MSN Names Joseph Raczynski to “Top 10 AI leaders to follow in 2026”

Author: Emily Standley Allard

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly moving forward in the technology sector, evolving from a technological breakthrough into a transformative force impacting the global economy. Today’s leaders, spanning leaders, experts, and executives, are shaping how AI is developed, governed, and deployed across industries, including technology, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy.

The given list of Top 10 AI Leaders to Follow in 2026 recognizes such individuals driving real-world impact through artificial intelligence, be it scaling enterprise adoption or advancing responsible and ethical AI. From visionary CEOs to pioneering researchers, this list celebrates those who are pushing boundaries and defining the future of the AI era.

MSN Article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/top-10-ai-leaders-to-follow-in-2026/ar-AA242ojF

Joseph Raczynski

Joseph Raczynski, a global technologist advising on AI since 2015, which in “tech years” makes him Yoda years old. While others were busy hallucinating about chatbots, Joseph was busy bridging the chasm between complex code and executive strategy at over 400 conferences. He didn’t just predict the “Agentic Evolution”; he’s the guy who turned loose AI agents with their own wallets in 2024, because nothing says, “what’s next?” like giving an algorithm a “credit card” on the blockchain. A fixture at Davos who manages to speak “AI”, “Digital Assets”, and “Human,” Joseph helps companies survive the rewiring of… well, everything. Whether he’s being named MSN “Top 10 AI Entrepreneur” or hosting the podcast Tech Snippets Today, he’s busy prepping the boardroom for the inevitable arrival of AGI, and everything before it. You’ll understand the bleeding edge before the masses do, and before the agents decide they don’t actually need us for the meetings.

Shekhar Natarajan

Shekhar Natarajan grew up in one of India’s largest slums, studying under a single streetlight. He arrived in America with $34 in his pocket. Today, Shekhar Natarajan holds 207 patents and stands as one of the most consequential voices in the global AI conversation — an architect of technology’s moral future. Over 25 years, Shekhar ascended to the highest levels of the world’s most iconic brands. At Walmart, he transformed the grocery division from $30 million to $5 billion. At Disney, he helped bring the iconic MagicBand experience to life. He drove supply chain transformation and innovation at Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Target, and American Eagle Outfitters — building a reputation not just for results, but for reimagining how global enterprises operate. What sets Shekhar apart from every other AI pioneer is what he builds toward. While Silicon Valley races to optimize, the architects have been doing so for a thousand years. His framework — Angelic Intelligence — is not AI patched with ethics after the fact. It is AI where virtue is the architecture itself: 27 Digital Angels, cross-cultural wisdom encoded at the computational substrate, technology that becomes more trustworthy the more capable it becomes. The next evolution of AI — built not with speed, but with love. His podcast, Tomorrow Today by SKN, is the world’s 3rd most popular technology podcast — bringing this vision of humanity’s technological future to millions of listeners globally.

Katrien Grobler

Katrien Grobler is the Founder and CEO of Twinnin, the world’s first infrastructure platform for verified and licensed digital humans. After helping shape globally recognized brands and serving as Head of Brand at Vodafone, a serious illness prompted a personal and professional transformation that ultimately led her into artificial intelligence. Driven by a mission to ensure humans remain represented, protected, and fairly compensated in the age of AI-generated content, Katrien created Twinnin to build consent-led digital twins rather than replace people with synthetic identities. Within just two weeks of launch, the platform surpassed 1,000 digital twins, generated more than 50 million media impressions, secured major enterprise partnerships across advertising, FMCG, film, and television, and hosted a landmark UK summit alongside RADA, Equity, policymakers, and creative leaders. Today, Katrien is building what she describes as the identity layer for the AI economy.

Malay A. Upadhyay

Malay A. Upadhyay saw what the AI revolution was missing before most knew the revolution had begun. While the world raced to build AI, the 80% who lead, fund, and use it – executives, managers, and decision-makers – were left clueless. A former member of the European AI Alliance that helped shape the European Commission’s first AI policy, Malay became one of the first educators globally to design AI management frameworks for non-technical leaders, including the TUSCANE Data Readiness model featured in his book Artificial Intelligence for Managers. Board Advisor at the US Artificial Intelligence Institute, COO of SalesChoice, and author of four AI books, he has trained 2,000+ leaders hailing from Compass Group Japan and CGI India to Services Australia and the US Navy. A Global Icon Award recipient, his trainees now lead AI transformations worldwide, with Cambridge academics and Fortune-class executives crediting his work with turning complexity into measurable outcomes.

