Top Futurist Sites by Influence on AI (C4 Dataset)

Thanks to Washington Post, we now know how the C4 dataset was made up, one of those used to train some AI chatbots. Since it is s snapshot of a sample of the web at a particular time, a few years ago, it isn’t perfectly representative, but it does give a taste of the likely makeup of AI training sets.

When someone asks their AI chatbot about the future, this list gives a broad indication of the relative influence that site would have on the answer. It’s really just a proxy for website size, but that’s as good a way as any of ranking influence. At least it’s objective, based on actual data. Ross Dawson’s top futurists list is equally objective, but ranks by social media presence. Neither is perfect. Not all futurists have big websites and not all futurists bother to cultivate large social media followings. Neither list indicates quality of analysis or insight.

I checked all the futures sites I could find on existing lists list of top futurists and futures sites, but I couldn’t find listed sites for some eminent futurists. On the other hand, a few futurists had multiple sites that made the list.

It’s easy to look up a missing site and see where it would fit. Here’s the link:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2023/ai-chatbot-learning/#lookup-table

If you find a genuine futures site on there that you think should be added to my list, drop me a note with the website url and I’ll add it to my spreadsheet and it will appear on this blog next time I update it.

I add the table below as screenshots first and then as a searchable table, but the table is harder to read due to the way wordpress insists on displaying it. I can’t edit wordpress well any more since they ruined the editor a few years ago.

The number of tokens quoted is in thousands, to save space.

