Ajay Agrawal

Ajay Agrawal is an economist and professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He says AI’s real revolution isn’t in flashy robots or sentient machines, but in rethinking decision-making. This perspective has fuelled his bestselling books, including Prediction Machines and Power and Prediction, co-authored with Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb.

Agrawal is the founder of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a startup incubator that has propelled over 200 machine-learning venture and created billions in equity value. He is also the co-founder of NEXT Canada that nurtures young entrepreneurs and is the guiding force behind Sanctuary AI, a company striving to build human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots.

A sought-after thinker on how AI has reshaped industries, work and the global economy; Agrawal has explained the implications of AI at the American Economic Association, advised policy groups from Brookings to Carnegie Mellon, and co-led international dialogues on AI regulation. His knack for making AI understandable has made him a go-to voice for executives, policymakers, and investors trying to make sense of this technological tidal wave.

Agrawal often draws comparisons to past technological revolutions. Just as electricity transformed factory design (not simply by replacing steam, but by enabling a complete rethinking of production) AI is forcing a wholesale redesign of workflows. The real winners, he suggests, will be those who don’t just bolt AI onto existing systems, but rethink entire structures from the ground up.

If there’s one thing Ajay Agrawal is certain about, it’s that AI is not just another tool—it’s the first technology that learns from us. And in a world where whoever gets an early lead in AI tends to keep it, the race is on.