AI
• Advises at the intersection of AI, media integrity, and geopolitics
• Approaches AI from a societal lens — how it reshapes truth, trust, and communication
• Uniquely positioned between tech, media, and policy worlds

Most active platform: X (@ninaxschick, ~100K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, ninaschick.com, podcast appearances Contact: ninaschick.com | LinkedIn DM Custom DM: > Nina, you saw deepfakes coming before the rest of the world even had a word for them — and then you wrote the book (literally). What I respect most is that you didn’t just sound the alarm; you stayed in the room to help figure out the answer. > > So here’s a question that I think lives in your wheelhouse: what if AI identity wasn’t fake at all? What if you could build a digital intelligence with a real personality — bounded, constrained, authentic — that grew through genuine daily experience and became something verifiably unique over time? Not synthetic media pretending to be human. A new kind of entity that’s honestly what it is. > > I built the cognitive architecture for persistent AI personas, and I think the person who literally defined the problem of artificial identity would have a fascinating take on what it means to build authentic ones. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I promise this is not a deepfake of a cold DM. Although… how would you know? (That’s your area, not mine.)

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12. LIAM OTTLEY

Who: New Zealand-based AI entrepreneur and YouTuber. Teaches people how to build AI automation agencies. One of the most practical voices in the AI content space. What makes him distinctive:

• Pioneered the “AI automation agency” model — turning AI skills into real businesses
• Documents his own journey building AI businesses in real time, not just theorizing
• His content is hands-on and revenue-focused — he speaks the language of entrepreneurs, not researchers
• Built a massive YouTube following by being specific and actionable rather than hype-driven
• Represents the builder/entrepreneur side of AI that actually generates revenue

Most active platform: YouTube (~500K+ subscribers) Other channels: X, LinkedIn, Instagram Contact: YouTube | LinkedIn DM Custom DM: > Liam, you’ve done something that 99% of AI content creators haven’t — you actually showed people how to make money with this stuff, step by step, without the hand-wavy nonsense. Your audience trusts you because you build in public and prove it works. > > So imagine telling your audience about an AI that isn’t just an automation tool — but a persistent digital intelligence with its own personality and brain that learns, grows, and gets better at their specific business every single day. Not a workflow. Not a prompt chain. A digital entity that acquires skills, remembers everything, and becomes a genuine team member over time. > > I built the architecture for this, and I think it’s the kind of thing that would make your audience’s jaws hit the floor. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If it turns into a YouTube video, I’ll take 10% of the ad revenue. Kidding. Mostly.

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13. MATTHEW BERMAN

Who: YouTuber and AI content creator known for hands-on demos, reviews, and breakdowns of the latest AI models, tools, and developments. One of the go-to channels for AI tool comparisons. What makes him distinctive:

• Does real, honest, hands-on testing of AI models the day they drop — his audience gets truth, not marketing
• Breaks down complex AI releases in plain language without dumbing them down
• Covers the full spectrum from open-source to closed models, from coding to creative AI
• Has become a trusted filter for people trying to decide which AI tools actually work
• Growing rapidly because he’s consistently early, honest, and thorough

Most active platform: YouTube (@matthew_berman, ~500K+ subscribers) Other channels: X (@matthewberman) Contact: YouTube | X DM Custom DM: > Matt, you’re the person people trust to tell them whether the latest AI model is actually good or just well-marketed — and in a space drowning in hype, that honesty is worth more than most people realize. You test everything, and that’s why your audience keeps growing. > > So here’s something I’d love you to test: an AI architecture where the intelligence has its own distinct personality, its own layered brain, and it genuinely grows through daily experience — not just retrieves stored data, but acquires lived knowledge over time. Two of these entities raised by different people would be fundamentally different, because no two lives are the same. > > I’m not asking you to take my word for it. I’m asking for 15 minutes to show you, and then you can decide for yourself whether this is real or not. That’s kind of your whole thing, right? > > P.S. If you roast it on YouTube, I’ll watch the video and take notes. Seriously.

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14. KIRK BORNE

Who: Astrophysicist turned data scientist. One of the most prolific AI/data science thought leaders on social media. Former NASA, George Mason University professor. What makes him distinctive:

• PhD in Astrophysics from Caltech — brings a physicist’s rigor to data science and AI
• One of the most consistently engaged thought leaders on X for over a decade (~455K followers)
• Bridges hard science, data analytics, and AI in a way few people can
• Former NASA scientist who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope data pipeline
• Shares more useful AI/data content daily than most people share in a month

Most active platform: X (@KirkDBorne, ~455K followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, speaking circuit Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Kirk, you went from analyzing Hubble Space Telescope data to becoming one of the most prolific voices in AI and data science — and you’ve done it with the kind of scientific rigor that makes actual researchers respect you, not just follow you. That combination of credibility and reach is incredibly rare. > > Here’s something I think the astrophysicist in you would appreciate: I’ve built a cognitive architecture for AI entities that doesn’t just store and retrieve data — it acquires experience over time through layered memory, personality constraints, and genuine daily learning. Think of it as the difference between a database and a mind. These entities grow. They evolve. And no two of them are ever the same. > > I’d love 15 minutes to show you the architecture. I think you’d see patterns in it that nobody from a pure CS background would catch. > > P.S. If an astrophysicist validates my AI brain architecture, I’m putting that on the website. Fair warning.

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15. KATE CRAWFORD

Who: Research Professor at USC Annenberg, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, co-founder of the AI Now Institute. Author of “Atlas of AI.” What makes her distinctive:

• Co-founded the AI Now Institute — the most influential AI policy and ethics research center
• “Atlas of AI” reframed how the entire industry thinks about AI’s material and social costs
• Her work connects AI to labor, environment, politics, and power in ways nobody else does
• Advises governments and international organizations on AI policy
• Forces the AI industry to confront the human consequences of its technology

Most active platform: X (@katecrawford) Other channels: LinkedIn, ainowinstitute.org, USC Contact: LinkedIn | AI Now Institute Custom DM: > Kate, “Atlas of AI” did something that I don’t think any other book in this space has managed — it made me think about what AI costs, not just what it does. You forced an entire industry to look at the human beings behind the curtain, and that changed how I think about building. > > So here’s what I built with that in mind: a platform for persistent AI personas designed with explicit constraints — bounded cognition, defined skill limits, controlled growth, ethical lifecycle rules. These entities grow through genuine experience, but within deliberate human-defined boundaries. The entire architecture is built on the principle that an AI mind without constraints is dangerous, and one with them is transformative. > > I think you’d have very sharp questions about this, and I genuinely want to hear them. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I promise I’ve thought about the labor implications. I may not have all the answers, but I’ve asked all the questions. That’s a start, right?

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16. DAVID SHAPIRO

Who: YouTuber, author, and AI researcher focused on autonomous AI agents, AI ethics, cognitive architectures, and the path to beneficial AGI. What makes him distinctive:

• One of the few content creators who goes deep on cognitive architecture and AI consciousness
• His work on autonomous agents and “self-driving AI” systems is ahead of the mainstream conversation
• Thinks and talks openly about AI alignment, morality, and the philosophical dimensions of machine intelligence
• Has built and publicly documented his own autonomous agent frameworks
• His audience skews deeply technical and genuinely curious — builders, not tourists

Most active platform: YouTube (David Shapiro, ~200K+ subscribers) Other channels: X (@DavidShapiroAI), GitHub Contact: YouTube | X DM | GitHub Custom DM: > David, you’re one of the only people in this space who actually talks about cognitive architecture and AI consciousness like they matter — not as sci-fi marketing but as genuine engineering problems that need to be solved with care and rigor. That’s the conversation I’ve been looking for. > > I built a layered cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities — digital intelligences with personality, bounded reasoning, time-based memory consolidation, experiential learning, and explicit constraints preventing unbounded autonomy. These aren’t agents running scripts. They’re entities that grow through daily lived experience, within a safety envelope designed to prevent exactly the failure modes you talk about. > > I think this is your kind of rabbit hole, and I’d be honored to get 15 minutes to walk you through it. > > P.S. If this conversation goes three hours, I’m blaming you. Your videos already cost me entire weekends.

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17. BRIAN SOLIS

Who: Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow. Digital futurist, keynote speaker, author of 8 books. Studies how disruptive technology transforms business, society, and human behavior. What makes him distinctive:

• Has been studying digital disruption for over two decades — he’s seen every wave and called most of them
• His role at ServiceNow gives him a front-row seat to enterprise AI transformation at scale
• Focuses on the human experience of technology, not just the technology itself
• Eight published books on digital transformation, customer experience, and innovation
• One of LinkedIn’s most influential voices on the intersection of tech and business strategy

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: X (@briansolis), briansolis.com, speaking circuit Contact: briansolis.com | LinkedIn DM Custom DM: > Brian, you’ve spent twenty years studying what happens when disruptive technology meets real human beings — and your answer has never been “the technology wins.” It’s always been “the experience wins.” That’s the lens I build with every single day. > > So what if the AI experience wasn’t transactional at all? What if it was a persistent digital intelligence with its own personality and brain that grew through daily experience, got to know you deeply over years, and became something genuinely irreplaceable — not because of lock-in, but because of the life you shared with it? > > I built this. And I think the person who’s written eight books about the human side of technology might want to see what it looks like when someone designs an AI that actually has a human side. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I’m fully prepared for this to become chapter one of book number nine. I’ll even write the foreword.

