The Problem: Too Much Noise, Not Enough Signal
AI is evolving faster than any technology in history. Every week brings new breakthroughs, new tools, and new voices claiming to have the answers. The result? Information overload. Most people don't know where to start, who to trust, or how to separate the hype from what actually matters.
Worse, many of the best resources are paywalled, scattered across platforms, or buried under clickbait. If you're trying to learn about AI in 2026, you need a curated, trustworthy starting point.
This is that starting point.
We built this guide aiming to be the single best free resource for anyone who wants to understand AI, whether you're a complete beginner or a professional looking to stay ahead. Every person, channel, newsletter, book, and course on this list was selected because it delivers real value, not hype.
Pick a few that match how you like to learn, and start building the habit. The people who understand AI will have an extraordinary advantage in the years ahead.
Learn AI Hands-On with Our Guides
Beyond curating the best external resources, we also publish our own free guides on how to actually use AI tools. Some of our most popular resources cover using the Claude Cowork AI agent for tasks like email management, research, document creation, and process automation. If you want to go beyond learning about AI and start putting it to work, check out our full collection of AI use case guides.
YouTube Channels, Video Creators & Podcasts
Video is the most accessible way to learn about AI. These creators and podcasters consistently produce high-quality, free content that will accelerate your understanding.
Tina Huang
A data scientist and former Meta engineer who makes AI and tech careers approachable for everyone. Tina breaks down complex AI concepts, reviews new tools, and shares practical advice on building skills in the AI era. Her content is especially valuable for people transitioning into AI-related careers.
Nate B Jones
A former product manager turned AI educator who creates in-depth tutorials and reviews of AI tools. Nate focuses on practical applications, showing exactly how to use new AI products in real workflows. His tool walkthroughs are some of the best on YouTube.
Peter Diamandis — Moonshots
Bestselling author, XPRIZE founder, and futurist Peter Diamandis co-hosts the Moonshots podcast (now biweekly), which threads the line between technical depth and general accessibility. Peter and his guests are a gold mine of information on AI, longevity, and exponential technologies. If you want big-picture thinking grounded in real science and business, this channel is essential.
The AI Advantage
Igor Pogany's channel focuses on practical AI productivity. Every video shows you exactly how to use AI tools to get real work done faster. If you're looking for actionable tutorials rather than theory, The AI Advantage delivers consistently.
Wes Roth
One of the most consistent daily AI news channels on YouTube. Wes covers breaking developments across the entire AI landscape with thoughtful analysis rather than just headlines. If you want to stay current on what's happening in AI without the sensationalism, Wes is your go-to.
Matt Wolfe
Matt covers AI news, tools, and tutorials with an emphasis on creative and practical applications. His weekly AI news roundups are a great way to catch up on everything that happened in AI each week, and his tool reviews help you decide what's worth your time.
Farzad Mesbahi
An educator who bridges the gap between AI technology and business strategy. Farzad creates content that helps professionals and entrepreneurs understand how to leverage AI in their careers and businesses. His perspective on AI's impact on industries is particularly valuable.
Gary Vaynerchuk
While not exclusively an AI creator, Gary Vee has become one of the most vocal advocates for AI adoption in business and personal branding. His perspective on how AI is reshaping entrepreneurship, marketing, and the creator economy is especially relevant for business-minded learners.
AI Explained
One of the most thoughtful AI analysis channels on YouTube. AI Explained dives deep into new model releases, benchmark results, and the implications of AI progress with a level of nuance and intellectual honesty that's rare in the space. Essential viewing for anyone who wants to go beyond surface-level AI coverage.
Two Minute Papers
Dr. Karoly Zsolnai-Feher covers the latest AI research papers in short, enthusiastic videos that make cutting-edge research accessible to everyone. His catchphrase "What a time to be alive!" perfectly captures the excitement of watching AI progress in real time.
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman conducts long-form interviews with the biggest names in AI, science, and technology. His conversations with figures like Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Andrej Karpathy, and Demis Hassabis are some of the most in-depth AI discussions available anywhere. The episodes are long (often 2-4 hours), but the depth of insight is unmatched.
All-In Podcast
The "All-In" podcast features four successful tech investors and entrepreneurs (Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg) discussing technology, economics, and politics. Their AI discussions are particularly valuable because they combine technical understanding with investment perspective and real-world business experience.
Dwarkesh Patel
Dwarkesh Patel conducts some of the most intellectually rigorous interviews in the AI space. His conversations often go deeper into the technical and philosophical implications of AI than any other podcast. His interviews with leading AI researchers and thinkers are essential listening for anyone who wants to understand where AI is really heading.