	Site	Owner	C4 Rank	Tokens	Percentage
1	extremetech.com	Extreme tech	637	7000	0.004
2	Futurism.com	Peter Diamandis/Ray Kurzweil	3855	2300	0.001
3	impactlab.net	Impact Lab	5,399	1800	0.001
4	futures.io	Futures.io	9,947	1200	0.0007
5	IEET.org	IEET, James Hughes	13,184	950	0.0006
6	Singularityhub.com	Singularity University	13,722	930	0.0006
7	Futurity.org	Univ of Rochester	14,516	890	0.0006
8	kurzweilai.net	Kurzweil	17,909	760	0.0005
9	ideas.4brad.com	Brad Templeton	21,104	680	0.0004
10	futuristrendcast.wordpress.com	Lada Ray	22,612	640	0.0004
11	lifeboat.com	Lifeboat Foundation	23,452	630	0.0004
12	gongol.com	Brian Gongol	23,605	620	0.0004
13	sentientdevelopments.com	George Dvorsky	27,614	550	0.0004
14	futureofbusinessandtech.com	futureofbusinessandtech.com	27,773	550	0.0004
15	globalchange.com	Patrick Dixon	28,915	540	0.0003
16	kk.org	Kevin Kelly	29,361	530	0.0003
17	thegeniusworks.com	Peter Fisk	30,048	520	0.0003
18	scobleizer.blog	Robert Scoble	31,134	510	0.0003
19	futurenergyweb.es	FuturEnergy	31,224	510	0.0003
20	futureandcosmos.blogspot.com	Mark Mahin	31,573	500	0.0003
21	NextBigFuture.com	Brian Wang	32216	490	0.0003
22	JimCarroll.com	Jim Carroll	32689	490	0.0003
23	ourfiniteworld.com	Gail Tverberg	33,054	480	0.0003
24	futureofcapitalism.com	Ira Stoll	34,284	470	0.0003
25	cassandralegacy.blogspot.com	Ugo Bardi	34,498	430	0.0003
26	FuturistSpeaker.com	Thomas Frey	35475	460	0.0003
27	tomorrowsworld.org	BBC	36,754	440	0.0003
28	historiesofthingstocome.blogspot.com	L C Douglass	37,162	440	0.0003
29	Futuretimeline.net	Willam James Fox	41,145	410	0.0003
30	cityofsound.com	Dan Hill	43,478	390	0.0002
31	thefutureofthings.com	The Future of things	45,490	380	0.0002
32	foresight.org	Foresight Institute	46,603	370	0.0002
33	futureoflife.org	Future of life Institute	50,712	350	0.0002
34	joi.ito.com	Joi Ito	52,775	330	0.0002
35	briansolis.com	Brian Solis	55,626	320	0.0002
36	fanaticalfuturist.com	Fanatical Futurist	61,571	300	0.0002
37	futurescot.com	FutureScot.com	62,120	290	0.0002
38	dw2blog.com	David Wood	64,312	290	0.0002
39	grantcardone.com	Grant Cardone	66,433	280	0.0002
40	emergentbydesign.com	Venessa Miemis	70,665	260	0.0002
41	foresight-platform.eu	European Foresight Platform	72,122	260	0.0002
42	whatsnext.nuance.com	Nuance	73,338	260	0.0002
43	SingularityScience.com	Lifeboat Foundation	73410	260	0.0002
44	bryanalexander.org	Bryan Alexander	81367	240	0.0002
45	RossDawson.com	Ross Dawson	82036	240	0.0002
46	clubofamsterdam.com	Felix Bopp	83,638	230	0.0001
47	foresightguide.com	John Smart	84,393	230	0.0001
48	Diamandis.com	Peter Diamandis	96,968	210	0.0001
49	busynessgirl.com	Maria H Andersen	97,023	200	0.0001
50	timeguide.wordpress.com	ID Pearson	107,905	190	0.0001
51	thefuturescentre.org	Forum for the Future	108,162	190	0.0001
52	aleph.se	Anders Sandberg	110,147	180	0.0001
53	IFTF.org	Marina Gorbis, Rod Falcon	114535	180	0.0001
54	thefutureeconomy.ca	The Future Economy	114,808	180	0.0001
55	hfgfoodfuturist.com	Christophe Pelletier	117,783	170	0.0001
56	Davidbrin.blogspot	David Brin	118,607	170	0.0001
57	curatti.com	Jan Gordon	120,794	170	0.0001
58	transhumanity.net	community	121,539	170	0.0001
59	futurist.com	Geln Hiemstra, Nik Badminton	124,484	170	0.0001
60	petervan.wordpress.com	Peter Van	125,902	170	0.0001
61	petervan.wordpress.com	Peter Van	125,902	170	0.0001
62	accelerating.org	John Smart	126,204	170	0.0001
63	redanalysis.org	Red team Analysis Society	128,510	160	0.0001
64	whatsnextblog.com	B L Ochman	137,475	150	0.0001
65	heathervescent.com	Heather Schlegel	190,495	120	0.00007
66	jfsdigital.org	Journal of Future Studies	191,205	120	0.00007
67	edgepersepctives.typepad.com	John Hagel	197,772	110	0.00007
68	creativeclass.com	Richard Florida	198,411	110	0.00007
69	futuresearch.com	Richard Worzel	199,425	110	0.00007
70	urbanverse.net	Cindy Fewen	219,851	100	0.00007
71	kschroeder.com	Karl Schroeder	231,057	98	0.00006
72	shirky.com	Clay Shirky	235,108	97	0.00006
73	openthefuture.com	Jamais Cascio	240,675	95	0.00006
74	hedweb.com	David Pearce	257,246	89	0.00006
75	karensands.com	Karen Sands	266,540	86	0.00006
76	longnow.org	Long Now	290,454	80	0.00005
