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The Lavin Agency Speakers Bureau

A speakers bureau that represents the best original thinkers,
writers, and doers for speaking engagements.

Radhika Dirks

AI offers us a whole new world of possibility: one which can help us land our moonshots and make our most ambitious dreams a reality.

CEO & co-founder of XLabs and Ribo | One of Forbes's 30 Women in AI to Watch | Quantum computing expert

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Lavin Exclusive Speaker

Companies want to aim for moonshots: ideas that can change everything. But landing moonshots isn’t easy. Radhika Dirks is an expert in taking moonshots from start to finish. She does it by using artificial intelligence, and she helps companies and organizations use AI’s great potential: “Bring me a model from evolution, physics, or infrastructure. With that, I can show you how to build a new kind of AI to solve our biggest problems.” Radhika has a practical framework for how you can form an AI strategy and make your moonshots a reality. This is why Heads of States and Fortune 500 executives seek out her advice, why Forbes named her one of its 30 Women in AI to Watch, why she was named one of the 30 most inspiring women in AI, and why she’s been in Fast Company, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Radhika Dirks uses artificial intelligence to work on the biggest possible innovations: augmenting human minds, discovering new drugs, automating scientific experiments. She’s interested in moonshots, the big ideas that will change the way we live and think, and she says that artificial intelligence is going to get us there. Radhika is an authentic tech visionary, and her work has led to her being named one of Forbes’ 30 Women in AI to Watch and one of Deloitte’s top women in the AI world. She founded and leads the only other Moonshot Factory that exists outside of Google.

Radhika’s artificial intelligence leadership includes co-founding Seldn, an AI start-up that accurately predicted the rise of ISIS two weeks before the New York Times coined the term, and her work as CEO and co-founder of XLabs, a moonshot factory for artificial intelligence innovations that is already solving huge problems—like getting closer to the cure for cancer. Her latest AI has found potential cures in 11 cancers within 1.5 years of launch.

She can teach you how to use AI to solve your problems. You don’t need to be an expert in AI; you just need to be passionate about something. In Radhika’s words: “AI is an amplifier. You must have something to amplify…lean into a mission that truly inspires you and one you can’t seem to let go of. Then become a vortex – a force of nature hell-bent on solving that problem. What you will see then is that AI or the right new technology will no longer be an option, but the only way forward. And in turn, you are no longer just an A-player in that technology—you will end up at the top.”

When you hear Radhika speak, you feel her own passion for everything and her tireless drive to figure it all out. She is engaging and generous, with a special touch that can make even the most impossible ideas feel just within reach. She is a renowned scientist (she built one of the world’s best sources of entangled photons for quantum computing) and she talks about science with an approachable and imaginative quality that eagerly invites you to share her vision of what comes next. Radhika often describes herself as an artist—with technology as her artistic medium.

Radhika was also a founding member of Shell’s $500M dollar venture capital group and was COO of Rotary Gallop, a game theory-based fintech firm. She is a regular contributor to Singularity University, her work on quantum computing and artificial intelligence has been cited hundreds of times, and she holds a Ph.D. in Quantum Computing and an M.S. in Nanotechnology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Speech Topics

ChatGPT and Generative AI

The 5 Steps to Using ChatGPT at WorkBoosting Innovation with the Power of AI

Generative AI can transform your company into a more efficient, creative, and innovative version of itself. But the AI is advancing at a relentless, head-turning pace. Blink and you’ll miss another breakthrough. Where to start? How to keep up? What to do next? Radhika Dirks, a visionary AI expert who talks with bracing clarity, has the answers. She’s one of Forbes‘s 30 Women in AI to Watch and CEO of the world’s first AI moonshot factory. Her unparalleled insights are in high demand during this once-in-a-generation moment.

Radhika has developed a Five Step Method to introduce generative AI—like ChatGPT and GPT-4—into any organization. (The trick? You have to do all five steps!) First up: “start playing with it right away.” By creating sandboxes of deeply intentional AI play, creativity will flourish as your teams get comfortable with its limits, its quirks, its boundless potential. The surprising, counterintuitive second step? “Don’t trust it.” Dig in and ask endless questions, take it to task. In her talk, you’ll learn so much more, such as the new world of “prompt engineering,” how to tackle ethical challenges, and the best way to think about it for your specific organizational needs.

Radhika’s thrilling talk will give you a peek into the frontier of this rapidly-developing world. With the right inside knowledge, you can build an organization that thrives not just today, but well into the future.

Artificial Intelligence

Pushing Through to New RealitiesMoonshots of the Intelligent Age

Dr. Radhika Dirks will show you how to solve the impossible. It’s all about “moonshot thinking”: you’ve got to reach for the stars and imagine the biggest possibilities. Radhika says that if we put our energy into moonshots, we’ll soon be on the brink of an Intelligent Age, when humans will be completed upgraded with the help of artificial intelligence. It sounds incredible, but Radhika makes it happen every day through her work at XLabs, the moonshot factory for AI that she co-founded in 2017.

How can you wield moonshot technology to help us get to the next level? How can you take part in this huge step in human evolution? Radhika is your brilliant, warm, expert guide to what comes next. She delivers a powerful, dynamic talk that defines moonshot thinking and explains the nuts and bolts of two emergent technologies that are so important to creating moonshots: artificial intelligence and quantum computing. When you walk away from her talk, you’ll not only be ready to become a leader in the Intelligent Age—you’ll have a completely new vision for what reality can be.

Innovation

Embrace NoveltyThe 7 New Rules of Innovation

We can all see that we’re living in a very different world than we did just a few years ago. It’s clear that something has changed, and the rules of innovation have changed too. But what are those new rules? How can we stay on top of all these rapid changes to stay ahead of the game and be a part of what comes next?

In this dynamic talk, Dr. Radhika Dirks has a plan for how you can jump into this whirlwind of change—and thrive. It’s all about embracing novelty and constantly trying something new. When Radhika works on artificial intelligence problems in her lab, she teaches AI how to grow by seeking out new ways of doing things. An AI-powered robot will learn to walk like a human if it tries a completely new approach with every step it takes. We’ve got to have the same mentality.

Radhika will teach you how to know when the existing tools for innovation no longer work, and how to swap them out with new, next-generation methods. She’ll also lay out the three mindsets that you need to cultivate to keep forging ahead in the face of constant change, and the seven big rules to follow to get ahead and embrace the future. You’ll get a fresh and invigorating perspective on how you and your business can stay fresh and relevant—even if the world is changing around you.

Artificial Intelligence

The Rage of AIThe Megatrends Shaping the Future of Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is about to change everything. We’re in the Age of AI, and AI is all the Rage: it’s time to take advantage of the potential of artificial intelligence. Dr. Radhika Dirks, the CEO of the world’s first moonshot factory for AI, is on the cutting edge of what this incredible technology can do for us—now and tomorrow.

Radhika shows you how you can harness everything that AI promises. What are the new innovations that AI will create? What are the huge shifts—the megatrends—that are happening in AI today, and how will they change the way we live in the future? Radhika offers you a guiding hand into the innerworkings of the most exciting field in tech, delivering her insights with great warmth and deep intelligence. Her powerful and enlightening talk is the perfect introduction to AI strategy for business leaders, executives, and everyone who wants to be part of what comes next.