“The Jewish Refugee Who Changed the World”

Chosen for transforming the way humanity accesses information: Sergey Brin fled the Soviet Union with his Jewish family as a child, escaped antisemitism and went on to co-found Google, fundamentally changing how billions of people around the world search, communicate and understand information.

I think the future of AI is incredibly exciting.

Sergey Brin, 2026

In 2026, Brin stepped back into the center of the technology revolution. Despite no longer holding an executive position at Google, he has become deeply involved in the company's race to lead the global AI revolution, personally pushing Google's Gemini team to move faster and compete at the frontier of artificial intelligence.

But Brin's significance goes far beyond technology. His family fled the Soviet Union after experiencing antisemitism and discrimination, arriving in America when Sergey was just six years old. That journey became part of the foundation of one of the greatest entrepreneurial success stories in modern history.

And Brin has not remained silent when Israel or the Jewish people have come under attack. In 2025, he publicly called the United Nations "transparently antisemitic" after a UN report accused technology companies of profiting from Israel's war in Gaza.

From a Jewish refugee fleeing persecution to one of the architects of the digital world, Sergey Brin represents the extraordinary power of freedom, education and Jewish resilience. His story is not simply about building Google. It is about what can happen when a child fleeing antisemitism is given the freedom to dream, and then changes the world.

That is why Sergey Brin is No. 20 on The 36.