77	brenda-cooper.com	Brenda Cooper	305,447	76	0.00005
78	The Verge	community	314,814	74	0.00005
79	hazelhenderson.com	Hazel Henderson	316,753	74	0.00005
80	meedabyte	Simone Cicero	323,905	72	0.00005
81	frankdiana.net	Frank Diana	327,060	71	0.00005
82	novaspivack.com	Nova Spivack	344,828	68	0.00004
83	futuryst.blogspot.com	Stuart Candy	345,785	68	0.00004
84	michaelgarfield.blogspot.com	Michael Garfield	357,812	66	0.00004
85	curatingthefuture	Roey Tzezana	387,338	61	0.00004
86	foresightfactory.co	Foresight factory	390,356	60	0.00004
87	infinitefutures.com	Wendy Schultz	405,259	58	0.00004
88	mariakonovalenko.wordpress.com	Maria Konovalenko	440,321	54	0.00003
89	futurethinkers.org	Future Thinkers	445,226	53	0.00003
90	madelineashby.com	Madeline Ashyby	468,713	50	0.00003
91	thefuturelaboratory.com	Chris Sanderson	472,143	50	0.00003
92	ideafaktory.com	Steve Factor	527,811	45	0.00003
93	futuristech.info	Futuristech Info	529,763	44	0.00003
94	nickbostrom.com	Nick Bostrom	532,998	44	0.00003
95	nilofermerchant.com	Nilofer Merchant	542,243	43	0.00003
96	foresightinternational.com.au	Rick Slaughter	563,421	42	0.00003
97	blog.monty.de	Monty Metzger	586,817	40	0.00003
98	saffo.com	Paul Saffo	602,695	39	0.00002
99	shapingtomorrow.com	Mike Jackson	603,655	39	0.00002
100	plausiblefutures.com	Ole Peter Galaasen	607,059	39	0.00002
101	marshallbrain.com	Marshall Brain	610,508	38	0.00002
102	aaiforesight.com	Cynthia Wagner	632,022	37	0.00002
103	jeremygutsche.com	Jeremy Gutsche	633,728	37	0.00002
104	mike-walsh.com	Mike Walsh	650,712	36	0.00002
105	thefuturesagency.com	Gerd Leonhard	658,786	36	0.00002
106	tomcheesewright.com	Tom Cheeswright	661,442	35	0.00002
107	educationfutures.com	John Moravec	672,056	35	0.00002
108	rafaelpopper.wordpress.com	Rafael Popper	684,417	34	0.00002
109	rushkoff.com	Douglas Rushkoff	703,379	33	0.00002
110	disruptors.fm	Matt Ward	746662	31	0.00002
111	ziauddinsardar	Ziauddin Sardar	761,358	30	0.00002
112	noreena.com	Noreena Hertz	769,546	30	0.00002
113	futurethinking.com	Future Thinking	778,988	30	0.00002
114	superflux.in	Anab Jain	789,162	29	0.00002
115	singularityweblog.com	Nikola Danaylov	840,696	27	0.00002
116	danah.org	Danah Boyd	863,428	27	0.00002
117	therexpedition.com	Jerry Michalski	863,662	27	0.00002
118	chrisdancy.com	Chris Dancy	870,127	26	0.00002
119	londonfuturists.com	London Futurists	873,562	26	0.00002
120	mariansalzman.com	Marian Salzman	881,285	26	0.00002
121	burrus.com	Daniel Burrus	899,402	25	0.00002
122	jackuldrich.com	Jack Uldrich	928,525	24	0.00002
123	adamjorlen.com	Adam Jorlen	951,457	24	0.00002
124	sharaevans.com	Shara Evans	953,825	24	0.00002
125	roberttercek.com	Robert Tercek	960,437	24	0.00002
126	sens.org	Aubrey de Grey	983,256	23	0.00001
127	futuristgerd.com	Gerd Leonhard	1,005,256	22	0.00001
128	Mkaku.org	Michio Kaku	1,033,763	22	0.00001
129	futuristmatt.com	Matt O’Neill	1,041,319	22	0.00001
130	ffrc.wordpress.com	Finland Futures Research Centre	1,082,533	21	0.00001
131	janemcgonigal.com	Jane McGonigal	1,098,361	20	0.00001
132	thenextwavefutures.wordpre	Andrew Curry	1,125,006	20	0.00001
133	SOIF.com	School of Intnl Futures	1,145,601	19	0.00001
134	soif.org.uk	School of International Futures	1,145,601	19	0.00001
135	skollglobalthreats.org	Larry Brilliant	1,154,347	19	0.00001
136	mfordfuture.com	Martin Ford	1,209,882	18	0.00001
137	FaithPopcorn.com	Faith Popcorn	1212301	18	0.00001
138	kevinabarnes.com	Kevin A. Barnes	1,229,733	18	0.00001
139	verynice.co	Jake Dunagan	1,242,378	18	0.00001
140	thegff.com	David A Smith	1,247,012	18	0.00001
141	whatthefuturenow	Bronwyn Williams	1,282,962	17	0.00001
142	dominiquejaurola.com	Dominique Jaurola	1288545	17	0.00001
143	isaacarthur.net	Isaac Arthur	1,316,225	16	0.00001
144	foet.org	Jeremy Rifkin	1,358,079	16	0.00001
145	dontapscott.com	Don Tapscott	1,499,801	14	0.000009
146	johnseelybrown.com	John Seely Brown	1,512,054	14	0.000009
147	community-intelligence.com	George Por	1,543,840	14	0.000009
148	dubaifuture.gov.ae	Dubai Future Foundation	1,573,028	13	0.000008
149	byronreese.com	Byron Reese	1,667,894	12	0.000008
150	futuretodayinstitute.com	Future Today Institute	1,676,796	12	0.000008
