Peter Leyden

Peter Leyden

AI and tech expert, plus thought leader on the future

An older man with glasses and gray hair, wearing a blue suit jacket, is speaking. He looks slightly upwards, with a background of blurry, out-of-focus shapes.

Peter Leyden is a longtime tech expert and thought leader on the future. He came to San Francisco to work with the founders of WIRED magazine at the beginning of the digital revolution and has followed the front edge of technological change every step since—including into the AI revolution today.

In addition to being an influential writer and author, Leyden is a keynote speaker who has explained the implications of new technologies and the positive possibilities to come to audiences throughout America and Europe on a monthly basis over the last 25 years.

Leyden also founded several startups that pioneered fields transformed by new technologies and currently advises senior leaders in strategic foresight through his company Reinvent Futures. Get more on all of this on his website.

Everything Videos Articles
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15 min
Why 2025 is the single most pivotal year in our lifetime
"We're living in an extraordinary moment in history. We are at a moment here in 2025 where we have world historic game-changing technologies now starting to scale."
Peter Leyden
Large white letters spelling "AGI" are displayed on a platform in front of steps, with additional bilingual signs reading "REASONERS" and "CHATBOTS" in English and Chinese.
The Future
The China factor in the great progression of the next 25 years
A firsthand look at China’s material progress and clean-tech revolution -- and what could happen if we let an authoritarian state steer AI's future.
Peter Leyden
Large crowd of well-dressed people socializing at an indoor event; "Substack" is projected on a wall above.
The Future
Why Substack will be the intellectual engine of the 21st century
The platform is a digital Royal Society for today's greatest minds — and it could play an essential role in shaping the next civilization.
Peter Leyden
A man in a suit sits in front of American flags, his face partially shadowed and filtered in yellow tones.
The Future
What a historian in 2100 might say about Trump’s America
Trump may make America great again — just not in the way he had intended.
Peter Leyden
An older man with a white beard sits in a room, wearing a light blue shirt, hands clasped together. Bookshelves and artwork are visible in the background.
The Future
Kevin Kelly points a new way forward into the Age of AI
One of the most original and optimistic thinkers in America sketches some big ideas about what's possible with AI in the next 25 years.
Peter Leyden
Graph titled "The Post-WWII Boom 1945-1970" shows intersecting curves labeled "The Old World Is Dying" and "The New One Struggles To Be Born," with "JFK Was Here" marked at 1960.
The Past
America is going through its every-80-year reinvention
Americans have gone through three historic junctures like what we're witnessing today — and they happen on an uncanny 80-year cycle.
Peter Leyden
A graph titled "The Long Boom 2000-2025" shows intersecting curves from 1975 to 2025, depicting a transition from an old to a new world. Text reads "I was here" at the intersection around 2005.
The Future
A dozen reasons to read Peter Leyden at this critical juncture in history
The latest from Peter Leyden's "The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050", an essay series published by Freethink.
Peter Leyden
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