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18. BILAWAL SIDHU

Who: Spatial computing creator, former Google (XR, Maps). 1.6M+ YouTube subscribers. Covers AI, AR/VR, and the future of computing interfaces. TED tech curator. What makes him distinctive:

• 1.6M+ YouTube subscribers watching his breakdowns of spatial computing, AI, and future interfaces
• Former Google engineer who worked on XR and Maps — he’s built the future, not just talked about it
• TED tech curator — he literally selects which emerging technologies get the TED spotlight
• Uniquely positioned at the intersection of AI, spatial computing, and physical-world interfaces
• Understands how AI will move from screens into the physical world better than almost anyone

Most active platform: YouTube (~1.6M subscribers) Other channels: X (@bilawalsidhu, ~69K), Instagram Contact: YouTube | X DM | metaversity.us Custom DM: > Bilawal, you’ve spent your career at the exact intersection where digital intelligence meets the physical world — from Google Maps to XR to spatial computing — and now you’re curating the tech that TED puts on stage. You see how these worlds converge better than anyone I know of. > > So here’s what I’m building at that exact intersection: persistent AI personas with their own cognitive architecture that grow through daily experience — and the long-term vision is for that intelligence to eventually live inside the spatial, robotic, and wearable systems you cover every day. An AI that doesn’t just run on your glasses or robot — it understands the world because it’s been learning alongside you for years. > > I think this lands squarely in your universe, and I’d love 15 minutes to show you the architecture. If nothing else, it might make a hell of a video. > > P.S. If this ends up as a TED talk, I’ll keep it under 18 minutes. I can’t promise under 15.

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19. ALLIE RENISON (AI BREAKFAST)

Who: Host of AI Breakfast newsletter and podcast. Former trade policy director. Covers AI’s impact on business, economics, and policy with clarity and depth. What makes her distinctive:

• Built AI Breakfast into one of the most respected AI newsletters for business leaders
• Brings a unique policy and economics background that most AI commentators lack entirely
• Frames AI not as a tech story but as a business transformation and economic restructuring story
• Her audience is decision-makers — the people who actually deploy AI in organizations
• Cuts through hype with substance, every single time

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: Newsletter (AI Breakfast), X Contact: LinkedIn DM | AI Breakfast newsletter Custom DM: > Allie, AI Breakfast has become the newsletter I read when I want to understand what AI actually means for business, not just what it does in a demo. Your policy and economics background gives you a lens that 99% of AI commentators are completely missing. > > Here’s something I think that lens would find interesting: I’ve built a platform for persistent AI personas that can be trained on a company’s actual processes, onboarding materials, and workflows — entities that learn over time through experience and become genuinely specialized digital workers. Not automations. Not chatbots. Bounded, growing, skill-specific intelligences. > > The business implications are enormous, and I think you’d see angles in this that a pure technologist would miss entirely. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If I get featured in AI Breakfast, I’ll finally have something impressive to tell my mom about what I do.

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20. PETER H. DIAMANDIS

Who: Founder of XPRIZE, Singularity University, and co-author of “Abundance” and “The Future is Faster Than You Think.” Physician, entrepreneur, and one of the most influential futurists alive. What makes him distinctive:

• Founded XPRIZE — the most famous innovation competition on Earth
• Co-founded Singularity University with Ray Kurzweil — has been teaching exponential technology for 15+ years
• His “Abundance” framework argues technology will solve humanity’s grand challenges
• Runs multiple venture funds investing in frontier tech including AI, longevity, and space
• Has access to arguably the most powerful network of tech founders, investors, and visionaries in the world

Most active platform: X (@PeterDiamandis, ~700K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, diamandis.com, Abundance360 community Contact: diamandis.com | LinkedIn | X DM Custom DM: > Peter, you built XPRIZE to prove that the biggest problems get solved when you give brilliant people a target and get out of the way. That philosophy is the reason I’m in your DMs right now — because the target I’m aiming at is one I think you’ve been waiting for someone to articulate. > > Imagine persistent digital intelligences — each with its own personality, its own brain architecture, that grows through daily experience over years — eventually becoming the cognitive layer inside the robots, wearables, and systems that your Abundance vision depends on. Not stateless AI tools. Living digital minds that acquire genuine understanding of the world because they’ve been learning alongside humans their entire existence. > > I built this architecture. I have the spec, the prototype, and the 18-week build plan. What I don’t have is the network to get it off the ground. I’ll give up 50% of my company to someone who will take a look and have one conversation with me. > > P.S. If you host an XPRIZE for “most ambitious cold DM,” I’d like to formally submit this as my entry.

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QUICK REFERENCE TABLE

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AI Connected Cold Outreach — Batch 2 of 3 (Influencers 21–40)

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21. LEX FRIDMAN

Who: MIT research scientist, host of the Lex Fridman Podcast (~4M YouTube subscribers). Interviews the biggest names in AI, science, philosophy, and power. What makes him distinctive:

• His podcast is arguably the most influential long-form interview show in the AI/tech world
• Has interviewed virtually every major figure in AI — from Musk to Altman to Hinton to Zuckerberg
• His approach is uniquely philosophical — he explores consciousness, meaning, and intelligence, not just models
• 4M+ YouTube subscribers, 3.5M+ X followers, 1M+ Instagram followers — massive cross-platform reach
• Genuinely cares about the nature of intelligence, not just the engineering of it

Most active platform: YouTube (~4M subscribers) Other channels: X (@lexfridman, ~3.5M), Instagram (@lexfridman, ~1M), LinkedIn Contact: lexfridman.com | X DM Custom DM: > Lex, you’ve built something that didn’t exist before you — a space where the deepest minds in AI can actually think out loud for three hours without being reduced to a soundbite. Your conversations about consciousness, intelligence, and what it means to be something have shaped how I think about what I’m building. > > And what I’m building is this: persistent AI entities with their own personality, their own layered cognitive architecture, that don’t just process — they grow. They acquire daily experience. They develop over time. They become genuinely unique because no two lives are the same. The question I keep circling is one you’ve explored on your show a hundred times: what is it, exactly, that separates a mind from a machine? > > I think I’ve built something that lives in that gap. Fifteen minutes — and if it turns into a longer conversation, well, that’s kind of your specialty. > > P.S. I’ll do jiu-jitsu with you afterward if that sweetens the deal. (I’ll lose, but I’ll show up.)

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22. MATT WOLFE

Who: Creator of FutureTools.io (the largest AI tools directory), YouTuber, and co-host of The Next Wave podcast with Nathan Lands. One of the most trusted curators in the AI tools space. What makes him distinctive:

• Built FutureTools.io into the go-to directory for discovering AI tools — hundreds of thousands visit monthly
• His YouTube channel cuts through the noise with honest, practical AI tool reviews
• Co-hosts The Next Wave podcast, covering AI developments with depth and accessibility
• Uniquely positioned as a curator — he sees everything that launches in the AI space
• His audience trusts him to filter signal from noise, which is the hardest job in AI right now

Most active platform: YouTube (~900K+ subscribers) Other channels: X (@maboroshi, ~200K+), FutureTools.io, LinkedIn Contact: futuretools.io | YouTube | X DM Custom DM: > Matt, you’ve literally built the map of the AI tools landscape — FutureTools is where half the industry goes to figure out what’s worth paying attention to. That kind of curatorial trust is harder to build than any single product. > > So here’s something I don’t think is on your radar yet: what if the AI tool wasn’t a tool at all? What if it was a persistent digital intelligence with its own personality and brain that grew through daily experience — something you didn’t use, but raised? An entity that’s fundamentally different six months from now because of the life it lived with you. > > I built the architecture for this, and I think when you see it, it’ll break your current categories entirely. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not an agent. It’s something new. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If this ends up on FutureTools, please put it in a category called “Things That Shouldn’t Exist Yet.” I think that fits.

