Andrew McAfee

Principal research scientist at MIT, AI thought leader, and bestselling author | BetterUp Science Board Member

Andrew McAfee is a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management, co-founder and co-director of MIT’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, inaugural Visiting Fellow at the Technology and Society organization at Google, and the co-founder of the AI startup Workhelix. He studies how technological progress changes the world. His most recent book, The Geek Way, was published by Little, Brown in 2023. His previous books include More from Less and, with Erik Brynjolfsson, The Second Machine Age.

McAfee has written for publications including Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. He has discussed his work with global audiences—from CNN and 60 Minutes to TED, the World Economic Forum, and the Aspen Ideas Festival—alongside leaders like Tom Friedman and Fareed Zakaria. He has also advised a wide range of leading organizations—from the IMF and the U.S. Intelligence Community to the Boston Red Sox.

McAfee and his frequent coauthor Erik Brynjolfsson are the only people named to both the Thinkers50 list of the world’s top management thinkers and the Politico 50 group of people transforming American politics.