Ben Parr

Ben Parr is an award-winning entrepreneur, investor, journalist, author, and AI expert with a career dedicated to exploring the impact of technology on our futures.

Ben is President and Co-Founder of Octane AI, a profitable AI platform for ecommerce brands that powers AI-enabled insights and quizzes. Octane AI, founded in 2016, is backed by General Catalyst, Bullpen, and other top Silicon Valley investors and was named the Best Storefront App award by Shopify. He is also Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Theory Forge Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund investing in AI-native startups and founders.

Ben is an influential voice in the AI community, serving as an AI columnist for The Information and authoring his popular newsletter, The AI Analyst. Ben started his career as Co-Editor and Editor-at-Large of Mashable, where he wrote over 2,400 articles and interviewed the world’s top technology and media leaders. Ben was also a technology columnist and commentator for CNET. He is the author of the award-winning book, "Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention", named the top marketing book of 2015 by Strategy+Business Magazine. Parr currently sits on the board of directors of the Leila Janah Foundation and previously sat on the board of its sister company Sama, a leader in AI data training.

As a well-respected AI educator across platforms like TikTok, Twitter, Threads, and LinkedIn, Ben continues his mission to inform the public about the ever-evolving realm of AI. He has been featured in a variety of media, including ABC News, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, NPR, Fox News, USA Today, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and The New York Times. He is a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 and an alum of Northwestern University. He is based in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, but remains a die-hard fan of the Chicago Bears.