Why Book Carissa Véliz?
She brings a far-ranging yet focused perspective to AI
Many AI speakers focus on tools, productivity, or regulation. Carissa asks a deeper question: who gets to choose the future? Drawing on ancient Greece and Rome, philosophy, surveillance, and modern AI, she shows that today’s prediction systems are part of a much older struggle over authority, freedom, and control. Her talks help audiences see AI not as an isolated technology, but as a social force with deep historical roots.
She connects philosophy to real decisions
Carissa’s work is intellectually ambitious but not abstract. She applies philosophy and ethics to hiring, lending, healthcare, insurance, business strategy, privacy, and AI governance. She helps leaders ask whether a system is predicting a thing or a person, what data it relies on, what it leaves out, and whether acting on the forecast could help make it come true. “Too often we externalize decisions on data or AI or companies,” she says. “And while that might seem like a safer bet, you’re just surrendering your own good judgment and your own ability to be a leader.”
She offers a practical framework for using AI
Carissa doesn’t argue that leaders should stop using prediction. She argues that they should understand its limits. Her audiences learn how to distinguish prediction from knowledge, stay close to the present, preserve human expertise, and prepare for multiple futures instead of betting everything on one forecast. “Uncertainty is good news,” she says. “It means that the future is unwritten, that you can influence it.”
What Does Carissa Véliz Speak About?
Carissa Véliz is a leading AI ethics speaker on prediction, privacy, digital technology, business ethics, and human agency. Her talks combine historical insight, philosophy, and practical decision-making, helping audiences understand how AI is reshaping society—and how people and institutions can still shape what comes next.
Her core topics include:
Making better decisions with AI
- How can leaders distinguish prediction from knowledge?
- When should AI support a decision, and when should human judgment take the lead?
- When should organizations use scenario planning instead of trying to know the future?
Prediction, power, and human agency
- How do predictions shape behavior and political possibility?
- What is the relationship between prediction, surveillance, and control?
- How can individuals and institutions resist technological fatalism?
Privacy and the surveillance economy
- How do companies use personal data to predict and influence behavior?
- Is the surveillance economy dangerous for democracy?
- How can businesses build trust through better models?
- What practical steps can governments, companies, and individuals take?
The power of the analog
- What do we lose when every experience becomes mediated by screens and algorithms?
- Where are presence, physical spaces, and human relationships still essential?
- How can leaders protect autonomy in a digital world?
Carissa Véliz’s Keynote Topics
Prophecy: What Prediction Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Organization
In the age of AI, many of us are using prediction tools to minimize uncertainty. But what if the tools we’re using to decrease risk are actually increasing it? And how can we ensure these tools serve us rather than the other way around?
In this far-ranging, accessible talk, award-winning author and philosopher Carissa Véliz reveals the uses and abuses of prediction, drawing on her experience advising companies and governments around the world. All too often, she says, prediction as a risk management tool ends up surreptitiously increasing risk for individuals, institutions, and society at large. But there are other ways to make decisions, which can help us not only understand our odds, but defy them for great success.
With surprising research, incisive anecdotes, and personal experience, Carissa helps audiences better understand prediction and avoid its pitfalls. Audience members leave armed with a toolkit for alternative decision-making processes, which includes preparation as opposed to prediction, and transparent and verifiable criteria in contexts in which fairness and truth are paramount.
The Power of the Analog: Why Our Digital World Needs an Analog Backbone
We’ve built much of our lives and work on digital technology—but what’s happening underneath it? Beneath every screen, every algorithm, every AI tool lies something older and far more resilient: the analog world we depend on.
“In an age dominated by the digital, we tend to forget that everything virtual depends on the analog,” says Carissa Véliz: “that the analog is the substrate of all else, that we are analog creatures.”
In this talk, the author of Prophecy and Privacy Is Power challenges audiences to rethink their relationship with digital technology—and to discover what we stand to gain through the power of the analog. Drawing on philosophy and her research into technology, she argues that analog backups for crucial functions are far more robust than digital ones, and that protecting analog spaces and resources is essential to preserving our autonomy. Audiences leave with a new lens on technology’s role in shaping what it means to be human.
See Carissa Véliz in Action
Frequently Asked Questions About Carissa Véliz
What makes Carissa Véliz a unique AI ethics speaker?
Carissa Véliz combines philosophy, ancient history, privacy research, business ethics, and AI governance. Rather than focusing only on how AI works, she examines what prediction does to people, institutions, and democracy. Her distinctive perspective connects ancient prophecy with modern algorithms, helping audiences understand the power dynamics behind AI and reclaim their role in shaping the future.
What does Carissa Véliz speak about?
Carissa speaks about AI ethics, prediction, privacy, surveillance, uncertainty, business ethics, human agency, and the power of the analog. Her keynotes help audiences make better decisions with AI, understand the risks of predictive systems, protect human judgment, and build more resilient institutions.
What audiences would benefit most from Carissa Véliz’s keynotes?
Carissa is a strong fit for leadership conferences, business audiences, technology events, policy forums, universities, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and teams responsible for AI governance. Her talks are especially useful for leaders making consequential decisions with data and predictive tools.
Is Carissa Véliz suitable for business audiences?
Yes. Carissa has advised companies, the United Kingdom and Spanish governments, and public and private institutions around the world. Her talks translate philosophy and AI ethics into practical questions leaders can use when assessing risk, evaluating data, and making decisions under uncertainty.
What is Carissa Véliz’s speaking style?
Carissa’s talks are incisive, witty, historically grounded, and practical. She makes complex ideas accessible without oversimplifying them, using stories from ancient philosophy, modern technology, and business to help audiences see familiar problems in a new way.
What is Carissa Véliz’s speaking fee?
Carissa Véliz’s speaking fee depends on the details of your event, including whether it is a keynote or fireside chat, the location, the audience, and the date. As Carissa’s exclusive speaking agency, The Lavin Agency can provide the most accurate information about her availability and booking fee. Contact Lavin to discuss your event and learn more about bringing Carissa to your stage.
How to Book Carissa Véliz for Your Next Event
Ready to bring Carissa Véliz’s essential insights on AI, prediction, privacy, and human agency to your next event?
Learn more about Carissa and watch her talks, then contact The Lavin Agency to check her availability and discuss how her message can be tailored to your audience.
