PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Chris Benson

As of October 2026, Chris Benson is a Principal AI/Autonomy Research Engineer specializing in fully autonomous UxS swarming with embodied intelligence. By 2018, he had moved from Accenture’s AI team through Honeywell SPS to Lockheed Martin. He began co-hosting Practical AI with Daniel Whitenack in July 2018, discussing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science. In 2025, he explored AI for drone and robotic swarms and compared drone behavior with starling murmurations and bees.

Now at
Lockheed Martin

Timeline

  1. By 2018

    From Accenture to Lockheed

    By 2018, he moves from Accenture’s AI team through Honeywell SPS’s Chief Scientist role to Principal Artificial Intelligence Strategist at Lockheed Martin.

  2. 2018

    Leading AI ethics at Lockheed

    In 2018, he leads AI ethics strategy for Lockheed Martin’s combat and non-combat missions.

  3. May 2018

    Deep learning in production

    At the May 2018 O’Reilly AI Conference, he presents a strategy for delivering deep learning into production and integrating it into enterprise architecture.

  4. July 2018

    Co-hosting Practical AI

    In July 2018, he joins Daniel Whitenack as a Practical AI host, opening the podcast with a discussion of their experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science.

  5. 2020

    AI-driven autonomy

    For DASC 2020, he presents AI-driven autonomy across civilian and military applications and examines the capabilities and limits of existing AI approaches.

  6. July 2025–September 2025

    Agentic AI for drone swarms

    In July 2025, he and Daniel explore agentic AI for drone and robotic swarms; in September 2025, he compares fixed-wing drones to starling murmurations and quadcopters to bee-like movements.

  7. As of October 2026

    Researching autonomous swarms

    In March 2026, he is an AI and autonomy engineer at Lockheed Martin. As of October 2026, he is a Principal AI/Autonomy Research Engineer specializing in fully autonomous UxS swarming with embodied intelligence.

Career

  1. Since 2018Lockheed MartinPrincipal Artificial Intelligence Strategist, AI and autonomy engineer
  2. HoneywellChief Scientist

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes Accenture. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  3. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  4. 47% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Chris Benson yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. AI Strategist to deliver keynote at Connected Plant Conference 2020 chemengonline.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Speaker: Chris Benson: Artificial Intelligence Conference: AI & machine learning training conferences.oreilly.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Meet your Practical AI hosts podcasts.apple.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Guest Speaker: Chris Benson | DASC 2020 2020.dasconline.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Practical AI | Agentic AI for Drone & Robotic Swarming practicalai.show. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Practical AI’s Chris Benson | Animals Teach Drones The Art of Swarming podcasts.apple.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Practical AI | Chris Benson practicalai.show. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Practical AI | Transcript: AI policy and the battle for computing power practicalai.show. Checked 19 October 2026.