Edwin Chen, MIT grad and founder of Surge AI, named richest new AI billionaire

His estimated fortune largely stems from his more than 75% ownership stake in Surge AI.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied mathematics, computer science and linguistics, Chen founded Surge AI in 2020 to help companies label data used to train artificial intelligence systems.

He developed the idea during his time working as a machine learning engineer at Facebook, Dropbox, Google and Twitter, according to The Information. By 2024, the startup generated more than $1 billion in revenue from clients including Google, Anthropic and OpenAI. The company is now reportedly seeking a valuation of more than $25 billion as it raises funding.

Edwin Chen, CEO and founder of Surge AI. Screenshot from Youtube/20VC with Harry Stebbings

There are now at least 86 AI billionaires on Forbes’ annual list of the world’s richest people, with a combined net worth of $2.9 trillion, including 45 who became billionaires in the past year.

The second richest newcomer on the list is Liu Debing, cofounder and chairman of Chinese AI company Z.ai, with an estimated net worth of $9.1 billion. The firm develops open AI models that compete with offerings from companies such as OpenAI. Debing became a billionaire after Z.ai’s Hong Kong initial public offering in January.

Third on the list is Daniel Nadler, founder of OpenEvidence, which develops an AI search tool for doctors, with an estimated net worth of $7.6 billion.

Several of this year’s new AI billionaires built their fortunes through companies focused on the application layer, including AI coding assistants and other software products. Others accumulated wealth by developing the infrastructure that supports AI systems.