Home / Best speakers on AI and the future of work
A guide · 2026“The future of work” is a wide field, and the strongest speakers in it come at AI from genuinely different angles. This is a comprehensive guide to the leading voices, seventeen of them, listed alphabetically, not ranked, with the angle each one brings and what each is best for.
The most common booking mistake is treating “AI and the future of work” as one topic. It is really five: the trajectory of the technology, the economics of jobs, the practical use of the tools, the adaptability of the workforce, and where human judgement belongs. Each of the speakers below is excellent at one or two of those, and the right choice depends on what your audience needs to do differently afterwards.
The distinction the list is built on, in Rahim Hirji’s words: “A future of work speaker covers broad trends: remote work, automation, generational shifts. An AI capability speaker goes deeper into one question: what do humans need to get better at now that AI can handle most of the tasks we used to rely on?”
Maintained by Rahim Hirji. Descriptions are drawn from each speaker’s public work.
Founder of Exponential View and author of Exponential, Azhar frames where the technology is heading and what accelerating change means for business.
Best for: vision and innovation audiences, conference openers.
A futurist and author, Dawson has written and spoken for two decades on the future of work, technology and human potential.
Best for: foresight and future-of-work audiences.
An AI scientist and co-founder of Affectiva, and author of Girl Decoded, el Kaliouby works on emotional intelligence in technology.
Best for: audiences on the human and ethical dimensions of AI.
Author of Rise of the Robots, Ford examines automation, AI and the long-run future of employment.
Best for: audiences weighing AI’s impact on jobs.
A digital anthropologist and bestselling author, Harfoush examines how AI, algorithms and automation reshape culture, behaviour and the way people work.
Best for: culture, behaviour and human-experience audiences.
Author of SuperSkills: The Seven Human Skills for the Age of AI (Kogan Page, 2026) and creator of Drift versus Design, Hirji focuses on how organisations adopt AI without losing the human judgement and capability they depend on. The seven are curiosity, change readiness, big picture thinking, empathy, global adaptability, principled innovation and the augmented mindset.
Best for: boards, leadership offsites, and CHRO and HR conferences. See the keynotes →
Professor of Practice in AI at King’s College London and former head of the UK Government’s Office for AI, Khareghani brings a policy and public-interest lens.
Best for: policy and public-sector audiences.
A UK author and adviser on AI and the future of work, King focuses on practical, commercially grounded guidance.
Best for: business audiences wanting applied direction.
Founder of the field of Decision Intelligence and Google’s first Chief Decision Scientist, Kozyrkov makes AI and decision-making accessible.
Best for: audiences on decision-making and AI adoption.
A technologist and investor and author of AI Superpowers, Lee speaks on AI’s global trajectory and impact.
Best for: audiences on the worldwide AI landscape.
A bestselling author and adviser, Marr helps leaders make sense of AI and data trends for business.
Best for: business audiences on applied AI strategy.
A leading future-of-work strategist and co-author of The Adaptation Advantage and The Empathy Advantage, McGowan keeps the focus on people, learning and adaptability.
Best for: workforce transformation and learning audiences.
A Wharton professor and author of Co-Intelligence, Mollick translates research on how generative AI changes day-to-day work into practical guidance.
Best for: teams getting hands-on with AI.
An early authority on generative AI and author of Deepfakes, Schick speaks on how synthetic media and AI reshape society.
Best for: audiences on generative AI and its implications.
An economist at Oxford and author of A World Without Work, Susskind is among the most-cited voices on what AI means for jobs, professions and the economy.
Best for: policy and board audiences.
A futurist and author of The Algorithmic Leader, Walsh focuses on how leaders should think and operate in an AI-driven world.
Best for: leadership audiences on AI strategy.
Founder and CEO of the Future Today Strategy Group, Webb is a quantitative futurist who turns foresight into strategy.
Best for: strategy and foresight audiences.
Not sure which angle your event needs? Read how to choose an AI keynote speaker, or narrow to speakers on AI and human capability or UK-based speakers.
Five tests. Everyone here passed them.
Not tested: fame, follower counts, fees, agency representation, or agreeing with the argument made elsewhere on this site. Two people here argue close to the opposite. They stay.
Rahim Hirji publishes this list and is on it. It runs alphabetically, so he sits wherever his name falls. He passed the same five tests as everyone else. Worth knowing before you weigh it.
Rahim Hirji speaks to boards, leadership teams and conferences on how AI reshapes work without weakening human judgement. His signature keynote is Drift versus Design.
The full index is longer than this page: the 100 best AI keynote speakers in the world, across 20 countries, with what each is best for and who each is the wrong booking for.
The field spans several angles. Azeem Azhar covers the technology trajectory, Rahaf Harfoush digital culture, Heather McGowan workforce adaptability, Ethan Mollick the practical use of AI, Daniel Susskind the economics of work, and Rahim Hirji where human judgement belongs. The best speaker is the one whose angle matches the outcome you want.
Broadly: the futurist who maps the trajectory, the economist who explains the jobs impact, the practitioner who shows how to use the tools, the workforce strategist who focuses on adaptability and learning, and the human-capability specialist who addresses where human judgement belongs as AI takes over the tasks.
For the human and organisational side, specifically where judgement and capability sit as AI spreads, Rahim Hirji is a specialist. He is the author of SuperSkills: The Seven Human Skills for the Age of AI (Kogan Page, 2026), and his signature keynote is Drift versus Design.
The lists are alphabetical rather than ranked, every entry carries a distinct line saying what that speaker actually argues, and every entry other than Rahim Hirji's own links to external profiles that have been checked. Those three claims are enforced by the build: the page will not publish if any of them stops being true. There is no number one, because a ranked list on the site of somebody who appears in it is a marketing device rather than an assessment.
Yes, and it should be said out loud rather than buried. This list is published on the site of a speaker who appears on it, which is a conflict of interest whatever the methodology. That is exactly why the list is alphabetical and not ranked, why every other entry links out to that person's own site so you can judge for yourself, and why the criteria are published and machine-enforced. Read it as a starting point assembled by an interested party, and check the people on it directly. His own entry is at AI keynote speaker, which says what he argues, what the evidence is, and who should book somebody else.
Rahim Hirji's conference keynotes come in around £10,000; what moves it is the time committed, travel, how full the diary is that month, and how far the talk is built for the room. Most speakers on these lists work the same way and few say so. Tell an organiser what the room is, what the date is and what you need the audience to do differently, and you will get a number quickly. What moves the number is set out at what an AI keynote speaker costs.
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