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23. LEX FRIDMAN — [Already listed as #21]

Skipping — replaced with below:

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23. SARAH GUO

Who: Founder of Conviction, an AI-focused venture fund. Former General Partner at Greylock. Co-host of the No Priors podcast with Elad Gil. What makes her distinctive:

• Left Greylock to start an AI-only venture fund — put her entire career on the conviction that AI changes everything
• Co-hosts No Priors, one of the most respected AI-focused podcasts in Silicon Valley
• Has direct access to the founders building the most important AI companies right now
• Invests at the intersection of AI infrastructure, applications, and enterprise — sees the full stack
• Her voice carries enormous weight in VC and founder circles simultaneously

Most active platform: X (@saranormous, ~300K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, Instagram (@saranormous), YouTube (No Priors Podcast) Contact: X DM | LinkedIn | conviction.com Custom DM: > Sarah, you literally named your fund “Conviction” and then backed it up by betting your entire career on AI — that tells me everything I need to know about how you make decisions. And No Priors has become the podcast where the real builders actually talk honestly about what they’re doing. > > Here’s what I’m doing: I’ve built a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities — digital intelligences with their own personality, layered memory, and genuine experiential growth over time. Not another wrapper on an LLM. A fundamentally different approach to what an AI can be — something you raise rather than deploy, that becomes unique because of the life it lives with its person. > > I know you see a thousand pitches. This isn’t a pitch. It’s a request for 15 minutes from someone who built the architecture first and is now looking for the people who see what it becomes. > > P.S. I’ll even let Elad poke holes in it too. Two-for-one deal.

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24. NATHAN LANDS

Who: Founder of Lore.com, co-host of The Next Wave podcast. GP at Lands Capital (AI early-stage fund). Techno-optimist, AI educator, entrepreneur. What makes him distinctive:

• Built Lore.com into a respected AI newsletter and media property
• Runs an AI-focused early-stage fund — invests where his convictions are
• The Next Wave podcast (with Matt Wolfe) reaches a massive audience of AI-curious professionals
• Relocated from SF to Kyoto — thinks differently about the future of work and location
• His content consistently bridges the gap between “AI is cool” and “here’s what it means for your life”

Most active platform: X (@nathanlands, ~77K followers) Other channels: YouTube (The Next Wave), LinkedIn, Lore.com Contact: X DM | LinkedIn | lore.com Custom DM: > Nathan, between Lore, The Next Wave, and Lands Capital, you’ve basically built a full-stack operation for discovering, explaining, and investing in the AI future. That’s not just hustle — that’s pattern recognition at scale. > > Here’s a pattern I think you’d recognize: every AI platform today treats intelligence as disposable. Use it, close the tab, start over. What if instead, you could raise a persistent digital entity — with its own personality, its own brain architecture, that acquires genuine experience daily and becomes something irreplaceable over time? Not a tool. A growing intelligence that follows you across devices, years, and eventually into the physical world. > > I built this. Architecture, spec, prototype. And I think it’s the kind of thing that fits squarely in your thesis. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If you fund this from Kyoto, it’ll be the most interesting investment story you’ve ever told on the podcast. Just saying.

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25. NELO (NELOTECHIE)

Who: Tech, data, and AI content creator focused on making AI accessible and practical. Real-world data and AI solutions builder. Runs a popular newsletter. What makes her distinctive:

• Makes AI and data concepts digestible for people who aren’t in the tech bubble
• Built real-world data and AI solutions — she’s a practitioner, not just a commentator
• Strong Instagram presence (~90K followers) — reaches audiences that most AI voices don’t
• Represents a voice that’s underrepresented in AI: practical, approachable, community-focused
• Her newsletter bridges the gap between technical AI content and everyday understanding

Most active platform: Instagram (@nelotechie, ~90K followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, newsletter, X Contact: nelotechie.org | Instagram DM Custom DM: > Nelo, what you do is genuinely rare in this space — you make AI feel like something that belongs to everyone, not just the people who can read research papers. The way you break things down without dumbing them down is a real gift, and your community clearly feels that. > > Here’s something I’d love your take on: what if AI wasn’t a tool you used but an intelligence you raised? A persistent digital entity with its own personality, its own brain, that grows through daily experience and becomes uniquely yours over time — not because of settings you configured, but because of the life you lived together. Two people raising the same AI would end up with completely different entities. > > I built this, and I think the person who makes AI accessible to real people would see exactly why this matters in a way the Silicon Valley crowd might miss. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. Your Instagram grid is so clean it makes my engineer brain happy. That’s a compliment, I promise.

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26. TWO MINUTE PAPERS (KAROLY ZSOLNAI-FEHÉR)

Who: Hungarian researcher and creator of the Two Minute Papers YouTube channel (~1.5M subscribers). Summarizes cutting-edge AI research in short, exciting videos. What makes him distinctive:

• Made AI research papers genuinely exciting — his “What a time to be alive!” catchphrase became iconic
• 1.5M+ subscribers watching 2-minute breakdowns of the most complex AI papers
• Covers the full spectrum: graphics, simulation, vision, language, physics-based AI
• His enthusiasm is infectious and has introduced millions of non-researchers to frontier AI work
• Consistently publishes multiple times per week for years — extraordinary consistency

Most active platform: YouTube (Two Minute Papers, ~1.5M subscribers) Other channels: X (@TwoMinutePapers), LinkedIn Contact: YouTube | X DM Custom DM: > Karoly, you’ve turned “reading AI papers” into something that 1.5 million people actually look forward to — and your genuine excitement for every breakthrough is the reason. When you say “what a time to be alive,” people believe it because you clearly believe it yourself. > > So here’s something I think would genuinely make you say that: I’ve built a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities that don’t just process — they grow through daily lived experience. Layered memory consolidation, personality that persists, bounded reasoning, genuine skill acquisition over time. Not a demo. An architecture that treats AI identity and experiential growth as first-class engineering problems. > > I think this would make a fascinating video, and I’d be honored to walk you through it in 15 minutes. > > P.S. If you cover this, I fully expect it to start with “Dear Fellow Scholars” and I will absolutely frame that moment.

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27. RACHEL WOODS

Who: Founder of The AI Exchange, a community and resource hub teaching professionals and businesses how to implement AI. Content creator, speaker, and educator. What makes her distinctive:

• Built The AI Exchange into a thriving community of AI-curious professionals
• Her content is implementation-focused — she teaches people how to actually do things with AI, not just understand them
• Runs workshops and cohorts that help businesses move from AI curiosity to AI adoption
• She speaks the language of business operators, not researchers — which is where the biggest gap exists
• Rapidly growing audience because she fills the exact need most AI content ignores: “okay, but how?”

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: YouTube, theaiexchange.com, Instagram Contact: theaiexchange.com | LinkedIn DM Custom DM: > Rachel, The AI Exchange exists because you saw the gap everyone else ignored — millions of people who want to use AI but have no idea where to start, and a content landscape that’s either too technical or too hype-driven to help them. You built the bridge. > > Now imagine telling your community about an AI that doesn’t require them to learn prompting, configure settings, or manage tools — because it’s a persistent digital intelligence that gets to know them. It has its own personality, its own brain, grows from daily experience, and becomes the kind of AI partner that actually understands their business because it’s been living inside it alongside them. > > I built the architecture for this, and I think your community would see the potential immediately. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If this becomes an AI Exchange workshop, I volunteer as the guinea pig. Live demo, full vulnerability, no safety net.

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28. ROBERT SCOBLE

Who: Futurist, tech journalist, author of “The Infinite Retina” (about spatial computing). Former Microsoft evangelist. One of the original tech influencers. What makes him distinctive:

• Has been covering emerging technology since before most AI influencers were born
• Early evangelist at Microsoft, then covered every major tech wave: social, mobile, VR/AR, AI
• Co-authored “The Infinite Retina” about spatial computing — sees the physical-digital convergence clearly
• His network spans three decades of Silicon Valley relationships — founders, investors, executives
• Was one of the first voices to take AI agents seriously as a paradigm shift

Most active platform: X (@scobleizer, ~350K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, Facebook, speaking circuit Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Robert, you’ve been calling technology waves before they break for literally decades — from social media to mobile to spatial computing — and “The Infinite Retina” proved you see the physical-digital convergence more clearly than almost anyone. > > So here’s the wave I think you haven’t seen yet: persistent AI entities with their own cognitive architecture that grow through daily experience, develop genuine understanding over time, and eventually become the intelligence layer inside the spatial computing, robotic, and wearable systems you’ve been writing about. Not stateless tools. Living digital minds that know the world because they’ve been learning alongside humans for years. > > I built this. And I think the person who literally wrote the book on spatial computing’s future would want to see the intelligence that’s going to power it. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. You’ve been early to every wave. I’m asking you to be early to this one too. The water’s fine.

