Marques Brownlee Makes It To Time’s 100 AI List, Who Is He?

TIME magazine’s latest cover highlights the top 100 influential AI figures for 2024, including Marques Brownlee, also known as MKBHD.

Brownlee, a graduate of Stevens Institute of Technology and a 2021 Under 30 alum, is known for his tech reviews and interviews with industry leaders like Tesla’s Elon Musk, META’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple’s Tim Cook. Musk notably selected Brownlee’s video as the winner of a competition promoting Tesla’s Model S.

In April 2024, Brownlee criticized the Humane Ai Pin and Rabbit r1, calling them “the new worst product I’ve ever reviewed” due to their “brutally bad” battery life and half-baked features. Despite backlash, he stands by his honesty, asserting, “These companies already know about these downsides.”

AI and YouTube

Brownlee integrates AI in his creative process, using it for brainstorming and editing. In a February video, he expressed concerns about AI’s limitations, saying, “If this is trained on all videos that have ever been made by humans, then surely it can’t be innovative and creative in ways humans haven’t already been.”

OpenAI has not clarified if Sora, an AI tool Brownlee discussed, was trained on YouTube content, which Brownlee feels is used against his will. He hopes for a future where creators are compensated for AI use of their videos, similar to how YouTubers earn from ad revenue.

Former Google senior VP Vic Gundotra has praised Brownlee as “the best technology reviewer on the planet right now.” Brownlee was also named “Creator of the Decade” at the 2019 Shorty Awards.

Ultimate Frisbee Champion

In addition to his tech career, Brownlee is a professional ultimate Frisbee player. He led New York PoNY to win the 2022 WFDF World Championship in the Open Category and will represent Team USA at the World Ultimate Championships in Gold Coast, Australia. Brownlee described a standout pass from midfield as “a million feet in the air.”