PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Will Douglas Heaven

Will Douglas Heaven is a technology journalist who reports on AI research, emerging trends and the people behind the technology. He earned a computer science PhD at Imperial College London and a philosophy master’s at University College London; before joining MIT Technology Review, he served as founding editor of the BBC website Future Now and chief technology editor at New Scientist. At MIT Technology Review, he wrote about GPT-3 and AlphaFold, interviewed Geoffrey Hinton, and published the 2024 feature “What is AI?” on the field’s origins and the debate over its capabilities. As of October 2026, he is the magazine’s senior editor for AI in London; he spoke at SXSW London in 2025 and 2026 and wrote about global public attitudes toward AI in October 2026.

Now at
MIT Technology Review

Timeline

  1. By 2020

    A PhD and editing posts

    Before joining MIT Technology Review, he serves as founding editor at the BBC website Future Now and chief technology editor at New Scientist. By 2020, he is the magazine's senior editor for AI and holds a PhD in computer science from Imperial College London.

  2. July 2020

    Reporting on GPT-3

    In July 2020, he writes that OpenAI's GPT-3 is the largest language model ever created, with 175 billion parameters compared with GPT-2's 1.5 billion.

  3. November 2020

    DeepMind's AlphaFold

    In November 2020, he reports that DeepMind's AlphaFold predicts protein shapes to within the width of an atom and solves a 50-year-old grand challenge of biology.

  4. May 2023

    Interviewing Geoffrey Hinton

    In May 2023, he meets Geoffrey Hinton at Hinton’s home in north London four days before Hinton announces he is quitting Google, and publishes the interview as “Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build.” He also speaks with Hinton at EmTech Digital.

  5. 2024

    The “What is AI?” feature

    In 2024, he writes the in-depth feature “What is AI?”, which covers the origins of modern AI and debate among experts about its capabilities and potential. In June 2024, he joins Melissa Heikkilä on a panel about the future of AI organized by the MIT Club of Great Britain.

  6. 2025

    An AGI essay and SXSW talk

    In June 2025, he gives “Five Things You Need to Know About AI” at SXSW London. In 2025, he writes “How AGI became the most consequential conspiracy theory of our time,” arguing that AGI is a lot like a conspiracy theory.

  7. By 2026

    A philosophy master's

    By 2026, he holds a master's degree in philosophy from University College London.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior editor for AI

    He is senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review, where he covers new research, emerging trends and the people behind them; he is based in London. At SXSW London in June 2026, he gives “Five Things You Need to Know About AI” and “The AI Economy”; in October 2026, he writes about the love/hate attitude toward AI around the world.

Career

  1. NowMIT Technology ReviewSenior Editor for AI
  2. New ScientistChief Technology Editor
  3. British Broadcasting CorporationFounding editor

Education

  1. Imperial College LondonPhD in computer science
  2. University College LondonMaster's degree in philosophy

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Speaker Details: EmTech Digital 2020 event.technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Will Douglas Heaven | SXSW London 2026 Speakers sxswlondon.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. OpenAI’s new language generator GPT-3 is shockingly good—and completely mindless | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. DeepMind’s protein-folding AI has solved a 50-year-old grand challenge of biology | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Video: Geoffrey Hinton talks about the “existential threat” of AI | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Here are MIT Technology Review’s best-performing stories of 2024 | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. The future of AI | LIMS lims.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. The Download: The AGI myth, and US/China AI competition | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Will Douglas Heaven | SXSW London 2025 Speakers sxswlondon.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Articles by Will Douglas Heaven | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  12. Speaker Details: EmTech AI 2026 event.technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  13. People really hate AI, so why can’t they get enough? | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  14. Will Douglas Heaven - Science Friday sciencefriday.com. Checked 21 October 2026.