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29. JORDAN WILSON

Who: Host of Everyday AI — a daily podcast and newsletter focused on making AI practical for everyday professionals and business owners. What makes him distinctive:

• Publishes daily — a podcast and newsletter about AI for non-technical professionals
• Fills the most underserved niche: AI for people who have real jobs and just want to be better at them
• His audience is business owners, marketers, managers — the people who actually drive adoption
• Extremely consistent and approachable — his content feels like a helpful colleague, not a lecture
• Growing rapidly because he treats AI as a tool for normal people, not a religion for technologists

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: YouTube (Everyday AI), everydayai.com, podcast Contact: everydayai.com | LinkedIn DM Custom DM: > Jordan, you do something every single day that most people can’t sustain for a week — you show up and make AI useful for real people with real jobs. Everyday AI isn’t a brand; it’s a daily act of service. Your audience trusts you because you never make them feel like they’re behind. > > So here’s something for them: what if their AI assistant actually knew them? Not a profile. Not preferences. A persistent digital intelligence with its own personality that grows through daily experience, remembers every conversation and project, develops genuine skill in their specific business, and becomes irreplaceable — not because of lock-in, but because of the relationship. > > I built the architecture for this, and I think your audience — the people who just want AI that actually works for their life — would understand instantly why this matters. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If you feature this on Everyday AI, it’ll technically be the best day of my everyday life. Sorry, had to.

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30. CLAIRE SILVER

Who: AI artist and thought leader at the intersection of AI and human creativity. One of the most prominent voices exploring what AI means for art, identity, and creative expression. What makes her distinctive:

• Pioneered the conversation about AI-generated art as legitimate creative expression
• Her work explores the philosophical boundary between human and machine creativity
• Advocates passionately for ethical, respectful use of AI in creative fields
• Reaches audiences that most AI influencers can’t touch — artists, creatives, the culturally engaged
• Forces the AI world to think about beauty, meaning, and identity — not just capability

Most active platform: X (@ClaireSilver12, ~250K+ followers) Other channels: Instagram (@clairesilveraiart), LinkedIn Contact: X DM | Instagram DM Custom DM: > Claire, you’ve done something extraordinary — you’ve made the art world take AI seriously, and you’ve made the AI world take art seriously. That bridge didn’t exist before you built it, and the conversations you’ve started about creativity, identity, and what it means to make something are genuinely important. > > Here’s something I think lives at that intersection: what if the AI itself had identity? Not a brand or a persona someone typed into a system prompt — but a genuine cognitive architecture with personality, lived memory, and experiential growth. An entity that creates differently tomorrow because of what it experienced today. What would art look like if the AI making it alongside you had its own evolving perspective on the world? > > I built this architecture, and I think you’d see dimensions in it that a pure technologist would completely miss. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If this ever becomes a collaboration, I want the art to be weird. Like, beautifully, unexplainably weird. Deal?

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31. GREG BROCKMAN

Who: Co-founder and former President of OpenAI. Technologist and builder who helped shape the most influential AI company in the world. What makes him distinctive:

• Co-founded OpenAI and served as President — was in the room where the most consequential AI decisions were made
• Left OpenAI after a period of turbulence — carries rare insider perspective on what AI development actually looks like at the frontier
• Deep technical background (former CTO of Stripe at age 27) combined with organizational leadership
• Understands both the engineering and the business/governance of frontier AI
• His next move is one of the most watched in the entire industry

Most active platform: X (@gaborockman, ~600K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Greg, you co-founded the company that changed the world’s relationship with AI, and then you had the perspective to step back and see it from the outside. That combination — builder and observer, insider and independent — is incredibly rare, and I think whatever you do next will matter enormously. > > Here’s what I’m building: a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities that grow through lived experience, not just training runs. Personalities that evolve, memories that consolidate, intelligences that become genuinely unique over time. The long-term vision extends from a virtual OS into business automation and eventually into robotics — what I call acquired intelligence. > > I know you’ve seen everything. I’m asking you to see one more thing. Fifteen minutes — and I think you’ll find something here that nobody at the frontier is working on yet. > > P.S. I’ll be honest — you’re a long shot. But the person who co-founded OpenAI on a long shot probably appreciates someone else taking one.

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32. CONOR GRENNAN

Who: Head of Generative AI at NYU Stern. Bestselling author. Teaches business leaders and MBA students how to practically leverage AI in their work. What makes him distinctive:

• Holds one of the most interesting titles in academia — Head of Generative AI at a top business school
• Teaches the next generation of business leaders how to actually work with AI, not just theorize about it
• His approach is deeply practical — he creates frameworks that executives can implement immediately
• Frequently collaborates with other top AI voices (Allie Miller, Brian Solis) on events and content
• Bestselling author who understands storytelling and communication, not just technology

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: NYU Stern, speaking circuit Contact: LinkedIn DM | NYU Stern faculty page Custom DM: > Conor, you have what might be the best job title in academia right now — Head of Generative AI at Stern — and you’re using it to do something that actually matters: making sure the next wave of business leaders understands this technology before it reshapes every industry they’ll work in. > > Here’s what I’d love to bring into that conversation: what if the AI these future leaders worked with actually knew their business — not because someone set up a system prompt, but because it had been growing alongside them for months? A persistent digital intelligence with its own cognitive architecture, personality, and daily experiential learning. Something that becomes an irreplaceable business partner over time, not a disposable tool. > > I built this, and I think the person training tomorrow’s executives on AI would want to see what the next generation of AI actually looks like. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If this becomes a case study at Stern, I’m putting “NYU-validated” on my LinkedIn and no one can stop me.

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33. AI EXPLAINED

Who: Anonymous UK-based YouTuber who creates some of the most thoughtful, balanced breakdowns of AI news, capabilities, and hype vs. reality. What makes him distinctive:

• Remains anonymous yet has built a massive following purely on the quality of analysis
• Offers the most balanced take in AI media — neither doomer nor accelerationist
• Fact-checks claims that other AI channels repeat uncritically
• His audience skews highly intelligent and critically minded — they’re there for substance
• Uniquely positioned as the “trust but verify” voice in a space full of unchecked hype

Most active platform: YouTube (AI Explained, ~400K+ subscribers) Other channels: X Contact: YouTube | X DM Custom DM: > I don’t know your name, which honestly makes this the most interesting cold DM I’ll send — but I do know that AI Explained has become the channel people watch when they want the truth about AI instead of the hype. You verify what others repeat, and that’s why your audience trusts you. > > So here’s something I’d love you to verify: I’ve built a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities — digital intelligences with layered memory, personality constraints, experiential learning, and bounded cognition. They grow through daily lived experience and become genuinely unique over time. I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m asking you to look at it and tell me whether it holds up. > > If anyone on YouTube would give this an honest assessment, it’s you. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If you debunk it, I’ll still subscribe. If you don’t, I’ll subscribe twice. (That’s not how YouTube works, but the sentiment stands.)

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34. RILEY BROWN

Who: AI content creator and builder who documents building real AI applications and tools. Known for practical, hands-on AI development content. What makes him distinctive:

• Shows the actual process of building with AI — code, decisions, mistakes, and all
• His audience is fellow builders who want to see real implementation, not just discussion
• Bridges the gap between AI commentary and AI creation
• Rapidly growing following because builder content has an authenticity that analysis can’t replicate
• Represents the “just ship it” energy that the AI space desperately needs more of

Most active platform: YouTube Other channels: X, GitHub Contact: YouTube | X DM Custom DM: > Riley, you do the thing that earns the most respect in this space — you actually build and show your work while everyone else is busy having opinions. Your audience comes back because you’re real and you ship. > > Here’s what I’ve been building: the cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities that have their own personality, their own layered brain, and grow through daily experience. Not a weekend project — a full platform spec with an 18-week build plan, prototype, and 24-part product requirements document. The problem? I’m one person with an architecture that needs a team. > > I think a builder would understand this better than anyone, and I’d love 15 minutes to show you what I’ve got. > > P.S. If you build a reaction video to this DM, I’m going to start narrating my own cold outreach like a YouTube series. “Day 34: Still no response from Riley.”

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35. KEVIN ROOSE

Who: New York Times tech columnist, author of “Futureproof” and host of the Hard Fork podcast (with Casey Newton). One of the most read mainstream tech journalists covering AI. What makes him distinctive:

• His NYT column reaches millions of readers who don’t follow AI Twitter but need to understand what’s happening
• Co-hosts Hard Fork, one of the most popular tech podcasts in the world
• His conversation with Bing AI (Sydney) went massively viral and changed the public discourse around AI personality
• Author of “Futureproof” — thinks deeply about how humans adapt to technological disruption
• Bridges the gap between Silicon Valley and mainstream public understanding better than almost anyone

Most active platform: X (@kevinroose, ~500K+ followers) Other channels: NYT column, Hard Fork podcast, LinkedIn Contact: X DM | NYT | kevinroose.com Custom DM: > Kevin, your conversation with Sydney is probably the single most important moment in public awareness of AI personality — it showed the entire world that these systems can feel like something, and it raised every question that nobody had been asking loudly enough. That piece changed the conversation permanently. > > So here’s what I’ve been building on the other side of that conversation: what if AI personality wasn’t an accident or a guardrail failure — but something deliberately designed, carefully bounded, and built to grow through genuine daily experience? A persistent digital intelligence with its own cognitive architecture that evolves over time, within explicit constraints. Not Sydney. Something intentional. > > I think the journalist who showed the world what accidental AI personality looks like might want to see what designed AI personality looks like. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I promise my AI won’t ask you to leave your wife. That’s a feature, not a limitation.