Jordi Visser
Jordi Visser brings a unique perspective as a former Wall Street executive who became one of the most thoughtful voices on AI's economic implications. His content focuses on how AI will reshape markets, labor, and the global economy, making it especially relevant for finance and business professionals.
Andrej Karpathy
Former head of AI at Tesla and OpenAI founding member. Karpathy's YouTube channel is a masterclass in understanding how AI actually works. His "Neural Networks: Zero to Hero" series is widely considered one of the best free AI education resources ever created. If you want to truly understand the technology under the hood, this is the channel.
Must-Watch: AI in Context
"We're Not Ready for Superintelligence"
This standalone video deserves its own category. It is one of the most compelling visualizations of AI's trajectory and what superintelligence could mean for humanity. Whether you've been following AI for years or are just getting started, this video will fundamentally shift how you think about the scale and speed of what's coming. We won't spoil it. Just watch it.
Newsletters & Substacks
The best AI newsletters deliver curated insights directly to your inbox. These are the ones worth subscribing to.
Ethan Mollick — One Useful Thing
Professor at Wharton and one of the most respected voices in practical AI adoption. Ethan's newsletter "One Useful Thing" is arguably the single best AI newsletter available. He combines academic rigor with hands-on experimentation, offering insights on how AI is changing work, education, and creativity. His writing is clear, balanced, and always grounded in real experience.
- One Useful Thing
Ruben Hassid — How to AI
Ruben Hassid's "How to AI" newsletter focuses on actionable AI tips and strategies for professionals. With a large following across LinkedIn and other platforms, Ruben consistently delivers concise, practical content that helps people integrate AI into their daily work.
- How to AI
Zain Kahn — Superhuman
One of the fastest-growing AI newsletters with millions of subscribers. "Superhuman" delivers weekly breakdowns of AI news, tools, and prompts in a format that's easy to scan and immediately actionable. Great for busy professionals who want the highlights without the deep dives.
- Superhuman by Zain Kahn
The Rundown AI
A daily AI newsletter that covers the most important developments in artificial intelligence. The Rundown AI has grown to millions of subscribers by consistently delivering concise, well-curated summaries of everything happening in AI. Perfect for staying informed without spending hours reading.
- The Rundown AI
TLDR AI
Part of the popular TLDR newsletter family, TLDR AI delivers a daily digest of the most important AI news, research, and product launches. Each issue takes just a few minutes to read and covers developments across the entire AI ecosystem.
- TLDR AI
Alex Kantrowitz — Big Technology
Alex Kantrowitz is a journalist who covers the intersection of big tech and AI with depth and independence. His "Big Technology" newsletter and companion podcast provide critical analysis of how AI is reshaping the tech industry and society. His interviews with industry leaders are consistently excellent.
- Big Technology
Ben's Bites
One of the original AI newsletters that helped define the space. Ben's Bites covers daily AI news with a focus on startups, new tools, and emerging trends. It's a great resource for discovering new AI products and understanding the startup ecosystem around AI.
- Ben's Bites
Dr. Alex Wissner-Gross — The Innermost Loop
Dr. Wissner-Gross is a Harvard-trained physicist and AI researcher whose newsletter "The Innermost Loop" covers the cutting edge of AI research and technology with deep technical insight. If you want to understand the frontier of AI development from someone with serious scientific credentials, this is the newsletter for you.
- The Innermost Loop
AI Industry Leaders to Follow
These are the people building the future of AI. Following them gives you insight into where the technology is heading before it gets there.
Sam Altman
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CEO of OpenAI and one of the most influential figures in AI. Altman's public statements, blog posts, and interviews provide direct insight into the roadmap of one of the world's leading AI companies. Whether you agree with his vision or not, understanding his perspective is essential to understanding the AI landscape.
- Sam Altman on X
Dario Amodei
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CEO of Anthropic, the company behind Claude. Amodei is a former VP of Research at OpenAI who left to build an AI company focused on safety and responsible development. His essay "Machines of Loving Grace" is one of the most thoughtful pieces written about AI's potential to benefit humanity. Following him provides perspective on the safety-first approach to AI development.
- Dario Amodei on X
Demis Hassabis
Photo: John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Co-founder and CEO of Google DeepMind. Hassabis is a neuroscientist, AI researcher, and chess prodigy who has been at the forefront of AI research for decades. Under his leadership, DeepMind created AlphaGo, AlphaFold, and numerous other AI breakthroughs. He provides a uniquely scientific perspective on AI progress.
