PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Vasant Dhar

Vasant Dhar is an artificial intelligence researcher and data scientist who brought machine learning to Morgan Stanley's proprietary trading groups in the 1990s and studies when people should trust machines with decisions. After a B.Tech at IIT Delhi in 1978, he joined the NYU Stern faculty in 1983 and completed a University of Pittsburgh doctorate in artificial intelligence in 1984. At Morgan Stanley from 1994 to 1997 he founded the Data Mining Group, and in 1998 he founded the hedge fund SCT Capital Management. The Brave New World podcast, which he hosts, covers technology and AI, and his book Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI appeared in 2025. He is the Robert A Miller Professor of Business at NYU Stern and a professor of data science at NYU.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1978–1984

    A B.Tech and an AI doctorate

    A B.Tech in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi comes in 1978. He joins the NYU Stern faculty in 1983 and is the first to teach AI there. A University of Pittsburgh PhD specializing in artificial intelligence follows in 1984.

  2. 1994–1997

    Data mining at Morgan Stanley

    From 1994 to 1997, he works at Morgan Stanley, where he founds the Data Mining Group to focus on automated trading and asset management profiling. His work brings machine learning to the firm's proprietary trading groups.

  3. 1996

    Intelligent Decision Support Methods

    With Roger Stein, he publishes Intelligent Decision Support Methods: The Science of Knowledge Work with Prentice Hall in 1996.

  4. 1998–2012

    SCT Capital and Deep Blue Analytics

    In 1998, he founds SCT Capital Management, a hedge fund that uses machine learning to make investment decisions without human intervention. In 2012, he co-founds Deep Blue Analytics, a consulting company that applies data analysis to commercial problems.

  5. 2016

    When computers decide better

    In January 2016, he is a professor at Stern and the Center for Data Science, the founder of SCT Capital Management and editor-in-chief of the Big Data journal. His central research question is when computers make better decisions than humans. In his automation-frontier model, trust in a machine rises as it errs less often and as its mistakes cost less.

  6. By 2021

    The Brave New World podcast

    By March 2021, he hosts Brave New World, a podcast on how machines are transforming humanity in the post-COVID era. The interview-style show covers technology and artificial intelligence and has over 100 episodes.

  7. 2025

    Thinking With Machines

    His book Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI appears in November 2025 and tells the story of AI from its beginnings through his own career. In a December 2025 interview, he describes a bot, built with the language-model specialist Joao Sedoc, that is designed to think like his colleague Aswath Damodaran.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at NYU Stern

    He is the Robert A Miller Professor of Business at NYU Stern and a professor of data science at NYU. He teaches Systematic Investing, Data Science, Prediction and Tech Innovation, and hosts the Brave New World podcast.

Career

  1. Since 1983New York UniversityRobert A Miller Professor of Business
  2. From 2012Deep Blue AnalyticsCo-founder
  3. From 1998SCT Capital ManagementFounder
  4. 1994–1997Morgan Stanley

Education

  1. 1984University of PittsburghPhD
  2. 1978IIT DelhiB.Tech

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Vasant Dhar. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes New York University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes New York University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. Companies supply the most prior-work hires at 7 of the 9 frontier AI labsIncludes New York University. Our estimates of the organizations where 550 people worked directly before joining 9 frontier AI labs across 620 career transitions, comparing the main feeder organizations per lab.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Vasant Dhar - NYU Stern stern.nyu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Books | Vasant Dhar | Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI - NYU Stern stern.nyu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Vasant Dhar - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. The Motley Fool Interviews NYU Professor Vasant Dhar: Thinking With Machines webull.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Faculty News | Vasant Dhar | eFinancialCareers - NYU Stern (2017) stern.nyu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Faculty News | Vasant Dhar | eFinancialCareers - NYU Stern (2018) stern.nyu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Is 2016 the year you let robots manage your money? oreilly.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Podcast | Vasant Dhar | Brave New World - NYU Stern stern.nyu.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.