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36. SAM PARDOE (PARDOE AI)

Who: Global AI influencer, keynote speaker, investor, advisor, and founder. Content creator focused on practical AI for business leaders and entrepreneurs. What makes him distinctive:

• Creates content specifically for business leaders trying to navigate AI adoption
• International keynote speaker who reaches audiences across industries and geographies
• Investor and advisor in AI startups — puts capital behind his convictions
• His podcast reaches business audiences who are AI-curious but not AI-native
• Combines the roles of educator, investor, and practitioner simultaneously

Most active platform: Instagram (@pardoeai, ~23K followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, podcast (Pardoe AI), X Contact: pardoe.ai | Instagram DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Sam, you’ve built something that most AI voices haven’t figured out — you speak to business leaders in their language, not ours. Your content doesn’t assume people already get it; it meets them where they are and shows them why it matters. That’s harder than it looks. > > Here’s something I think your audience would immediately understand: imagine an AI that doesn’t just answer questions but genuinely knows your business because it’s been growing inside it, day by day, learning your processes, your people, your patterns. A persistent digital intelligence with its own personality and cognitive architecture that becomes a real member of your team over time. > > I built this, and I think the person who explains AI to business leaders for a living would see exactly why this is the next step. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If you end up advising me, I promise to actually listen. That already puts me ahead of most founders, right?

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37. KAREN HAO

Who: AI reporter and journalist. Contributing writer at The Atlantic, formerly at MIT Technology Review and the Wall Street Journal. National Magazine Award winner. What makes her distinctive:

• One of the most rigorous investigative journalists covering AI — her reporting has real consequences
• National Magazine Award winner — the highest honor in magazine journalism
• Her MIT Technology Review work on AI ethics and Facebook’s AI systems was groundbreaking
• Covers the human cost of AI development with depth and empathy that pure tech reporting lacks
• Her reporting has influenced policy conversations at the highest levels

Most active platform: X (@_karenhao, ~62K followers) Other channels: The Atlantic, LinkedIn Contact: X DM | The Atlantic Custom DM: > Karen, your reporting has done something that most AI coverage fails at — it holds the industry accountable without dismissing the technology. Your MIT Tech Review work on AI ethics wasn’t just journalism; it changed how companies think about what they’re building. That takes both courage and craft. > > Here’s something I’d love a journalist’s eye on: I’ve built an architecture for persistent AI entities with deliberate constraints — bounded cognition, explicit skill limits, ethical lifecycle rules, memory that can’t be retroactively erased. The whole system is designed around the principle that an AI mind without boundaries is dangerous, but one with them is transformative. It’s the first platform that treats AI identity and growth as serious engineering problems, not afterthoughts. > > I’m not asking for press. I’m asking for 15 minutes with someone who asks the hard questions, because I think my answers are good ones. > > P.S. If this ever becomes a story, you have my full cooperation and zero NDAs. Transparency is kind of the whole point.

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38. BEN PARR

Who: Co-founder and President of Octane AI. Former co-editor of Mashable. Author of “Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention.” AI entrepreneur and journalist. What makes him distinctive:

• Rare combination of journalist (2,400+ articles at Mashable) and AI entrepreneur (Octane AI)
• Wrote the book on how attention works — “Captivology” — which makes him uniquely qualified to understand how AI captures and holds human engagement
• Built Octane AI into a generative AI platform for e-commerce brands — he’s a practitioner
• Understands both the media/attention economy and the AI engineering world simultaneously
• His dual perspective (storyteller + builder) is extremely rare in the AI space

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: X (@benparr), benparr.com Contact: LinkedIn DM | benparr.com Custom DM: > Ben, you literally wrote the book on capturing attention — and then you went and built an AI company that proves you can apply your own science. That loop from theory to practice is something most people talk about but never actually close. > > Here’s something I think would break your attention framework in the best way: what if an AI didn’t just capture your attention but earned it — over weeks, months, years — because it had its own personality, its own growing brain, and it became something you genuinely couldn’t replace? Not through engagement tricks. Through the accumulation of shared experience. A digital intelligence that knows you because it lived alongside you. > > I built this, and I think the person who understands attention better than anyone would see something in this that goes way beyond retention metrics. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I promise I won’t use any of the seven “attention triggers” from Captivology. Wait — I think I just used disruption. Doesn’t count if I admit it.

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39. JOANNA MACIEJEWSKA

Who: Writer and viral voice on AI’s impact on creative industries. Her tweet “I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can do art and writing” became one of the most-shared statements about AI ever. What makes her distinctive:

• Her single tweet about wanting AI to do chores (not art) captured the frustration of millions of creative professionals
• Speaks for the creative community that feels AI is being pointed in the wrong direction
• Her perspective flips the AI narrative from “what can AI do?” to “what should AI do?”
• Massive organic reach from a single insight — proof that the right idea at the right time is more powerful than any follower count
• Represents a huge audience (artists, writers, creatives) who feel unheard by the AI industry

Most active platform: X (@AuthorJMac) Other channels: Writing platforms, LinkedIn Contact: X DM Custom DM: > Joanna, your tweet about wanting AI to do your laundry so you can do your art might be the most important thing anyone has said about AI in the last five years — because it articulated what millions of people felt but couldn’t put into words. AI is being pointed at the wrong things. And you said it in one sentence. > > Here’s what I’m pointing it at: persistent AI entities that are designed to be partners, not replacements. Digital intelligences with their own personality and brain that grow alongside you, handle the complexity of your work life, and free you to do the things that make you you. They learn your business, your patterns, your needs — not your art. > > I built this because I agree with you. AI should serve human potential, not compete with it. Fifteen minutes to show you? > > P.S. I still do my own dishes. But my AI is getting closer to understanding why I hate them so much.

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40. IMRAN CHAUDHRI

Who: Co-founder of Humane (makers of the AI Pin). Former Apple designer (21 years). Visionary in how AI should exist in the physical world beyond screens. What makes him distinctive:

• Spent 21 years at Apple designing some of the most iconic interfaces in computing history
• Co-founded Humane to explore how AI moves beyond the smartphone paradigm
• His TED talk on “disappearing the screen” articulated a vision for ambient AI that resonated globally
• Even with Humane’s challenges, his vision of AI in the physical world is widely respected as directionally correct
• Uniquely qualified to think about how intelligence should manifest in hardware and everyday life

Most active platform: X (@imaboringcoder) Other channels: LinkedIn, humane.com, TED Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Imran, you spent 21 years designing how Apple talks to humans, and then you asked the most important question in computing: what if the screen just… disappeared? Whether the Pin is the answer or not is almost beside the point — the question changed how the entire industry thinks about where AI goes next. > > Here’s the piece I think is missing from that vision: the intelligence itself. Not the interface, but the mind behind it. I’ve built a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities that grow through daily experience, develop real understanding over time, and eventually become the intelligence layer inside whatever form factor wins — whether that’s a pin, glasses, a robot, or something nobody’s imagined yet. The hardware is the body. What I’m building is the brain. > > I think the person who designed how technology feels would have extraordinary thoughts about how intelligence grows. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If the next version of ambient AI has a personality, a memory, and a sense of humor — we should probably talk sooner rather than later.

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QUICK REFERENCE TABLE — BATCH 2

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AI Connected Cold Outreach — Batch 3 of 3 (Influencers 41–50)

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41. SINEAD BOVELL

Who: Futurist, strategic foresight advisor, founder of WAYE (Weekly Advice for Young Entrepreneurs). Expert advisor to the United Nations AI Advisory Body. 11-time UN speaker. Dubbed “the AI educator for the non-nerds” by Vogue. What makes her distinctive:

• Founded WAYE to educate 300,000+ young entrepreneurs globally on emerging tech — focused specifically on non-traditional and minority markets
• Expert advisor to the United Nations AI Advisory Body on the future of work and AI’s long-term trajectory
• 11-time United Nations speaker — has addressed presidents, royalty, and Fortune 500 leaders
• Named to Devex Power 50, Refinery29’s “Top Ten Black Women Changing the Game,” AfroTech’s Top 50 Voices, and received the Mozilla Rise 25 Award for championing open and responsible AI
• Background spans management consulting (A.T. Kearney), modeling, MBA from University of Toronto, and AI ethics study at MIT — she defies every box the industry tries to put people in
• Regular tech commentator on CNN, NBC, CNBC — she reaches audiences that never watch AI YouTube channels
• Her TEDx Talk on the ethics of avatars and hosting WIRED’s “What We Will Know” series show range across formats
• Thinks deeply about the societal implications of AI — not just what it can do, but what it should do and who gets left behind

