Jerry Kaplan

Jerry Kaplan
Name	Jerry Kaplan
Birth date	1952
Birth place	Newark, New Jersey
Occupation	Computer scientist; entrepreneur; author; educator
Alma mater	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Stanford University
Notable works	The Singularity Is Near; Humans Need Not Apply; Startup Nation

Jerry Kaplan is an American computer scientist, entrepreneur, author, and educator known for work in personal computing, handwriting recognition, and artificial intelligence. He has founded technology companies, written for general and technical audiences, and taught at leading universities and business schools. His career spans research at industrial laboratories, venture-backed startups, and commentary linking technological developments to public policy and ethics.

Early life and education

Kaplan was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in the northeastern United States. He earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he studied alongside researchers in microelectronics and computer science. He continued graduate work at Stanford University, completing advanced study in artificial intelligence and computer science during a period when Silicon Valley was shaping ventures such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Xerox PARC. His academic mentors and contemporaries included faculty and visiting scholars from institutions like MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and UC Berkeley.

Career

Kaplan's early career included positions at research organizations and technology companies. He worked at industrial labs influenced by Xerox PARC innovations and at firms engaged with early personal computer development such as Apple Inc. and IBM. He later moved into entrepreneurship, founding and leading companies that commercialized research in pattern recognition and human–computer interaction. Kaplan also served as a lecturer and faculty member at universities and business schools, contributing to programs at institutions including Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Kennedy School through seminars and guest lectures.

Contributions to computing and artificial intelligence

Kaplan's technical contributions center on handwriting recognition, user interface design, and applied machine learning. He led teams developing pen-based computing systems during an era when companies like GO Corporation and Palm, Inc. pursued stylus input and portable computing. His work addressed algorithmic pattern recognition, probabilistic models, and human factors informed by research at SRI International and the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT). Kaplan translated research prototypes into commercial products by integrating techniques from statistical classification, signal processing, and computational linguistics—areas advanced by labs at Bell Labs and Rutgers University. He has also engaged with contemporary debates about machine learning scalability, reinforcement learning paradigms popularized by groups at DeepMind and OpenAI, and the societal impacts highlighted by scholars at Oxford Martin School.

Business ventures and entrepreneurship

Kaplan founded and advised multiple startups spanning software, hardware, and online platforms. One of his early firms developed handwriting-recognition hardware and software, positioning it amid competitors such as Microsoft Corporation and Palm, Inc. in the mobile computing market. He later co-founded ventures attracting venture capital from firms like Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, and worked with accelerators and angel networks connected to the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Kaplan's entrepreneurial roles included CEO, chairman, and board member at companies that pursued commercial licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings, interacting with corporate partners such as General Electric and AT&T in technology transfer and distribution agreements.

Publications and public commentary

Kaplan is the author of books and essays addressing technology, labor markets, and public policy. He has written on automation, demographic change, and the economic implications of artificial intelligence, engaging with themes explored by authors at Harvard University Press and commentators in outlets connected to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Kaplan's public commentary has appeared in magazines and on broadcast outlets alongside discussions involving policymakers from The White House and think tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Hoover Institution. In academic and popular venues he has critiqued and interpreted forecasts about technological unemployment, echoing and contrasting positions from scholars at Stanford University and MIT.

Awards and recognition

Kaplan's work has been recognized by professional organizations and industry groups. He has received accolades from associations involved with computing and entrepreneurship such as the Association for Computing Machinery and regional technology councils in California. His companies and publications have been cited in compilations by business media and scholarly reviews from institutions like IEEE and university presses. Kaplan has been invited to speak at conferences and symposia organized by entities including TED, SIGGRAPH, and the World Economic Forum, and has served on advisory boards for startups and nonprofit research centers.

Category:American computer scientists Category:American technology company founders