“AI can be a force for good”: Arianna Huffington on work, health, and our future

Arianna Huffington moved to England from Greece at 17, earning a master’s degree in economics from Cambridge University where she was president of its celebrated debating society. Best known as the co-founder of The Huffington Post (now HuffPost) — acquired by AOL in 2011, then by BuzzFeed in 2020 — she became a force in shaping the digital media landscape and a fixture on various “most influential” lists. She has also written 15 books.
In common with other seemingly indefatigable high-achievers, Huffington faced a physical reckoning in 2007, when burnout caused her to collapse “into a bloody mess.” Along with a fractured cheekbone she sustained a revelatory crack in her outlook on life and began to map out a significant pivot.
Now, as founder and CEO of Thrive Global, she has redirected her entrepreneurial focus towards well-being — and with Thrive AI Health, created in 2024 in partnership with OpenAI, she wants “to use AI to make expert-level health coaching acce