The 25 people defining Ohio’s AI economy

Ohio Tech News

July 1, 2026

AI25, presented by Ohio Tech News and OhioX, recognizes leaders turning artificial intelligence into real-world impact across Ohio — from startups and classrooms to hospitals, public agencies, manufacturing floors, and the capital backing what comes next.

Ask most people where America's AI boom is happening, and they'll point to a coast. They'd be missing the story.

In Ohio, artificial intelligence isn't an abstraction or theoretical exercise. It's already on the job — digesting thousands of pages of child-welfare files so caseworkers can spend their hours with families, planning heart surgeries before a scalpel is ever lifted, welding the hulls of Navy ships, answering election officials' questions around the clock, and, yes, delivering a pastrami sandwich by drone.

It's happening because three things are converging at once: major capital flowing into the state, a wave of homegrown innovation, and a deep commitment to education and workforce readiness. Investment, innovation, and education — together, they're the foundation of an AI economy that belongs to Ohio.

That's what AI25 is built to recognize. Presented by Ohio Tech News and OhioX, it's a new annual honor spotlighting 25 people making a real AI impact across the state — founders and innovators, enterprise leaders and public-sector champions, educators preparing the next generation, and investors betting that incredible companies can be built in Ohio. They share a sensibility that feels distinctly Ohioan: not simply interested in what AI might do someday, but what it can do right now, responsibly, for real people.

These honorees make up the inaugural People & Practitioners class — one of AI25's two categories, with Companies & Organizations to follow later this month. 

Here are 25 leaders building Ohio's AI future.

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