PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Ezra Klein

Ezra Klein is a New York Times Opinion host who brings AI policy and its social effects into public discussion. He graduates from UCLA in 2005 with a political science BA. At The Washington Post, he writes as a policy blogger, leads Wonkblog, and shares the 2010 Hillman Prize for Blog Journalism with Jonathan Cohn. At Vox, he serves as a co-founder and executive producer of Netflix’s Explained; his book Why We’re Polarized asks why the American political system has become so divided. His public conversations cover existential AI risk and AlphaFold; with Derek Thompson, he co-authors Abundance.

Photo of Ezra Klein

Timeline

  1. By 2005

    A UCLA political science degree

    He graduates from UCLA in 2005 with a BA in political science.

  2. May 2009

    A Washington policy beat

    He begins work at The Washington Post as a policy blogger in May 2009, after editing at The American Prospect.

  3. 2010s

    Building a policy blog

    At The Washington Post, he founds and leads Wonkblog. In 2010, he shares the Hillman Prize for Blog Journalism with Jonathan Cohn.

  4. 2018–2020

    Explaining politics on screen

    At Vox, he serves as a co-founder and executive producer of Netflix’s Explained. His book Why We’re Polarized asks why the American political system has become so divided.

  5. Since 2021

    The Times interview show

    He joins The New York Times Opinion section in 2021 and hosts The Ezra Klein Show.

  6. July 2023

    AI risk and Washington

    In July 2023, Klein discusses existential risk from AI and what DC could do on 80,000 Hours.

  7. October 2023

    A protein-folding question

    At Berkeley Talks, he calls AlphaFold’s solution to protein folding inspiring.

  8. March 2025

    Building toward abundance

    With Derek Thompson, he co-authors Abundance, which examines the political, economic and cultural forces that have led us here.

Sources and credits

Photo: SWinxy, via Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY 4.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Ezra Klein - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Ezra Klein | Hillman Foundation hillmanfoundation.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. PRX – The Ezra Klein Show prx.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Vox and Netflix Launch Original Docuseries ‘Explained’ – Vox Media voxmedia.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Change Agent: Politics, Explained | UCLA newsroom.ucla.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Ezra Klein on existential risk from AI and what DC could do about it | 80,000 Hours 80000hours.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Berkeley Talks: Ezra Klein on building the things we need for the future we want - Berkeley News news.berkeley.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. Abundance - Profile Books profilebooks.com. Checked 14 October 2026.