Vox today released the 2024 Future Perfect 50 list, its third annual celebration of the thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place. This year’s project is Vox’s most ambitious yet, including dedicated profiles of each honoree and interviews with a select few. The Future Perfect 50 includes both familiar names such as director Christopher Nolan, recording artist Billie Eilish, and Michelin-starred chef and founder of World Central Kitchen José Andrés, and up-and-coming changemakers such as climate educator Isaias Hernandez, neuroscientist Kaela Singleton, and AI justice advocate Sneha Revanur. The list honors individuals doing groundbreaking work across six categories:
- Protecting animal rights
- Aligning on AI
- Fighting global poverty and health threats
- Expanding the mind
- Combating climate change
- Imagining the future
“The Future Perfect 50 has always been more than just a list — it’s a snapshot of human potential and a roadmap to a better tomorrow,” writes Bryan Walsh, Vox editorial director, in an introductory essay. “As you read about this year’s honorees, we hope you’ll be inspired not just by their achievements, but also by their fundamental belief that progress is possible and that individual actions can catalyze systemic change.”
In addition to the list, video interviews with author and philanthropist John Green and chef José Andrés will be shared across Vox’s social media channels.
The full list of this year’s honorees is below:
- Protecting animal rights
- Rune-Christoffer Drasgdahl
- Katie Cantrell
- Brenda Sanders
- Elissa Lane and Jayasimha Nuggehalli
- Billie Eilish
- Monica Chen
- Dulce Ramirez
- Imagining the future
- Christopher Nolan
- L.M. Sacasas
- Niko McCarty
- C. Thi Nguyen
- Patrick Hsu and Silvana Konermann
- Liu Cixin
- Deb Chachra
- Aligning on artificial intelligence
- Anton Korinek
- Ellie Pavlick
- Jaime Sevilla
- Shannon Vallor
- Daniel Kokotajlo
- Nora Belrose
- Scott Wiener
- Dan Hendrycks
- Sneha Revanur
- Fighting global poverty and health threats
- John Green
- Adar Poonawalla
- Shruti Rajagopalan
- Andrew Chan and Yin Cao
- José Andrés
- Christian Happi
- Lillian Musila
- Combating climate change
- Matthew Hayek
- Daniel Swain
- Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
- Isaias Hernandez
- David Keith
- Vaclav Smil
- Emma Hakansson
- Robin Wall Kimmerer
- Expanding the mind
- Rafael Yuste
- Nita Farahay
- Jonathan Birch
- Kaela Singleton
- Jeff Sebo
- Sara Imari Walker
- Michael Levin
- Alison Gopnik
- Iain Couzin