About John-Clark

John-Clark Levin is—among other things—a researcher, policy advisor, and commentator about the future of artificial intelligence.

For the past decade, John-Clark has studied AI and its impacts at Harvard and Cambridge, where he is currently completing his PhD under the supervision of Dennis Grube and Laura Diaz Anadon.

He serves as research lead for longtime Google AI visionary Ray Kurzweil, conducting foresight about the emerging capabilities and implications of AI. This work was featured in Kurzweil's latest book The Singularity Is Nearer (Viking, 2024) which became an instant New York Times bestseller.

John-Clark is also the senior advisor for AI at Greenmantle, Sir Niall Ferguson's macrostrategy advisory firm, and is a Yorktown Institute Fellow. He regularly advises governments, corporations, and NGOs about AI issues at the intersection of technical and policy questions. He has lectured at dozens of institutions including the U.S. Naval War College, Georgetown University, the Sorbonne, and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.

His AI-related and futurist writings have appeared in publications such as TIME Magazine, Newsweek, MIT Technology Review, The American Mind, and Playboy. His broader commentary at the nexus of technology, politics, and security has also been bylined in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Telegraph, and Baltimore Sun.

He is the author, with John J. Pitney, Jr., of Private Anti-Piracy Navies: How Warships for Hire Are Changing Maritime Security (Lexington Books, 2013).

In other writings, John-Clark has written acclaimed humor for McSweeney's Internet Tendency and Points in Case, and is a 3-time Gabriel Award-winning screenwriter with the web series Catholic Central.

As a mentalist magician, John-Clark served as president of the Cambridge University Magic Society, and sits on the advisory board of the Cambridge Academy of Magic & Science.

John-Clark is also an avid crossword puzzle constructor, with puzzles published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Universal syndicate, and Crossword Club.

As a quizzer, John-Clark is believed to be the first person to compete on both Jeopardy! and the BBC's University Challenge, which he won with the St John's College, Cambridge team in 2017-2018. He has since periodically written for University Challenge as a question setter.

Among his most unusual pursuits, John-Clark is a competitive handshaker, breaking the Guinness World Record for "Longest Continuous Handshake" (15 hours, 15+ minutes) and organizing the record-breaking Shaking History charity competition in Times Square (33 hours, 3 minutes).

John-Clark is a native of Ojai, California.