Ian Hogarth

British investor

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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]

## Education

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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]

## Entrepreneurship and investing

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### Songkick

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Hogarth founded the 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]

### Silicon Milkroundabout

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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]

### Plural Platform

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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]

## Artificial intelligence

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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 an 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 the artificial intelligence sphere by the magazine Time in 2023.[16]

### AI Safety Institute

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On 18 June 2023, Hogarth was announced as Chair of the UK Government's AI Safety Institute, an AI safety research organization.[3][16][20][21][22]

## References

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1. ^ "MediaGuardian 100 2013". The Guardian. 1 September 2013.
2. ^ "Plural Thinking: A New Fund Is Recruiting Seasoned Entrepreneurs To Build A Scalable European VC Platform". Forbes. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023.
3. ^ a b "Tech entrepreneur Ian Hogarth to lead UK's AI Foundation Model Taskforce". GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
4. ^ "About". Ian Hogarth. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
5. ^ Ben Sisario (1 May 2011). "A Go-to Site for Tracking Music Acts". The New York Times.
6. ^ a b c "Ian Hogarth". UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
7. ^ Jason Del Ray. "Michelle You, Ian Hogarth, and Pete Smith, Founders of Songkick". Inc Magazine.
8. ^ "Songkick founder scoops young music entrepreneur gong". Music Ally. 20 May 2010.
9. ^ Zack O’Malley Greenburg. "30 under 30: Music". Forbes Magazine.
10. ^ Will Smale (17 June 2013). "Organise a concert by your favourite band". BBC.
11. ^ Stuart Dredge (4 June 2015). "Songkick and CrowdSurge merge to make a splash in live music market". The Guardian. London.
12. ^ Gabriella Griffith (23 February 2012). "Songkick founder Ian Hogarth on making money in music and east London tech scene trends". London Loves Business.[permanent dead link]
13. ^ "IT Takes On The City: Silicon Milkroundabout Aims For Top Graduates". HuffPost UK. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
14. ^ "Ian Hogarth". Plural. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
15. ^ "The AI Revolution is Just Beginning (with Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth)". Harvard Business Review. 17 November 2021. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
16. ^ a b c d "TIME100 AI 2023: Ian Hogarth". Time. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
17. ^ Hogarth, Ian; Benaich, Nathan. "State of AI Report 2023". www.stateof.ai. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
18. ^ Hogarth, Ian (13 June 2018). "AI Nationalism". Ian Hogarth. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
19. ^ Hogarth, Ian (12 April 2023). "We must slow down the race to God-like AI". Financial Times.
20. ^ "Prime Minister launches new AI Safety Institute". GOV.UK. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
21. ^ "Frontier AI Taskforce: second progress report". GOV.UK. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
22. ^ Milmo, Dan (20 May 2024). "AI chatbots' safeguards can be easily bypassed, say UK researchers". Archived from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 20 May 2024.