Azeem Azhar
Also known as Exponential View
Azeem Azhar is an analyst, writer and the founder of Exponential View. His newsletter began in 2015 as an email to a small group of friends. It grew into a regular publication about technology and its effects on business and society. His earlier career included journalism at The Economist, corporate technology roles and the startup PeerIndex. In 2021, his book The Exponential Age examined the gap between fast technical progress and institutions that adjust more slowly. Azhar also speaks and hosts discussions about AI, economics and energy. His current public roles include affiliations with Oxford and Harvard Business School and work on complex risks at the World Economic Forum.
- Now at
- Exponential View, University of Oxford, Harvard University and World Economic Forum
Timeline
-
Before 2015
Working across technology and media
Azhar worked as a correspondent at The Economist and held executive roles at Thomson Reuters and Schibsted. He also built PeerIndex, which was acquired by Cision. These experiences placed him across journalism, technology businesses and startups before he began his best-known publication.
-
March 2015
Beginning Exponential View
Exponential View began as an email to about twenty friends in March 2015. Azhar used it to share observations about technology and change. The recurring newsletter gave him a place to connect separate developments and build a long-running argument about their effects.
-
2021
Publishing The Exponential Age
His 2021 book The Exponential Age set out the idea of an exponential gap. Azhar argued that technical capabilities can advance quickly while institutions change more slowly. The book organized his newsletter’s themes into an account of the pressures this difference creates for society.
-
2024
Reflecting on a long-running publication
In a 2024 reflection on Exponential View, Azhar returned to its small beginnings and the questions that sustained it. The publication had followed many technical cycles. Its continued work on AI put current model developments into a longer account of economic and institutional change.
-
2026
Continuing public analysis
Azhar continues to publish and speak through Exponential View and his own public channels. His recurring subjects include AI capabilities, the economics of adoption and the energy systems that support technology. His explanations offer readers a framework for interpreting change and testing their assumptions.
Sources and credits
Photo: World Economic Forum, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY 3.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.
.png){kind=link}