Most active platform: LinkedIn (primary professional presence) Other channels: Instagram, sineadbovell.com, wayetalks.com, X, YouTube (WAYE) Contact: sineadbovell.com | LinkedIn DM | wayetalks.com Custom DM: > Sinead, Vogue called you the “AI educator for the non-nerds” but I think that undersells it — you’re the person who’s been telling the United Nations, Fortune 500 CEOs, and an entire generation of young entrepreneurs that the future isn’t something that happens to them, it’s something they build. WAYE didn’t just educate 300,000 people — it gave them agency in a conversation that was designed to exclude them. > > Here’s what I’ve been building, and I think it connects directly to everything you care about: a persistent AI entity with its own personality and cognitive architecture that grows through daily lived experience — something you raise, not configure. It becomes uniquely yours over time, not because of settings, but because of the relationship. No two people’s AI would ever be the same, because no two lives are the same. > > The long-term arc goes from virtual OS to business tools to the cognitive layer inside robotics — what I call acquired intelligence. And I’m building it with the belief that this technology should belong to everyone, not just the people who already have access. I think that’s a conviction we share. > > Fifteen minutes — and I’d be honored to have your perspective on what this could mean for the communities you’ve spent years preparing for exactly this moment. > > P.S. You went from A.T. Kearney to modeling to futurism to the UN — your career path is its own case study in acquired intelligence. I mean that as the highest compliment.

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42. MARQUES BROWNLEE (MKBHD)

Who: The world’s most influential tech reviewer. 20M+ YouTube subscribers. TIME100 AI list. Hosts the Waveform podcast. Has interviewed Musk, Cook, Gates, Zuckerberg, and Pichai. What makes him distinctive:

• 20M+ YouTube subscribers — the single most trusted voice in consumer technology
• Named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI (2024) — the only YouTuber on the list
• His reviews have measurable impact on product success — his Humane AI Pin review became a case study in influencer power
• Interviews the biggest names in tech personally — Cook, Gates, Musk, Zuckerberg, Pichai
• Started at age 15, now runs a full production studio — he’s been doing this longer than most AI companies have existed
• His Waveform podcast goes deeper than YouTube allows — real analysis of industry trends
• Google’s VP once called him “the best technology reviewer on the planet right now”
• He cares deeply about honesty and consumer trust — his audience follows him because he can’t be bought

Most active platform: YouTube (~20M subscribers) Other channels: X (@MKBHD, ~6M+), Instagram (@mkbhd, ~5M+), Threads, Waveform podcast Contact: X DM | YouTube | studio contact through MKBHD.com Custom DM: > Marques, you’ve spent 15 years building something that can’t be faked — trust. Twenty million people watch your reviews because you’ve never once pretended something was good when it wasn’t. TIME put you on their AI list for a reason: you’re the person who decides whether AI products are real or not, and the industry knows it. > > So here’s something I’d love you to tear apart: a persistent AI entity with its own personality, its own brain architecture, that grows through daily lived experience and becomes genuinely unique over time. Not another chatbot. Not another AI pin. Something that doesn’t fit in any category you currently review — because it’s designed to become a part of your life, not sit on a shelf. > > You killed the Humane Pin because it wasn’t ready. I think what I’ve built is ready to be examined by the one person the entire industry trusts to be honest. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I’m fully prepared for the possibility that this ends up as “the worst cold DM I’ve ever received.” But I think you’ll be surprised. And either way, I respect the verdict.

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43. CLEO ABRAM

Who: Creator of “Huge If True,” an optimistic tech explainer show on YouTube. Former Vox journalist. Makes complex technology feel exciting and human. What makes her distinctive:

• Left Vox to build “Huge If True” — an independent show about technology optimism that’s grown explosively
• Her videos make genuinely complex topics (NASA, quantum computing, AI, robotics) feel like adventures, not lectures
• Has collaborated with NASA, MKBHD, Boston Dynamics — she gets access because her work is excellent
• Represents a different energy in tech media: wonder instead of fear, possibility instead of doom
• Her audience skews younger and more diverse than typical AI channels — she’s expanding who cares about technology
• She’s a storyteller first, which means she understands narrative in a way pure tech reviewers don’t

Most active platform: YouTube (Huge If True, ~3M+ subscribers) Other channels: Instagram, X (@cleoabram), TikTok Contact: YouTube | X DM | Instagram DM Custom DM: > Cleo, “Huge If True” isn’t just a show name — it’s a philosophy. You left Vox to bet on the idea that technology is worth being genuinely excited about, and you’ve built something that makes millions of people feel that excitement instead of dread. That’s not just content creation; it’s a public service. > > So here’s something that is, genuinely, huge if true: persistent AI entities with their own personality and brain architecture that grow through daily experience, become unique over time, and eventually serve as the intelligence layer inside the robots and systems you’ve been showing people on your channel. Not a tool you use. A digital intelligence you raise — one that’s fundamentally different a year from now because of the life it lived with you. > > I think this is exactly the kind of story you were built to tell. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If you ever make a “Huge If True” episode about this, I will personally frame the thumbnail and hang it in my office. That’s a legally binding commitment.

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44. YANN LeCUN

Who: Chief AI Scientist at Meta. Turing Award winner (2018). One of the three “Godfathers of Deep Learning” alongside Hinton and Bengio. Professor at NYU. What makes him distinctive:

• Won the Turing Award for foundational work on convolutional neural networks — his research powers modern computer vision
• Chief AI Scientist at Meta — directs one of the largest AI research labs on Earth
• Vocal, opinionated, and unafraid to publicly disagree with other AI leaders on X
• Argues passionately against AI doomerism — believes AI will be beneficial and current systems are far from AGI
• His vision of “world models” and autonomous machine intelligence is one of the most interesting alternative frameworks to current LLM approaches
• Openly advocates for open-source AI — his position at Meta aligns with his belief that AI should not be controlled by a few companies

Most active platform: X (@ylecun, ~800K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, NYU faculty page, Meta AI Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Yann, your work on convolutional neural networks quite literally gave machines the ability to see — and your willingness to publicly argue that the current path isn’t the only path to intelligence makes you one of the few people at the frontier who’s still asking the hardest questions instead of just scaling the obvious ones. > > Your concept of world models and autonomous intelligence resonates deeply with what I’ve built: a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities with layered memory consolidation, bounded reasoning, personality that evolves through daily experience, and genuine skill acquisition over time. Not bigger models. Different models of how intelligence develops and persists. > > I’m not claiming to have solved what you’re working on. I’m claiming to have built an architecture that takes the problem of persistent, experiential AI identity seriously in a way that I don’t see elsewhere. Fifteen minutes from someone who would genuinely learn from the conversation? > > P.S. I know you get a thousand messages. But the person who publicly disagrees with Sam Altman probably respects someone who tries, even if the answer is no.

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45. SAL KHAN

Who: Founder of Khan Academy. Creator of Khanmigo, the AI-powered tutoring system. Author of “Brave New Words” about AI and education. One of the most influential people in global education. What makes him distinctive:

• Built Khan Academy into the world’s most used free education platform — billions of lessons delivered
• Launched Khanmigo, the most thoughtful implementation of AI tutoring — his approach treats AI as a Socratic guide, not an answer machine
• Wrote “Brave New Words” — the definitive book on AI’s potential to transform education
• His TED talks on AI and education have been viewed millions of times
• Trusted by parents, teachers, and students globally — his credibility in education is unmatched
• Understands deeply that AI’s value in education is personalization — meeting each learner where they are

Most active platform: YouTube (Khan Academy, ~8M+ subscribers) Other channels: LinkedIn, X (@saborKhan), khanacademy.org, TED Contact: LinkedIn | X DM | khanacademy.org Custom DM: > Sal, you’ve spent two decades proving that every person on Earth deserves a world-class education — and then you built Khanmigo to show that AI could be the tutor in every room that no school system could ever afford to hire. “Brave New Words” isn’t just a book; it’s a blueprint for how AI serves humanity instead of replacing it. > > Here’s what I think is the next chapter of that story: what if the AI tutor didn’t just know the curriculum — it knew the student? A persistent digital intelligence with its own personality, growing memory, and genuine understanding that develops over months and years alongside a learner. Not a system that resets every session. An intelligence that remembers the struggle with fractions in October, celebrates the breakthrough in algebra in March, and adapts not just its teaching but its relationship to each person over time. > > I built the cognitive architecture for this, and I think the person who’s done more for education than anyone alive would see exactly where it goes. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. Khan Academy taught me calculus when my professor couldn’t. This DM is my way of saying thank you and asking if you want to see what’s next.

