PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Will Knight

Will Knight is a technology journalist who has reported on artificial intelligence for MIT Technology Review and WIRED. He studied anthropology and journalism in the UK and worked as an editor and writer at New Scientist before joining MIT Technology Review in 2008, where he became its senior editor for artificial intelligence. In April 2017, he published "The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI", a story on deep-learning systems whose decisions even their engineers struggle to explain, and in 2019 WIRED hired him to cover AI. He reported on Microsoft researchers' claims about GPT-4 in 2023 and discussed a decade of AI reporting on a Carnegie Council podcast in October 2023. He is a senior writer at WIRED, where he writes the AI Lab newsletter.

Now at
Wired
Badges

Timeline

  1. By 2008

    Editor at New Scientist

    He studies anthropology and journalism in the UK, then works as an editor and writer at the science weekly New Scientist, where he is also online managing editor.

  2. 2008–2019

    Senior editor at MIT Technology Review

    He joins MIT Technology Review in 2008 from New Scientist. As the magazine's senior editor for artificial intelligence, he covers machine learning, automated driving, and robotics, and writes about fundamental advances in AI and China's AI boom.

  3. April 2017

    Explaining opaque deep learning

    In April 2017, MIT Technology Review publishes his story "The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI". It follows an experimental Nvidia self-driving car that taught itself to drive by watching a human, and deep-learning systems whose designers may struggle to isolate the reason for any single action.

  4. 2019

    Hired by WIRED for AI coverage

    WIRED hires him in 2019 to cover artificial intelligence. He had been MIT Technology Review's senior editor for artificial intelligence.

  5. 2023

    Reporting on GPT-4 and AGI

    In 2023, his WIRED story covers a paper by Sébastien Bubeck and 14 others, including Microsoft's chief scientific officer, that sees GPT-4 as an early version of an artificial general intelligence system. The story also reports the pushback the paper drew from AI researchers.

  6. October 2023

    Tales from the Hype Beat

    In October 2023, he joins Carnegie Council senior fellow Arthur Holland Michel for a podcast on a busy decade of reporting on artificial intelligence. They discuss whether an AI revolution is upon us, how the technology can be governed, and his meeting with a military robot.

  7. January 2025

    A Yale talk on AI and journalism

    In January 2025, he takes part in "Exploring AI in Journalism and Higher Education", a conversation with Yale's Jennifer Frederick and Alfred Guy in Yale's Poynter Fellowship in Journalism series.

  8. As of October 2026

    Senior writer at WIRED

    He is a senior writer for WIRED, covering artificial intelligence, and writes the AI Lab newsletter, a weekly dispatch on AI. He is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Career

  1. NowWiredSenior Writer
  2. Until 2008New ScientistOnline Managing Editor
  3. 2008–2019MIT Technology ReviewSenior Editor for Artificial Intelligence

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

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

  1. Will Knight | WIRED wired.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Wired hires Knight to cover artificial intelligence – Talking Biz News talkingbiznews.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Will Knight | Robotics Summit & Expo roboticssummit.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. The Dark Secret at the Heart of AI | MIT Technology Review technologyreview.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Some Glimpse AGI in ChatGPT. Others Call It a Mirage | WIRED wired.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Tales from the Hype Beat: A Discussion with AI Reporter Will Knight | Carnegie Council on Ethics in International Affairs carnegiecouncil.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Will Knight | Poynter Fellowship in Journalism poynter.yale.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.