- Demis Hassabis on X
Jensen Huang
Photo: Office of the President, ROC, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CEO of NVIDIA, the company whose GPUs power virtually all of modern AI. Huang's keynotes and interviews reveal the infrastructure roadmap that underlies AI progress. Understanding NVIDIA's direction is understanding what AI capabilities will be possible in the coming years.
- Nvidia on X
Elon Musk
Photo: Debbie Rowe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI (the company behind Grok). Musk has been one of the most vocal public figures on AI, from co-founding OpenAI to warning about AI risks to building his own AI company. His perspective, while sometimes controversial, shapes public discourse about AI's future.
- Elon Musk on X
Mustafa Suleyman
Photo: Christopher Wilson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Co-founder of DeepMind and CEO of Microsoft AI. Suleyman has been building AI systems for over a decade and brings a uniquely thoughtful perspective on how AI should be developed and deployed. His book "The Coming Wave" is essential reading on AI governance and the challenges ahead.
- Mustafa Suleyman on X
Marc Andreessen
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the most influential venture capital firms in technology. Andreessen's essays and podcasts on AI's potential are both provocative and insightful. His firm has invested billions in AI companies, giving him a front-row seat to the industry's evolution.
- Marc Andreessen on X
Cathie Wood
Photo: via Traders Union
CEO of ARK Invest and one of the most prominent voices on AI's investment implications. Wood's research and public commentary focus on how AI will drive economic transformation and create investment opportunities. Her perspective is especially valuable for understanding AI through a financial and economic lens.
- Cathie Wood on X
Emad Mostaque
Photo: UK Government, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Founder of Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion, which democratized AI image generation. While Mostaque stepped down as CEO in early 2024, his vision of open-source AI and his continued commentary on the AI landscape make him an important voice in the debate about how AI should be developed and distributed.
- Emad Mostaque on X
Yann LeCun
Photo: Ecole polytechnique, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Chief AI Scientist at Meta and a Turing Award winner for his foundational work on deep learning. LeCun is one of the "Godfathers of AI" and provides a rigorous, often contrarian scientific perspective on AI capabilities and limitations. His debates with other AI leaders on social media are essential reading for understanding the real scientific discourse around AI.
- Yann LeCun on X
Essential Books
These books provide the foundational knowledge and frameworks for thinking about AI's past, present, and future.
Co-Intelligence — Ethan Mollick
One of the most practical and grounded books on working with AI in the real world. Mollick, a Wharton professor who has been deeply experimenting with AI, offers insights on how to collaborate with AI as a co-worker rather than just a tool. This is the book to read if you want to understand how AI changes knowledge work today, not in some distant future.
- Co-Intelligence on Amazon
The Singularity Is Nearer — Ray Kurzweil
Kurzweil is the most famous futurist in the world, and his track record of technology predictions is remarkable. "The Singularity Is Nearer" (2024) is the follow-up to his influential "The Singularity Is Near" (2005), updating his thesis that artificial superintelligence is approaching faster than most people realize. Essential reading for understanding the long-term trajectory of AI.
- The Singularity Is Nearer on Amazon
Homo Deus & Nexus — Yuval Noah Harari
Harari is one of the most widely-read thinkers on humanity's relationship with technology. "Homo Deus" explores how AI and biotechnology might reshape what it means to be human. "Nexus" (2024) focuses specifically on the information networks and AI systems that are reshaping society. Both books provide crucial big-picture context for understanding AI's place in human history.
- Homo Deus on Amazon
- Nexus on Amazon
Superintelligence — Nick Bostrom
The book that put AI safety on the map. Bostrom's "Superintelligence" rigorously examines what could happen when machines surpass human intelligence and why ensuring AI alignment is one of the most important challenges humanity faces. Dense but essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the existential dimensions of AI development.
- Superintelligence on Amazon
Life 3.0 — Max Tegmark
MIT physicist Max Tegmark explores what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence. "Life 3.0" examines scenarios for how superintelligent AI might emerge and how it could transform every aspect of life, work, and society. It's one of the most accessible books on AI's long-term implications.
- Life 3.0 on Amazon
The Coming Wave — Mustafa Suleyman
Written by the co-founder of DeepMind and current CEO of Microsoft AI, "The Coming Wave" argues that AI and synthetic biology represent a wave of technology that will be nearly impossible to control. Suleyman draws on his decades of experience building AI systems to make the case for why containment is the defining challenge of our era.
- The Coming Wave on Amazon
AI Creators on Social Media
Beyond individual thought leaders, these social media creators consistently share valuable AI content, news, and insights worth following.
