Jamie Bartlett

Jamie Bartlett is one of the UK’s foremost voices on the intersection of technology, politics, and society. His work spans six acclaimed books, a hit BBC podcast, documentary filmmaking, and over a decade of original research.

His latest book, How to Talk to AI (2026), arrives at a pivotal moment. Hundreds of millions of people now interact with AI daily, yet most still don’t understand how it works or what the risks are. The book is a practical and incisive guide to making the most of these powerful new technologies, without succumbing to their new powers of manipulation and control.

Beyond his latest work, Bartlett has built one of the most compelling back catalogues in technology writing. The People Vs Tech (2018) examined how data is reshaping democracy and won the 2019 Transmission Prize. Radicals (2017) brought readers inside the world of political outsiders. The Dark Net (2014) became a bestseller, pulling back the curtain on the internet’s hidden subcultures. And The Missing Cryptoqueen (2022) told the story behind his record-breaking podcast. Altogether, his books have been translated into 15 languages.

His influence extends well beyond the page. As founder of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think tank Demos, Bartlett spent a decade studying online extremism, digital politics, and emerging technology’s societal impact. His TED Talk, How the Mysterious Dark Net Is Going Mainstream, has been viewed nearly 5 million times.

On screen, he wrote and presented the BBC Two documentary The Secrets of Silicon Valley (2017), which examined Cambridge Analytica’s role in the 2016 US election. He also created the BBC podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen — which hit number one on iTunes and exposed the largest cryptocurrency fraud in history.

In addition to his books and broadcasting, Jamie Bartlett is a technology columnist for The Spectator and writes regularly for The Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and The Telegraph. He speaks at major conferences and corporate events for clients including American Express, J.P. Morgan, and Google.