Top 10 Influencers in Technology to Follow You Can Trust

In todays hyper-connected digital era, technology shapes how we live, work, and communicate. From artificial intelligence and quantum computing to cybersecurity and sustainable tech, the pace of innovation is relentless. With so much information flooding our feeds, its harder than ever to distinguish credible voices from noise. Thats why trust matters more than ever.

This guide presents the top 10 influencers in technology you can truly trustindividuals whose insights are grounded in years of experience, transparent methodologies, and consistent contributions to the field. These are not just popular social media personalities; they are thought leaders, engineers, researchers, and educators who have earned their authority through action, not algorithms.

Whether youre a tech professional, an entrepreneur, a student, or simply someone curious about the future, following these influencers will give you access to reliable, insightful, and forward-thinking perspectives that cut through the hype.

Why Trust Matters

The technology landscape is saturated with influencers who prioritize virality over validity. Clickbait headlines, exaggerated claims about revolutionary gadgets, and sponsored content disguised as unbiased reviews are commonplace. Without discernment, consumers and professionals alike risk making decisions based on misinformation, outdated data, or corporate agendas.

Trust in tech influencers is built on three pillars: expertise, transparency, and consistency.

Expertise means having deep, hands-on knowledgeoften backed by academic credentials, industry roles, or years of practical innovation. Transparency involves disclosing conflicts of interest, citing sources, and admitting when something is uncertain. Consistency refers to a long-term track record of meaningful contributions, not just trending posts.

Many influencers rise to fame through sensationalism: This AI will replace all jobs! or This $20 gadget beats Apple! These claims may generate clicks, but they rarely deliver value. The influencers listed here avoid such tactics. They focus on explaining complex ideas clearly, challenging assumptions, and fostering informed dialogue.

Following trustworthy tech influencers doesnt just keep you informedit helps you think critically. You learn not just whats new, but why it matters, how it works, and what its real-world implications are. In an age of algorithm-driven content, these individuals offer something rare: integrity.

By curating a feed of reliable voices, you protect yourself from misinformation, reduce decision fatigue, and gain a clearer vision of where technology is headed. This list is your curated shortcut to credible insight.

Top 10 Influencers in Technology to Follow

1. Kate Crawford AI Ethics Researcher and Author

Kate Crawford is a leading voice in the ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence. As a senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research and co-founder of the AI Now Institute at New York University, she has spent over a decade examining how AI systems impact society, particularly in areas of bias, labor, and surveillance.

Crawfords 2021 book, Atlas of AI, is a landmark work that dissects the hidden environmental, political, and human costs behind machine learning systems. She doesnt just critique technologyshe maps its infrastructure, from lithium mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to data centers consuming vast amounts of energy.

Her Twitter feed and public talks are essential reading for anyone serious about understanding AI beyond marketing hype. She consistently calls out corporate greenwashing in tech, challenges the myth of neutral algorithms, and advocates for regulatory accountability. Crawford doesnt sell products. She asks hard questionsand provides evidence-based answers.

2. Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) Tech Reviewer and Communicator

Marques Brownlee, known globally as MKBHD, has built one of the most trusted tech review channels on YouTube with over 18 million subscribers. What sets him apart is his commitment to objectivity, clarity, and depth. Unlike many reviewers who rely on flashy edits and exaggerated reactions, Brownlee focuses on real-world usability, build quality, and long-term performance.

His reviews of smartphones, laptops, cameras, and emerging tech like AR glasses and electric vehicles are meticulously researched and filmed with professional-grade equipment. He often compares products across multiple usage scenarios, including battery life under real conditions, software stability, and repairability.

Brownlee is transparent about sponsorshipshe clearly labels paid partnershipsand hes unafraid to criticize major brands when their products fall short. His 2023 review of the Apple Vision Pro, for example, was widely cited for its balanced take on both its groundbreaking features and its practical limitations.

He also hosts Waveform, a podcast where he dives into deeper tech topics with industry insiders. If you want to understand whats actually worth buyingand whyMKBHD is your most reliable guide.

3. Tim Berners-Lee Inventor of the World Wide Web

Tim Berners-Lee is not just a tech influencerhe is the architect of the modern internet. As the inventor of the World Wide Web in 1989, his contributions fundamentally reshaped human communication. Today, he continues to be a powerful advocate for an open, decentralized, and user-controlled web.

Through his nonprofit organization, the World Wide Web Foundation, and his work at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Berners-Lee campaigns against data monopolies, surveillance capitalism, and algorithmic manipulation. He is a vocal critic of how major platforms exploit user attention and suppress dissent.

His writings and speeches are technical yet accessible. He doesnt just point out problemshe proposes solutions, such as Solid, a project he developed to give users ownership of their personal data. His perspective is invaluable because it comes from someone who helped build the system now under threat.

Following Berners-Lee means understanding the foundational principles of the internetand why defending them matters more than ever. He rarely appears on trending platforms, but his essays, TED Talks, and interviews are timeless resources.