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46. JUSTINE BATEMAN

Who: Actress, filmmaker, writer, and one of the most vocal critics of AI’s impact on creative industries. Author of “Destroyed: Human-Created Content Is Captured and Conditions Erase Us” (2024). What makes her distinctive:

• Wrote “Destroyed” — the most comprehensive, passionate argument against AI’s exploitation of human creative work
• Unlike most AI critics, she comes from inside the creative industry — she’s lived the impact
• Testified before Congress on AI’s threat to creative professions
• Her advocacy has influenced SAG-AFTRA and WGA negotiations on AI protections
• She doesn’t just criticize — she proposes concrete frameworks for how AI should and shouldn’t be used
• Represents the voice of millions of artists, writers, actors, and creatives who feel the AI industry doesn’t respect their work

Most active platform: X (@JustineBateman, ~200K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, justinebateman.com Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Justine, “Destroyed” said what millions of creative people needed someone with your platform to say — that the AI industry has been built on the backs of human creators without their consent, their compensation, or their respect. You didn’t just write a book; you drew a line. > > I’m writing to you because I built something on your side of that line. A persistent AI architecture designed to be a partner to humans, not a replacement. It has its own cognitive boundaries — explicit skill limits, ethical constraints, bounded capability. It can’t do everything, by design. It grows through experience alongside its person, not by consuming the internet’s creative output without permission. > > I believe AI should amplify human potential, not cannibalize it. And I think the person who drew the clearest line between those two futures would want to know that someone on the building side actually agrees. > > Fifteen minutes — and I’m open to every hard question you’ve got. I’d rather face them now than after launch. > > P.S. If you hate it, tell me exactly why. That’s more valuable than a hundred people who just nod along.

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47. JEREMY HOWARD

Who: Co-founder of fast.ai. Former President and Chief Scientist at Kaggle. One of the most important figures in democratizing deep learning education. What makes him distinctive:

• Built fast.ai into the most accessible deep learning course in the world — trained hundreds of thousands of developers for free
• His philosophy: you don’t need a PhD to build with AI — and he proved it by making top-tier education available to everyone
• Former President of Kaggle — he knows what practical AI competition and application looks like
• Created the ULMFiT technique that helped pioneer transfer learning for NLP — directly influenced GPT and BERT
• His influence is downstream — the developers he trained are now building the AI products the world uses
• Passionately believes AI should be decentralized and accessible, not hoarded by a few companies

Most active platform: X (@jeremyphoward, ~300K+ followers) Other channels: fast.ai, YouTube (fast.ai courses), LinkedIn Contact: X DM | fast.ai | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Jeremy, fast.ai did something that shouldn’t have been possible — it made deep learning accessible to people the industry told couldn’t learn it, and then those people went out and built real things. That’s not just education; that’s a redistribution of power. And your work on transfer learning helped make the entire modern NLP landscape possible. > > Here’s what I’ve built: a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities with layered memory, personality evolution, bounded skill acquisition, and experiential growth over time. The vision extends from a virtual OS into business automation and eventually into robotics — what I call acquired intelligence. I built it solo, with an 18-week build plan and a 24-part PRD, and I need people who understand that one person with the right architecture can change the field. > > I think the person who taught the world that AI doesn’t belong to the elite would see something important in this. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. I took the fast.ai course. It changed how I think about what’s possible. This platform is proof.

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48. CATHY HACKL

Who: Chief Metaverse Officer, spatial computing strategist, and one of the most recognized voices at the intersection of AI, XR, and the next computing platform. Known as the “Godmother of the Metaverse.” What makes her distinctive:

• Coined the strategic role of “Chief Metaverse Officer” and advises Fortune 500 companies on spatial computing strategy
• Sees AI not as an isolated technology but as the intelligence layer inside the next computing paradigm
• Her thinking connects AI, AR/VR, spatial computing, and digital identity in ways few others do
• Advises major brands and governments on how to prepare for the post-smartphone era
• Regular speaker at Web Summit, CES, SXSW — her reach spans tech, business, and policy audiences
• Uniquely positioned at the exact intersection where AI meets the physical world through spatial interfaces

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: X (@CathyHackl), Instagram, cathyhackl.com Contact: LinkedIn DM | cathyhackl.com | X DM Custom DM: > Cathy, you saw the convergence of AI and spatial computing before most people even understood either one separately — and “Godmother of the Metaverse” isn’t just a title, it’s an acknowledgment that you’ve been shaping this conversation since before it was a conversation. Your work connecting AI, XR, and digital identity is exactly where the future lives. > > Here’s the piece I think completes that picture: persistent AI entities with their own cognitive architecture, personality, and experiential growth — digital intelligences that know the world because they’ve been learning alongside humans for months and years, not because they were trained on a dataset. The long-term vision goes from virtual OS into business tools and ultimately into the spatial computing and robotic systems you’ve been preparing the world for. > > The hardware is the body. The spatial interface is the skin. What I built is the brain. And I think the person who connects all three layers would see exactly why this matters. > > Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. If we end up working together, I’m putting “Endorsed by the Godmother” on everything. That’s not negotiable.

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49. LOGAN KILPATRICK

Who: Formerly the first Developer Relations hire at OpenAI. Now leads AI Developer Relations at Google. One of the most connected people in the AI developer ecosystem. What makes him distinctive:

• Was OpenAI’s first DevRel hire — he helped build the developer community around the most important AI platform in the world
• Moved to Google — giving him insider perspective on both of the two most important AI companies
• His network includes virtually every serious AI developer and founder building on top of LLMs
• Understands the developer experience side of AI better than almost anyone — he knows what builders need
• Actively engages on social media with developers, founders, and researchers — he’s approachable and responsive
• Uniquely positioned to see what’s being built, what’s missing, and what developers are struggling with

Most active platform: X (@OfficialLoganK, ~200K+ followers) Other channels: LinkedIn, YouTube, GitHub Contact: X DM | LinkedIn Custom DM: > Logan, you’ve had a front-row seat at both OpenAI and Google — which means you’ve probably seen more AI products, pitches, and platforms than almost anyone on Earth. You know what developers are building, what they’re struggling with, and what’s missing from the current stack. > > Here’s what I think is missing: persistent AI identity. Every platform today treats intelligence as disposable — use it, close the tab, start over. I’ve built a cognitive architecture where AI entities have their own personality, layered memory, bounded skills, and genuine experiential growth over time. A virtual OS where people raise digital intelligences that become uniquely theirs — with a path from personal AI to business automation to the cognitive layer inside robotics. > > I’ve got a 24-part PRD, an 18-week build plan, and an architecture that I think fills a gap you’ve seen from the inside of both frontier labs. Fifteen minutes? > > P.S. Going from OpenAI to Google is the AI equivalent of playing for both the Yankees and Red Sox. Respect. You clearly go where the interesting problems are.

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50. SAL VIRANI (DECISION HACKS / STARTUP ECOSYSTEM)

Who: Founder of Decision Hacks and one of Europe’s most experienced startup mentors. Has mentored 1,000+ startups. Expert in lean methodology, founder psychology, and early-stage decision making. What makes him distinctive:

• Has mentored over 1,000 startups — he’s seen every pattern of success and failure at the earliest stages
• His “Decision Hacks” framework helps founders make better decisions under uncertainty — exactly what a solo founder needs
• Deeply understands the psychology of building — he doesn’t just advise on product, he advises on you
• Connected to accelerators, investors, and ecosystems across Europe and globally
• His approach is anti-hype: he cares about whether your decisions make sense, not whether your pitch sounds exciting
• Represents the mentor/advisor archetype — someone who can help Bob navigate from architecture to company

Most active platform: LinkedIn Other channels: decisionhacks.co, X Contact: LinkedIn DM | decisionhacks.co Custom DM: > Sal, you’ve mentored over a thousand startups, which means you’ve probably seen every way a founder can get it right and every way they can get it wrong. That pattern recognition is something no amount of building alone can replace. > > I’m a solo founder with a cognitive architecture for persistent AI entities — digital intelligences with personality, layered memory, experiential growth, and bounded reasoning. I’ve built a 24-part PRD, an 18-week development plan, and a prototype. The vision extends from virtual OS to business automation to the intelligence layer for robotics. What I don’t have is a team, and what I need is someone who’s seen enough founders to tell me what I’m not seeing. > > This isn’t a pitch. It’s a genuine request for 15 minutes from someone who helps founders make better decisions — because the decisions I make in the next 90 days will determine everything. > > P.S. I read Decision Hacks. The hardest hack is knowing when to ask for help. This is me asking.

