Person

Andrew Ng

DeepLearning.AI founder; coined AI is the new electricity; dismisses x-risk as distraction.

Andrew Ng
Nationality
United States
Life
1976 – present
Roles
  • scientist
  • entrepreneur
  • academic
  • engineer

Andrew Ng is a leading AI researcher, entrepreneur, and educator who has shaped the field through both technical innovation and democratization of AI knowledge. He co-founded Google Brain (2011), one of the first major deep learning research groups at a tech company, and co-founded Coursera (2012), which brought machine learning education to millions online. His work at Google helped establish deep learning as a dominant paradigm in AI.

Ng founded DeepLearning.AI to provide accessible AI education and has become a prominent public intellectual on AI's societal impact. He is known for the aphorism 'AI is the new electricity,' framing artificial intelligence as a transformative general-purpose technology. He has also been vocal in dismissing existential risk concerns as distracting from near-term, practical AI applications and safety issues.

His influence spans academia, industry, and public discourse. Through Coursera and DeepLearning.AI, he has trained hundreds of thousands of practitioners. His pragmatic stance on AI development—emphasizing rapid deployment and iterative improvement over precautionary approaches—has made him a counterweight to more cautious voices in AI governance debates.

Andrew Ng is a computer scientist and AI entrepreneur who co-founded Google Brain and Coursera, pioneering large-scale deep learning and online AI education. He holds a PhD from Stanford and has held faculty positions in machine learning. As founder of DeepLearning.AI, he has become a prominent voice in AI commercialization and education, known for the phrase 'AI is the new electricity' and for advocating a pragmatic approach to AI safety concerns.

Last updated 31 August 2026