151	competia.com	Estelle Metayer	1,709,667	12	0.000008
152	cathyhackl.com	Cathy Hackl	1,860,407	11	0.000007
153	emergentfutures.com	Paul Higgins	1,863,679	11	0.000007
154	jonathanmacdonald.com	Jonathan Macdonald	2,119,166	9.2	0.000006
155	blog.troed.se	Troed Sangberg	2,152,189	9	0.000006
156	gregverdino.typepad.com	Greg Verdino	2,157,317	9	0.000006
157	rachelbotsman.com	Rachel Botsman	2,248,633	8.5	0.000005
158	cifs.dk	Copenhagen Inst for Future Studies	2,274,730	8.4	0.000005
159	leadingfuturists.biz	Jennifer Jarratt	2,293,948	8.3	0.000005
160	foresightprojects.blog.gov.uk	UK Gov Office for Science Futures	2,301,457	8.3	0.000005
161	susangreenfield.com	Susan Greenfield	2,331,021	8.1	0.000005
162	ericgarland.co	Eric Garland	2,375,750	7.9	0.000005
163	futurethink.com	Future Think	2,403,942	7.8	0.000005
164	wfsf.org	World futures Studies Federation	2,888,080	6.1	0.000004
165	simonspeaks.com	Simon Anderson	2,897,581	6	0.000004
166	carbonweapons.com	ID Pearson	2,908,399	6	0.000004
167	abishurprakash.com	Abishur Prakash	2,967,916	5.8	0.000004
168	AmyWebb.io	Amy Webb	3,010,620	5.7	0.000004
169	robot.md	Joanne Pransky	3,048,292	5.6	0.000004
170	petercochrane.com	Peter Cochrane	3,139,701	5.4	0.000003
171	thefuturehunters.com	Erica Orange	3,146,910	5.4	0.000003
172	Houstonforesight.org	Houston Foresight	3,151,009	5.4	0.000003
173	futuramb.se	Martin Börjesson	3,172,311	5.3	0.000003
174	grayscott.com	Gray Scott	3,442,479	4.7	0.000003
175	hardintibbs.com	Hardin Tibbs	3,534,851	4.5	0.000003
176	carbondevices.com	ID Pearson	3,668,610	4.2	0.000003
177	opencog.org	Ben Goertzei	3,675,996	4.2	0.000003
178	geofutures.com	Josh Calder	3,699,359	4.2	0.000003
179	futurenavigator	Liselotte Lyngso	3,884,634	3.9	0.000002
180	ayeshakhanna.com	Ayesha Khanna	3,924,176	3.8	0.000002
181	estherdyson.com	Esther Dyson	3,945,737	3.8	0.000002
182	kjaer-global.com	Anne Lise Kjaer	3,991,045	3.7	0.000002
183	themillenniumproject261.newswire.com	The Millennium Project	4,212,947	3.4	0.000002
184	futurizeyourself.com	Tom Meyers	4,280,646	3.3	0.000002
185	laladeheinzelin.com	Lala Deheinzelin	4,582,342	2.9	0.000002
186	APF.org	Assn of Prof Futurists	4,809,355	2.7	0.000002
187	cecilysommers.com	Cecily Sommers	4,827,943	2.7	0.000002
188	futureworkplace.com	Jeanne Meister	4,860,776	2.6	0.000002
189	progective.com	Fabienne Goux-Baudiment	4,911,912	2.6	0.000002
190	melanieswan.com	Melanie Swan	5,268,450	2.3	0.000001
191	MedicalFuturist.com	Berci Mesko	5,314,515	2.2	0.000001
192	futurepod.org	FuturePod	5,351,435	2.2	0.000001
193	tiffanibova.com	Tiffani Bova	5,450,066	2.1	0.000001
194	futuristinstitute.org	Futurist Institute	5,590,624	2	0.000001
195	salimismail.com	Salim Ismail	5,876,187	1.8	0.000001
196	changeist.com	Scott Smith	6,131,095	1.6	0.000001
197	futurecheck.nl	Marcle Bullinga	6,416,849	1.5	0.000001
198	evolutionaryguidancemedia.com	Dana Klisanin	6,447,966	1.5	0.0000009
199	nearfuturelaboratory.com	Nicolas Nova	6,850,083	1.3	0.0000008
200	nancygirodino.com	Nancy Giordino	7,761,870	940	0.0000006
201	jennifergidley.com	Jennifer Gidley	8,115,338	830	0.0000005
202	johnwinsor.com	John Winsor	8,147,485	820	0.0000005
203	artificial-intelligence.org.uk	Massimo Barbato	8,299,388	0.78	0.0000005
204	brettking.com	Brett King	8,421,361	750	0.0000005
205	personalfutures.net	Verne Wheelwright	8,554,563	710	0.0000005
206	futuretrendsgroup.com	Craig Rispin	8,773,057	0.66	0.0000004
207	whatsnext.fi	Elina Hitunen	9,179,721	580	0.0000004
208	lauracleries.com	Laura Cleries	9,187,725	0.57	0.0000004
209	lindsay-angelo.com	Lindsay Angelo	9,605,128	500	0.0000003
210	vitodibari.com	Vito Di Bari	9,935,054	450	0.0000003
211	theenvisioners.com	Dave Coplin	10,091,841	0.42	0.0000003
212	markpesce.com	Mark Pesce	10,347,219	390	0.0000002
213	futuremade.consulting	Tracey Follows	10,814,425	0.33	0.0000002
214	futuremotions.nl	Freija van Duijne	11,097,990	0.29	0.0000002
215	jamesbellini.com	James Bellini	11,980,419	0.21	0.0000001
216	morgainegaye.com	Morgaines Gaye	13,626,958	0.097	0.00000006
217	framtidsbygget.se	Natalie Dian	13,818,778	0.086	0.00000005
218	future-institute.com	Roman Tetzbach	14,232,711	0.064	0.00000004