Ben Jackson is a creative technologist who’s obsessed with the future of work. A lifelong software engineer, he built the iOS news reader for the New York Times and served as director of mobile for Vice Media as it launched on cable across iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. After Vice, Ben founded Hear Me Out, where he worked with clients such as Peloton and Atlassian to improve team performance through confidential listening tours.

Today, he’s building Offtrail, a career intelligence platform that helps senior operators find unlisted roles through structured, targeted networking. On the side, he teaches leaders how to build their own AI chief of staff, and runs hands-on AI workshops for venture capital firms such as Higher Ground Labs. He also volunteers as the director of strategy and development at Out of the Mattress, a nonprofit working to help immigrants overcome their fear of the U.S. financial system.

Ben has written for publications including the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Fast Company, and many others. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Larissa Almeida Gomes and their dog. Like politics, he believes that AI is either something you do, or something that is done to you.