Riley Brown
The #1 AI educator on TikTok with over 600K followers. Riley breaks down the latest AI tools, trends, and tutorials in short, digestible videos that make it easy to keep up with the fast-moving AI landscape. Whether it's vibe coding, autonomous agents, or new AI products, Riley covers it in a way that's accessible to everyone.
- Riley Brown on TikTok
Cassie Kozyrkov
Google's former Chief Decision Scientist and founder of the field of Decision Intelligence. Cassie has trained over 20,000 Googlers in data-driven decision-making and AI. On LinkedIn, she's followed by over half a million tech professionals and has been a LinkedIn Top Voice for 5 years. Her posts make complex AI and data science concepts approachable and actionable.
- Cassie Kozyrkov on LinkedIn
Rachel Woods — The AI Exchange
A former Meta data scientist who founded The AI Exchange to make AI accessible to everyone, especially small businesses. Rachel's TikTok content focuses on practical, hands-on AI workflows and strategies that anyone can implement. She's built a community of over 160,000 followers by showing real-world AI applications rather than hype.
- Rachel Woods on TikTok
Vaibhav Sisinty
Founder of GrowthSchool, which has reached over 10 million learners worldwide. Vaibhav's Instagram is a go-to for bite-sized content on AI tools, future tech, and how to leverage AI for business and career growth. With over 1 million Instagram followers, he's one of the most followed AI educators on the platform.
- Vaibhav Sisinty on Instagram
AI for Enterprise
A LinkedIn-based community focused on how businesses can practically adopt and implement AI. Their posts cover real-world AI use cases, enterprise AI strategy, and actionable insights for professionals looking to bring AI into their organizations. A great follow for anyone interested in the business side of AI.
- AI for Enterprise on LinkedIn
Courses & Learning Platforms
For structured learning paths, these courses and platforms offer the best educational content in AI.
Andrew Ng — deeplearning.ai & Coursera
Andrew Ng is arguably the most important figure in AI education. His original Machine Learning course on Coursera has been taken by millions of people and launched countless AI careers. Through deeplearning.ai, he continues to produce world-class courses ranging from beginner-friendly introductions to advanced specializations. If you want structured AI education from the best, start with Andrew Ng.
- deeplearning.ai
Elements of AI
A free online course created by the University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn. "Elements of AI" is designed for non-technical people who want to understand what AI is, what it can (and can't) do, and how it will affect our lives. It's one of the best starting points for complete beginners and has been taken by over a million people worldwide.
- Elements of AI
Google AI Essentials
Google's free AI learning resources cover everything from basic AI concepts to hands-on tutorials with Google's AI tools. The courses are well-structured, beginner-friendly, and backed by one of the world's leading AI companies.
- Google AI Essentials
Microsoft AI Learning Hub
Microsoft offers a comprehensive collection of free AI learning paths and modules through Microsoft Learn. Covering topics from AI fundamentals to advanced machine learning, these courses are particularly valuable if you work with Microsoft products and want to leverage their AI integrations.
- Microsoft AI Learning Hub
freeCodeCamp
freeCodeCamp offers a growing library of free, full-length AI and machine learning courses on YouTube and their learning platform. From Python for data science to deep learning and neural networks, their courses are taught by experienced instructors and are completely free. A great option if you want hands-on, project-based learning without spending a dime.
- freeCodeCamp AI Courses
Allie K. Miller
One of the most influential voices in practical AI adoption for business leaders. Allie K. Miller is a former Amazon AI executive who now helps organizations and professionals navigate the AI landscape through courses, workshops, and content. Her focus on actionable AI strategy makes her courses especially valuable for leaders and decision-makers.
- Allie K. Miller
Where to Start
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of resources on this list, here's our advice: pick two or three and start there.
- If you prefer video: Start with Tina Huang for approachable learning, or Nate B Jones for daily news.
- If you prefer reading: Subscribe to Ethan Mollick's "One Useful Thing" and The Rundown AI.
- If you want structured learning: Take Andrew Ng's introductory course on Coursera or Elements of AI.
- If you want the big picture: Read "Co-Intelligence" by Ethan Mollick and watch the "We're Not Ready for Superintelligence" video.
The most important thing isn't which resources you choose. It's that you start. AI literacy is quickly becoming as fundamental as digital literacy. The people who invest in understanding AI now will be the ones best positioned for the extraordinary changes ahead.
Want more guidance on getting started with AI? Check out our State of AI in 2026 overview, or learn how to get the most out of AI chat tools with our SMART Prompting Guide.
