Ian Hogarth CBE is an investor and entrepreneur. He co-founded Songkick in 2007[1] and Plural Platform in 2021.[2] Hogarth is the current Chair of the UK Government's AI Foundation Model Taskforce, which conducts artificial intelligence safety research.[3]
Hogarth attended Dulwich College, before studying information engineering at the University of Cambridge. He later specialised in machine learning during his Masters.[4][5][6] Hogarth also spent time at Tsinghua University in Beijing, learning Mandarin Chinese.[6]
Hogarth founded live music startup Songkick with friends Michelle You and Pete Smith in 2007. This was part of the 2007 Y Combinator program in Boston. Hogarth and his fellow Songkick co-founders were named to Inc. magazine's 30-under-30 list in 2010.[7] The same year, Hogarth won the British Council’s UK Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award.[8] He was also named one of Forbes magazine's 2012 music 30-under-30.[9]
In 2013, Songkick launched Detour, a crowdfunding platform for concerts.[10]
In June 2015, Songkick announced its merger with direct ticket vendor CrowdSurge and a $16.6m Series C investment round. Hogarth became co-CEO of the combined company, alongside Matt Jones, the former CrowdSurge CEO.[11]
In 2010, Hogarth and Songkick COO Pete Smith founded Silicon Milkroundabout, a career fair for high tech startups in East London.[12] It was established in response to lack of interest from graduates hampering tech start-ups, according to Hogarth.[13]
Hogarth co-founded Plural Platform in 2021, an early stage venture capital firm.[14] Hogarth has invested in more than 150 companies,[15] including over 50 AI companies.[6]
Hogarth has co-written the State of AI report since 2018 with Nathan Benaich.[16][17] He wrote a blog post entitled AI Nationalism about the rise of machine learning influencing a new kind of geopolitics.[18] He also wrote a viral article in the Financial Times arguing that the "race to God-like AI" poses risks, and might lead to human extinction.[19][16] Hogarth was listed as one of the 100 most influential personalities in artificial intelligence by the magazine Time in 2023.[16]
On 18 June 2023, Hogarth was announced as Chair of the UK Government's Foundation Model Taskforce, an AI safety research organization.[3] This AI safety research is mainly focused on "near-term" risks such as AI-enabled cyberattacks or pathogen generation.[16] The role reports directly to the Prime Minister and the Technology Secretary, and it has a government budget of £100 million.[3] After the AI safety summit, the Foundation Model Taskforce evolved and was renamed the AI Safety Institute (AISI), with Hogarth remaining its Chair.[20]