Dustin W. Stout

Dustin W. Stout is on a mission to make the world’s most powerful AI accessible to everyone. As the founder and CEO of Magai, he is building the platform that bridges the gap between cutting-edge artificial intelligence and the everyday people, creators, and businesses who need it most. Magai brings together the world’s leading AI models, from ChatGPT and Claude to Gemini, Grok, and beyond, into a single, intuitive platform designed to remove barriers, spark creativity, and unlock human potential at scale. What sets Dustin apart is not just his ability to spot where technology is heading, but his relentless commitment to ensuring that no one gets left behind when it gets there. He believes AI is not a threat to human progress; it is the greatest tool humanity has ever had to accelerate it. Through Magai, Dustin is pioneering a new era of AI adoption, empowering millions of people to harness the full power of artificial intelligence without needing a technical background or a Fortune 500 budget. His vision is as ambitious as it is clear: a world where AI amplifies human creativity, deepens human connection, and moves the entire human race forward.

Umbar Shakir

Umbar’s an AI heavyweight: former Chief AI Officer at Havas, Expert Partner and EMEA AI Lead at Gartner, guest lecturer in AI at Said Business School, Oxford. She’s now spearheading a movement for more ethical applications of technology and AI as the founder of Amp Rebellion. Umbar’s unique understanding of technology, AI, and culture, and how they converge with human experiences, makes her advice highly sought after. With 27 years of tech consulting heritage from PwC, IBM, PA Consulting, and Gartner, she’s passionate about emerging technology to deliver positive impacts for people and our planet. Her recent clients include Vodafone, The World Bank, Virgin, British Airways, GSK, and the UK Central Government. Famed for her stance on calling out big tech and consulting firms on their irresponsible approaches to AI, she believes in harnessing technology and AI to help us be more human where it matters.

Philip Z. Borge

Philip Z. Borge is an emerging entrepreneur and technology leader redefining how modern businesses approach financial operations and efficiency. As the co-founder of Crunched, a Y Combinator and First Round Capital-backed startup, he is focused on building workflow automations for deal advisors directly in the MSFT Office toolkit they use today. Before launching Crunched, Philip gained valuable strategic and operational experience at McKinsey & Company, where he worked alongside organizations tackling high-level business and growth challenges. That background helped shape his analytical mindset and ability to identify scalable opportunities at the intersection of technology and operations. What sets Philip apart is his ability to combine strategic thinking with execution, building tools designed not only to improve workflows but also to give transaction professionals greater clarity and confidence in their decision-making. Through Crunched, he is helping modernize the workflow for the next generation of companies.

Mark Kembel

Mark Kembel is the founder of Global Surgical AI Healthcare, a company developing next-generation infrastructure for the future of surgery through its AI DB Core Digital Twin Platform™. The technology transforms CT, MRI, and medical imaging data into real-time, interactive 3D patient models, creating dynamic AI-driven digital twins that support predictive surgical planning, intraoperative guidance, and continuous learning across healthcare systems. At the core of the platform is a proprietary AI database that aggregates imaging data, surgical workflows, and patient outcomes into a continuously improving intelligence engine. This creates a powerful data flywheel where more procedures generate more insights, enabling increasingly advanced AI models and improved surgical outcomes over time. Mark brings decades of technology and operational experience, including work during Microsoft’s Windows 95 era and scaling InterTest.com into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Today, he is leading Global Surgical AI Healthcare’s expansion as the company raises capital to accelerate engineering, hospital pilots, and commercialization efforts aimed at redefining surgical intelligence worldwide. To invest markkembel@gmail.com.

Osvaldo Ramírez

Osvaldo Ramírez is redefining how organizations harness the power of artificial intelligence to lead, compete, and grow. With over 20 years of experience across retail, real estate, insurance, airlines, and beyond, he has built a career at the intersection of business strategy, technology, data, and AI transformation. Today, as an AI-First strategist, he channels that expertise to design and execute high-impact AI initiatives that deliver measurable results and real growth. Specializing in strategic foresight, market intelligence, AI readiness, governance, automation, and digital transformation, he works with organizations to embed AI into the core of their strategy, operations, and decision-making — helping them move from experimentation to scalable execution, unlocking business models and long-term value. Beyond business impact, he is committed to responsible AI, contributing to ethical research and policy initiatives that ensure AI becomes a force for positive, lasting change across society.

Sandy Carter

Sandy Carter is a globally recognized technology executive, AI strategist, and business leader shaping the future of artificial intelligence and digital transformation. With leadership experience at Amazon Web Services and IBM, she has spent decades helping enterprises adopt emerging technologies at scale and growing businesses across AI, and enterprise systems. Recognized as one of Adweek’s AI Trailblazer Power 100 and a leading voice in the tech industry, Sandy is known for translating complex technologies into practical business strategies that create measurable impact. As a Chief Executive Officer and Chief AI Officer, she works at the intersection of innovation, growth, and leadership, helping organizations navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Beyond her executive leadership, Sandy is also a Forbes contributor, author, and LinkedIn Top Voice, widely respected for her insights on AI, digital transformation, leadership, and the future of business in an increasingly technology-driven world.