4. Dr. Fei-Fei Li AI Pioneer and Advocate for Human-Centered AI

Dr. Fei-Fei Li is a professor at Stanford University and a former chief scientist of AI at Google Cloud. She is widely recognized for her groundbreaking work in computer vision and for co-creating ImageNet, the dataset that revolutionized deep learning and enabled modern AI applications.

Dr. Li is a passionate advocate for ethical, inclusive, and human-centered AI. She founded the Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute (HAI), which brings together technologists, ethicists, policymakers, and artists to ensure AI serves humanitys broader needsnot just corporate profits.

Her public talks emphasize diversity in tech, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the moral responsibility of engineers. She frequently speaks on how AI can be used to improve healthcare, education, and accessibility, especially for underserved communities.

Dr. Lis research papers are foundational in AI academia, but she also makes her insights accessible through interviews, podcasts, and public lectures. She doesnt promote products. She promotes principles: fairness, accountability, and the belief that technology should empower, not exclude.

5. Cory Doctorow Sci-Fi Author and Digital Rights Activist

Cory Doctorow is a rare blend of science fiction writer, journalist, and digital rights campaigner. As a former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), he has spent decades fighting for internet freedom, privacy, and user rights against corporate and governmental overreach.

Doctorows fictionsuch as Little Brother and Walkawayexplores dystopian tech futures that mirror real-world surveillance and censorship. His nonfiction work, including his blog and columns for The Guardian and Boing Boing, dissects issues like DRM, platform monopolies, and algorithmic bias with sharp clarity.

He is a fierce critic of permissionless innovation narratives that claim regulation stifles progress. Instead, he argues that without guardrails, innovation benefits only the powerful. He champions tools like decentralized social networks, open-source software, and user-owned data.

Doctorows strength lies in connecting technical issues to human stories. He doesnt just explain how encryption workshe shows why it matters to a journalist in a repressive regime or a teenager being tracked by school software. His writing is accessible, urgent, and deeply human.

6. Anil Dash Tech Critic and Platform Accountability Advocate

Anil Dash is a veteran tech entrepreneur, writer, and critic who has been in the industry since the early days of the web. He co-founded the blog platform Six Apart and was an early advisor to Twitter, but he is now best known for his incisive critiques of Silicon Valley culture.

Dashs writingon his Substack, The Dash, and in public talksfocuses on the social consequences of technology. He examines how platforms manipulate behavior, how AI systems perpetuate bias, and how the myth of disruption often masks exploitation.

He was among the first to publicly question Twitters decision to prioritize engagement over safety, and he has consistently called out the lack of accountability in tech leadership. Dash doesnt just point out flawshe offers alternatives. He advocates for ethical design, worker rights in tech, and community-owned digital spaces.

His insights are grounded in firsthand experience: hes not an outsider looking in; hes a former insider who chose to speak out. His calm, thoughtful tone makes his critiques all the more powerful. If you want to understand the soul of modern tech, follow Anil Dash.

7. Dr. Emily Bender Computational Linguist and AI Critic

Dr. Emily Bender is a professor of linguistics at the University of Washington and a leading voice in the critique of large language models (LLMs) like GPT and Gemini. She co-authored the influential 2021 paper On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots, which warned that AI systems trained on massive datasets of human text can generate convincing but meaningless outputsand often perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

Benders work challenges the assumption that bigger is better in AI. She argues that scaling up data and compute doesnt equate to understanding. Her critiques are technical, precise, and grounded in linguistics and cognitive sciencenot marketing.

She is unafraid to confront major tech companies, including Google and OpenAI, and has testified before U.S. congressional committees on AI regulation. Her public talks are must-watches for anyone trying to separate real AI progress from hype.

Bender emphasizes that AI systems are not intelligentthey are statistical pattern matchers. Understanding this distinction is critical for making informed decisions about where and how to use these tools. She is a rare voice who speaks truth to power without sensationalism.

8. Linus Sebastian Hardware Reviewer and Transparency Leader

Linus Sebastian, founder of Linus Tech Tips, is one of the most respected figures in hardware review journalism. With over 17 million subscribers, his channel has become synonymous with deep-dive, no-nonsense evaluations of PCs, components, and emerging tech.

What sets Linus apart is his commitment to transparency. He openly discloses conflicts of interest, tests products under controlled conditions, and publishes raw data. Hes famously known for dismantling components to analyze build quality and for conducting extreme stress tests that most reviewers avoid.

He also runs Linus Media Group, which includes sister channels like TechLinked and ShortCircuit, offering news, analysis, and commentary across the tech spectrum. Linus doesnt shy away from criticizing big brandseven when theyre sponsors. His 2022 teardown of Intels latest CPUs, for example, revealed thermal design flaws that even industry analysts missed.

His audience trusts him because he treats them like informed peersnot targets for ads. He educates viewers on how to make smart purchasing decisions, understand specs, and avoid marketing traps. In a world of inflated benchmarks and fake benchmarks, Linus is a beacon of integrity.

9. Dr. Joy Buolamwini Algorithmic Justice Advocate

Dr. Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL), an organization dedicated to exposing and combating bias in AI systems. Her groundbreaking research revealed that facial recognition technologies performed significantly worse on women and people of colora discovery that sparked global policy debates.