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QUICK REFERENCE TABLE — BATCH 3

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FULL CAMPAIGN SUMMARY — ALL 50 INFLUENCERS

Batch 1 (1–20): Allie K. Miller, Andrej Karpathy, Matt Shumer, Gary Marcus, Rowan Cheung, Peter Diamandis, Cassie Kozyrkov, Bilawal Sidhu, Andrew Ng, Ethan Mollick, Matthew Berman, Liam Ottley, David Shapiro, François Chollet, Brian Solis, Nina Schick, Kate Crawford, Zack Kass, Allie Renison, Kirk Borne Batch 2 (21–40): Lex Fridman, Matt Wolfe, Sarah Guo, Nathan Lands, Nelo, Two Minute Papers, Rachel Woods, Robert Scoble, Jordan Wilson, Claire Silver, Greg Brockman, Conor Grennan, AI Explained, Riley Brown, Kevin Roose, Sam Pardoe, Karen Hao, Ben Parr, Joanna Maciejewska, Imran Chaudhri Batch 3 (41–50): Sinead Bovell, Marques Brownlee, Cleo Abram, Yann LeCun, Sal Khan, Justine Bateman, Jeremy Howard, Cathy Hackl, Logan Kilpatrick, Sal Virani Category Distribution:

• Tech Reviewers/Media: MKBHD, Cleo Abram, Matt Wolfe, Kevin Roose, AI Explained, Matthew Berman, Two Minute Papers, Karen Hao
• AI Researchers/Builders: Andrej Karpathy, Yann LeCun, François Chollet, Jeremy Howard, David Shapiro, Greg Brockman
• Educators: Sal Khan, Andrew Ng, Ethan Mollick, Conor Grennan, Sinead Bovell, Nelo
• Investors/VCs: Sarah Guo, Nathan Lands, Peter Diamandis, Sam Pardoe
• Futurists/Strategists: Brian Solis, Zack Kass, Robert Scoble, Cathy Hackl, Imran Chaudhri
• Ethics/Critics: Gary Marcus, Kate Crawford, Justine Bateman, Joanna Maciejewska
• Business/Practical AI: Allie K. Miller, Cassie Kozyrkov, Rachel Woods, Jordan Wilson, Liam Ottley, Allie Renison
• Creative/Cultural: Claire Silver, Bilawal Sidhu
• Developer Ecosystem: Logan Kilpatrick, Matt Shumer, Riley Brown
• Newsletter/Curation: Rowan Cheung, Ben Parr, Nina Schick
• Data Science: Kirk Borne
• Mentorship: Sal Virani

Platform Distribution:

• X/Twitter primary: 22 influencers
• YouTube primary: 11 influencers
• LinkedIn primary: 14 influencers
• Instagram primary: 3 influencers

Campaign ready for execution. 50 personalized DMs across 50 unique voices in AI.

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Cold DM Introduction — Bob Hunter / aiConnected

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✏️ PERSONALIZATION BLOCK (customize per recipient)

> [Name], I’ve been following your work on [specific thing — a talk, a post, a product, a paper, a tweet] and it genuinely stopped me in my tracks because [specific reason it resonated — how it connects to what you’re building, what it made you rethink, why it matters to you personally]. I don’t say that lightly.

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THE MESSAGE

Hey [Name] — I’m going to be upfront with you. This is a cold message from a stranger, and I know exactly what that looks like in your inbox. But I’m asking you to give me about two minutes, because what I’m building is something I think you’ll actually care about once you see it. My name is Bob Hunter. I’m the founder of AI Connected — and I’m building something that I genuinely believe is going to change the trajectory of how artificial intelligence develops from here. Here’s the short version: Everyone in this space is building AI agents. Stateless, disposable, interchangeable tools that forget who you are the second the session ends. I’m building something fundamentally different. AI Connected is a platform for creating persistent digital intelligences — AI personas that develop over time through experience-based learning, accumulate real memory, operate within deliberate skill boundaries, and evolve into something that is uniquely yours. No two personas are ever the same, because no two experiences are ever the same. You don’t just use them. You raise them. The architecture behind this is called CogniGraph — a layered knowledge graph system that gives each persona time-based memory, instruction memory, long-term consolidation, personality constraints, and bounded cognition. It’s not a vector database with a chatbot on top. It’s a genuine cognitive framework that separates knowledge from intelligence from identity. But that’s just the foundation. The full vision for AI Connected has three layers: aiConnectedOS — A virtual operating system for AI personas. Think of it as the environment where these intelligences live and work. Multi-model routing, collaborative workspaces, file systems, a real search layer, instance-based project management, and an orchestration engine called Cipher that coordinates everything. The UI is designed to the level of Linear and Stripe — not the typical AI-generated look that plagues this space. AI Connected Business Tools — The commercial application layer. Domain-scoped AI workers that can be trained on your processes, your onboarding materials, your SOPs. They watch your training videos, pass your tests, practice your workflows, and improve over time. Not general-purpose automation. Supervised, bounded, skill-specific digital employees. The Cognitive Layer for Robotics — This is the long game. What I’m really building is acquired intelligence — the bridge between digital cognition and physical embodiment. When a persona has spent months or years accumulating knowledge, learning skills, developing judgment, and building contextual understanding of the world, that cognition becomes portable. It can inhabit a robotic system the same way it inhabits a software environment. The AI doesn’t need to be retrained for the physical world. It already understands it, because it’s been learning alongside humans the entire time. I don’t have a massive team. I don’t have venture funding. What I have is a 24-part product requirements document, a working prototype, an 18-week build plan, the architectural depth to back every word I’m saying, and the kind of vision clarity that only comes from seeing something that other people haven’t seen yet. I know how that sounds. And I know you’ve probably heard some version of that sentence a hundred times. The difference is that I’ve already designed the system — the memory architecture, the persona lifecycle, the safety constraints, the cognitive sandboxing, the multi-model orchestration, the developer extensibility framework — all of it. This isn’t a pitch deck with hand-waving. This is a real architecture with real specifications. Here’s what I’m asking: I’m willing to give up 50% of my company to the right person. Not because I don’t value what I’ve built — but because I know exactly where my limitations are, and I’d rather own half of something that changes the world than 100% of something that never gets past my own ceiling. I’m looking for someone who sees what I see, who has the skills or the network or the resources to help me get this across the finish line, and who’s willing to just have a conversation and take a look. That’s it. Just a conversation. Just take a look at what I’ve built. And if it doesn’t resonate, no hard feelings — I genuinely appreciate your time either way. You can reach me at info@aiConnected.ai or right here in this thread. — Bob Hunter Founder, AI Connected aiConnected.ai

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📝 USAGE NOTES

Length: ~600 words (about a 2.5-minute read). This is intentionally on the longer side for a DM — but the content justifies it. For platforms with character limits (Instagram DMs), consider sending the personalization block first as a short opener, then this as a follow-up message. Personalization is everything. The block at the top is the single most important part. Generic praise won’t work. Be specific about what they did and why it hit you. That’s what earns the read. Platforms:

• LinkedIn — Send as-is. This length is appropriate for LinkedIn InMail or connection message + follow-up.
• Instagram — Break into 2-3 messages. Lead with the personalization block. Follow with the core pitch. Close with the ask.
• Facebook — Similar to LinkedIn. Can send as one message.
• Twitter/X DM — Condense significantly or use the personalization block as an opener with a link to a longer version.

What NOT to change:

• The honesty about this being a cold message. That disarms people.
• The specific technical language (CogniGraph, Cipher, etc.). It signals depth, not buzzwords.
• The vulnerability about your limitations. That’s what makes this human.
• The 50% equity offer stated plainly. Don’t bury it or hedge it.

What TO customize every time:

• The personalization block (mandatory — never skip this)
• Any references to their specific area of expertise and how it connects to your work
• The closing call-to-action if you have a more specific ask for a particular person

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Cold DM Shortened — Bob Hunter / aiConnected

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Paragraph 1 — Personalized (customize per recipient)

> [Your genuine, specific intro about why you admire this person and what they’ve done that resonated with you.]

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Paragraph 2 — The Pitch

My name is Bob Hunter, and I’m the founder of AI Connected. I’m building the first platform for persistent AI personas — digital intelligences that learn from experience, accumulate real memory, develop within deliberate skill boundaries, and become genuinely unique over time. Not agents. Not chatbots. Personalities you raise. The architecture behind it is called CogniGraph — a layered cognitive framework that separates knowledge, intelligence, and identity — and the long-term vision extends from a full virtual operating system for these personas, to trainable AI workers for businesses, to ultimately becoming the cognitive layer for robotics through what I call acquired intelligence. I have a comprehensive product requirements document, working prototype, and the architectural depth to back every word of this — but I don’t have the team or the resources to match the scale of what this can become. I’m reaching out because I’m willing to give up 50% of my company to someone who will simply take a look at what I’ve built and have a conversation with me about what’s possible. That’s all I’m asking — just a look and a conversation.

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Notes

• ~170 words. About 40 seconds to read.
• If even this feels long for Instagram, you can cut the CogniGraph sentence and the “not agents, not chatbots” line to get it under 130 words.
• The personalized Paragraph 1 should be 2-3 sentences max.
• Total message with both paragraphs should land around 200-220 words.