Soumitra Dutta is a renowned academic and prominent voice on artificial intelligence 

Soumitra Dutta is an academic, management consultant, author, and entrepreneur․ Dutta is the former Dean of Oxford's Said Business School․ He is a co-originator and co-publisher of the Global Innovation Index, which is the world's leading innovation ranking, evaluating around 130 countries. 

Soumitra Dutta’s Professional Journey 

Dutta served as an Assistant Professor of Information Systems and Technology Management at INSEAD in France, among other distinguished institutions in the world, during a long career as an academic. He was the founding dean of Cornell University's SC Johnson College of Business․ Dutta was dean of Oxford's Said Business School from 2022 to 2025․ 

Dutta was born in Chandigarh and is an alumnus of IIT Delhi. Soumitra Dutta earned a PhD in computer science and artificial intelligence from the University of California, Berkeley․ Dutta's doctoral advisor was Lotfi A․ Zadeh, who founded fuzzy logic․ 

As an artificial intelligence and digital strategy expert, Dutta has written or contributed to books such as Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom. He has a balanced perspective on the AI debate: "How easy is it to take a 40-year-old male truck driver and make this person a childcare minder? These are huge social transition issues and I don't think we have the answers for that․ These are important answers and questions that businesses have to grapple with," Dutta has said․ Soumitra Dutta has 87 papers/publications listed on ResearchGate․ 

Role of Soumitra Dutta as an Entrepreneur 

Soumitra Dutta has founded tech-based companies, including Fisheye Analytics․ He is a supporter of a 'people-first' leadership style, saying in an interview with Knowledge at Wharton on AI strategy: "We need to have what I term as a 'people-first' AI strategy․ We have to use technology, not because technology exists, but because it helps us to become better individuals․ They must not feel that their abilities are being questioned or undercut․ A combination of putting people and technology together effectively and ensuring good use of AI is key for organizations․" 

In addition, Soumitra Dutta is the co-founder and president of Portulans Institute, a Washington DC based non-profit organization that conducts research on innovation and competitiveness.