Stevens Graduate Marques Brownlee ’15 Makes TIME100 / AI Cover
Top tech reviewer, ultimate-frisbee star recently delivered Stevens’ 2024 Commencement address, received honorary doctorate
One of the world’s most-watched technology reviewers, Stevens graduate Marques Brownlee (known professionally as MKBHD), has landed on the cover of TIME magazine’s new TIME100 / AI list as one of the 100 most influential people in AI.
The list, published September 5, includes tech luminaries OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang as well as public figures such as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and actor/anti-AI activist Scarlett Johansson.
“If you want to sell a new product, just say it’s AI-powered. But YouTube gadget reviewer Marques Brownlee has been careful not to get swept up in the hype,” noted TIME, describing Brownlee’s long-running make-or-break reviews of AI-loaded cars, tablets, phones and other devices.
Speaking about AI systems that train freely on publicly available data such as photographs, text and videos, he told the magazine he would like to see creators eventually “compensated by AI developers for using their videos, similar to how YouTuber’s receive a cut of the platform’s revenue from ads.”
Frisbee whiz, featured by Oprah
Brownlee, whose influential YouTube channel currently boasts more than 19 million subscribers (in addition to 5 million Instagram followers and 2 million-plus TikTok followers), graduated from the university with a degree in Business & Technology in 2015.
He received its Young Alumni Achievement Award just three years later in a ceremony in New York City’s Plaza Hotel, and returned to campus in fall 2022 for a moderated conversation with enrolled undergraduates.
“Finding something that you’re really passionate about often requires trying a lot of different stuff, but once you find that thing, it kind of becomes a no-brainer,” he said at the time. “Being able to turn it into a job when I graduated was perfect.”
In 2024, Brownlee was invited by Stevens to deliver the university’s undergraduate Commencement speech at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. Stevens President Nariman Farvardin conferred him with an honorary Doctorate of Business Administration on the same occasion. (Tech publication Fast Company swiftly, and humorously, dubbed him “MKPHD.”)
In parallel with his remarkable career in technology social media, Brownlee has enjoyed considerable success in the world of professional ultimate frisbee. NBC News detailed his accomplishments, including making the U.S. mixed national team (currently a finalist in the World Ultimate Championships in Australia), in a recent profile.
Brownlee will also be featured September 12 in the upcoming ABC program “AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special,” along with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI’s Altman and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Watch Brownlee’s 2024 Commencement speech here: