TechWhoIsWho is an editorial reference platform for AI builders, researchers, and founders. Every profile is sourced, free, and earned by real work — not paid placement. We open with the most comprehensive record ever assembled of the African AI ecosystem, and extend to a global reference layer of the researchers and operators shaping the field.
The AI talent economy is fragmented across platforms that were never built for it. LinkedIn surfaces professional history but not contribution. GitHub surfaces code but not context. arXiv surfaces papers but not people. Crunchbase surfaces companies but not the individuals inside them. Newsletters surface commentary but not dataset. No single source answers the question most worth asking: who are the people actually building the future of AI, and where is their work?
TechWhoIsWho is built to be that source — editorially curated, publicly sourced, searchable, and free to read. Inclusion is earned through real contribution, never purchased. Every entry is tied to verifiable work: a paper, a project, a company, a commit history, a documented role.
We open with Africa because Africa is where the gap is widest. The continent's AI ecosystem is real, growing, and systematically underindexed by platforms built elsewhere. The researchers, founders, and engineers building from Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, Tunis, Accra, Kigali, and across the diaspora deserve a canonical record — and nobody is better positioned to build it than a platform rooted in the continent itself. From that foundation, we extend outward to the global reference layer.
The canonical figures — AI researchers, scientists, and industry leaders — whose inclusion contextualizes the state of the field. Sourced, neutral, factual.
Active founders and senior operators currently shipping AI products, infrastructure, and open-source tooling. Verified through public funding, launch, or repository history.
The heart of the platform. Builders whose work is real but whose names the wider world has not yet surfaced. African Edition profiles launch primarily into this tier.
No builder pays to appear on TechWhoIsWho. No paid tiers of visibility. No "featured placement" as a product. This is the line that separates a canonical index from a vanity directory.
Each profile links to verifiable public work — a paper, a GitHub, a company page, a scholarly profile. Descriptions are neutral and factual. No editorial flourish. No unverifiable claims.
The index itself is public. Future revenue comes from the demand side — recruiters, researchers, enterprises seeking access, tooling, and data — never from the builders whose work makes the platform worth anything.
Every profile carries a visible request-edit and request-removal path. Corrections are honored within seven days. African Edition subjects are notified in advance of public launch and given the opportunity to review their entry.
Read the full editorial standards
Current standard: v1.1 (Apr 2026) View version history
We're building the first 150 African Edition profiles now, alongside the global reference layer. Join the waitlist to receive a private preview before public launch — and to help us sharpen what we build.