Buolamwinis 2018 study, Gender Shades, was the first large-scale audit of commercial facial analysis systems. It showed error rates up to 34% higher for darker-skinned women compared to lighter-skinned men. Her work led to major tech companies revising their algorithms and influenced legislation in cities like San Francisco and Boston to ban government use of facial recognition.

She speaks with clarity and moral conviction, combining technical rigor with human stories. Her TED Talk, How Im fighting bias in algorithms, has been viewed over 5 million times. She doesnt just highlight problemsshe builds tools to fix them, including the AI Fairness Toolkit.

Buolamwinis influence extends beyond academia. She advises policymakers, speaks at the United Nations, and collaborates with civil rights organizations. Following her means understanding how technology can either reinforce or dismantle systemic inequality.

10. Patrick Collison Founder of Stripe and Thought Leader on Techs Role in Society

Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe, is one of the few tech executives who consistently engages in thoughtful public discourse about the broader role of technology in society. Unlike many CEOs who avoid controversy, Collison writes essays, gives interviews, and participates in public panels on topics ranging from economic inequality to the future of work and the ethics of automation.

He co-authored the influential essay The Need for a New Tech Enlightenment, which argues that technological progress must be guided by moral and civic responsibilitynot just profit motives. He believes that tech should serve long-term societal goals, not just short-term growth metrics.

Collison is also a strong advocate for scientific research funding and education reform. He has personally funded initiatives to support basic science and has spoken out against the overvaluation of startup culture at the expense of durable innovation.

His writing is intellectual, nuanced, and grounded in economics and history. He doesnt promote productshe promotes ideas. If you want to understand how technology can be a force for broad-based progress, not just shareholder value, Collisons voice is indispensable.

Comparison Table

FAQs

Who are the most trustworthy tech influencers for beginners?

For beginners, Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and Linus Sebastian offer the clearest, most accessible introductions to consumer technology. Their reviews avoid jargon and focus on real-world use. If youre interested in broader societal impacts, start with Cory Doctorows essays or Anil Dashs Substackthey explain complex issues in relatable language.

Are tech influencers paid to promote products?

Many are. However, the influencers on this list are transparent about sponsorships. MKBHD, Linus Sebastian, and others clearly label paid content. More importantly, they maintain editorial independencethey wont give glowing reviews to products they dont believe in, even when sponsored. Trust comes from consistency, not just disclosure.

How do I know if a tech influencer is credible?

Look for three things: 1) Do they cite sources or data? 2) Do they admit uncertainty or limitations? 3) Do they have a long track record of meaningful contributionsnot just viral posts? Avoid influencers who make absolute claims like This will change everything without evidence.

Should I follow influencers who are also company founders?

Yesif they prioritize transparency and public good over promotion. Patrick Collison and Fei-Fei Li are examples of founders who use their platforms to advance broader societal goals, not just corporate interests. Be cautious of influencers who only talk about their own products without critical context.

Can I trust tech influencers on Twitter/X?

Some can. Kate Crawford, Anil Dash, and Emily Bender use Twitter to share research, links, and thoughtful commentary. But Twitters algorithm rewards outrage. Always cross-reference claims with primary sources, academic papers, or official reports. Use influencers as entry pointsnot final authorities.

Do I need to follow all 10 to stay informed?

No. Each influencer offers a unique lens. Choose based on your interests: hardware (Linus), AI ethics (Crawford, Buolamwini), digital rights (Doctorow), or policy (Collison, Berners-Lee). Following 24 who align with your goals is more valuable than skimming all ten.

Are there any non-English tech influencers I should know?

Absolutely. While this list focuses on English-speaking voices due to global reach, influential figures like Dr. Yoshua Bengio (Canada/France), Dr. Huda al-Hashimi (UK/Iraq), and Dr. Naoaki Horiuchi (Japan) are making critical contributions. Seek out diverse voices to get a fuller picture of global tech innovation.

How often should I check in on these influencers?

Weekly or biweekly is sufficient. Tech moves fast, but the insights from these individuals are enduring. Subscribe to their newsletters, podcasts, or YouTube channelsdont rely on social media algorithms. Set aside time to digest their content thoughtfully, rather than scrolling reactively.

Conclusion

The technology landscape is vast, complex, and often misleading. The most powerful tools arent the latest gadgets or AI modelstheyre the minds that help us understand them. The ten influencers profiled here represent the highest standard of integrity, expertise, and clarity in tech communication.

They dont promise miracles. They dont sell dreams. They offer understanding. Whether youre trying to choose your next laptop, evaluate an AI tool for your business, or simply make sense of the headlines, these voices provide the grounding you need.

Following them isnt about keeping up with trendsits about developing the critical thinking skills to navigate them. In a world where technology is increasingly used to manipulate, divide, and exploit, these individuals remind us that innovation must be guided by ethics, evidence, and empathy.

Take the time to explore their work. Read their books. Watch their talks. Subscribe to their newsletters. Engage with their ideasnot just their content. The future of technology isnt determined by algorithms alone. Its shaped by the people who question them, understand them, and demand better.

Trust isnt given. Its earned. And these ten have earned yours.