Top 18 AI Speakers to Book for Your Event in 2026
The right AI speakers don't just explain the technology—they shift how your audience thinks about it. Whether you're planning an AI conference, summit, or internal event, the speaker you book sets the tone. I've rounded up the best speakers working today: thinkers who go beyond hype to deliver real insight your audience can act on.
Top 18 AI Speakers
Below are the profiles of the top AI speakers, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Andrew Ng
Andrew Ng founded DeepLearning.AI and leads AI Fund, combining AI education, research, and company building. His earlier leadership roles include Stanford, Google Brain, Coursera, and Baidu.
Through courses, newsletters, startup building, and…
Andrew Ng founded DeepLearning.AI and leads AI Fund, combining AI education, research, and company building. His earlier leadership roles include Stanford, Google Brain, Coursera, and Baidu.
Through courses, newsletters, startup building, and frequent talks, Ng translates AI research into practical guidance for builders and executives. His work spans machine learning, generative AI, agentic systems, AI education, and the organizational choices involved in putting AI to work.
Fei-Fei Li
Fei-Fei Li is co-founder and CEO of World Labs and the founding co-director of Stanford HAI. She is a Stanford computer science professor with pioneering work in computer vision and human-centered AI.
…
Fei-Fei Li is co-founder and CEO of World Labs and the founding co-director of Stanford HAI. She is a Stanford computer science professor with pioneering work in computer vision and human-centered AI.
Li helped create ImageNet, a landmark dataset in modern computer vision, and has pushed human-centered AI through Stanford HAI. At World Labs, she is developing spatial intelligence and world models, giving technology leaders an idea of how AI systems may go beyond language
Geoffrey Hinton
Geoffrey Hinton is a University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and a 2024 Nobel laureate whose foundational neural-network research helped shape modern deep learning and AI.
Hinton’s work on neural…
Geoffrey Hinton is a University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto and a 2024 Nobel laureate whose foundational neural-network research helped shape modern deep learning and AI.
Hinton’s work on neural networks and representation learning helped enable the deep-learning breakthroughs behind modern AI. Since leaving Google, he has also become a prominent public speaker on AI’s opportunities and risks, bringing decades of technical perspective to questions of safety and societal impact.
Demis Hassabis
Demis Hassabis co-founded DeepMind and now serves as chair of Google DeepMind and chief scientist of Alphabet. His work include AGI, advanced research, and AI-enabled scientific discovery.
Hassabis has led work spanning…
Demis Hassabis co-founded DeepMind and now serves as chair of Google DeepMind and chief scientist of Alphabet. His work include AGI, advanced research, and AI-enabled scientific discovery.
Hassabis has led work spanning reinforcement learning, AlphaGo, protein-structure prediction, and frontier AI systems. His talks connect AGI development with scientific discovery, safety, and long-term strategy, offering technology leaders a view from one of the field’s major research organizations.
Jensen Huang
Jensen Huang founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has led it as CEO as the company evolved from graphics computing into a central platform provider for accelerated computing, data centers, and modern AI.
…
Jensen Huang founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has led it as CEO as the company evolved from graphics computing into a central platform provider for accelerated computing, data centers, and modern AI.
Huang has become a central public voice on accelerated computing, AI factories, generative AI, robotics, and the infrastructure behind frontier models. His keynotes connect chip architecture and software platforms with the practical technology shifts reshaping enterprise computing.
Mira Murati
Mira Murati is co-founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI research and product company she launched after serving as chief technology officer at OpenAI and helping lead its frontier AI…
Mira Murati is co-founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI research and product company she launched after serving as chief technology officer at OpenAI and helping lead its frontier AI work.
Murati has worked at the center of frontier-model development and now leads a lab focused on making advanced AI more understandable, customizable, and collaborative. Her public talks explore multimodal systems, human-AI interaction, research strategy, and the choices involved in building powerful AI responsibly.
Dawn Song
Dawn Song is a UC Berkeley computer science professor and vice president of AI research at Meta, with a career in AI security, privacy, trustworthy systems, entrepreneurship, and education.
Song’s research and…
Dawn Song is a UC Berkeley computer science professor and vice president of AI research at Meta, with a career in AI security, privacy, trustworthy systems, entrepreneurship, and education.
Song’s research and company-building work centers on secure, trustworthy AI, including agent security, privacy, and frontier-model safety. She also teaches and speaks widely on agentic AI and helps technology leaders understand new AI tools and the security needed to use them safely.
Werner Vogels
Werner Vogels is Amazon’s chief technology officer and vice president. He is an engineer and a distributed-systems leader who has helped shape the company’s approach to cloud architecture and technology.
Vogels writes…
Werner Vogels is Amazon’s chief technology officer and vice president. He is an engineer and a distributed-systems leader who has helped shape the company’s approach to cloud architecture and technology.
Vogels writes and speaks on distributed systems, cloud architecture, resilience, security, and the evolution of software development. As generative AI changes how systems are built, he shows how companies can use new AI tools while keeping their technology reliable as it grows.
Rana el Kaliouby
Rana el Kaliouby co-founded Blue Tulip Ventures and is an AI scientist, investor, and entrepreneur. She previously co-founded and led Affectiva, a pioneer in emotion AI and human-centered computing.
El Kaliouby helped…
Rana el Kaliouby co-founded Blue Tulip Ventures and is an AI scientist, investor, and entrepreneur. She previously co-founded and led Affectiva, a pioneer in emotion AI and human-centered computing.
El Kaliouby helped establish emotion AI as a field through Affectiva and now invests in human-centric AI startups. Through keynotes, her Pioneers of AI podcast, and Girl Decoded, she explores emotional intelligence, responsible AI, entrepreneurship, and how technology can be designed around people.
Taroon Mandhana
Taroon Mandhana is CTO of AI & Teamwork at Atlassian, where he leads engineering for Jira, Confluence, Loom, and Rovo. His earlier AI and search leadership roles include Microsoft and Meta.
Mandhana…
Taroon Mandhana is CTO of AI & Teamwork at Atlassian, where he leads engineering for Jira, Confluence, Loom, and Rovo. His earlier AI and search leadership roles include Microsoft and Meta.
Mandhana leads Atlassian’s work on Rovo and AI across its teamwork products, with a focus on context-rich agents and AI-native collaboration. His talks draw on nearly 15 years in AI to explain how teams can integrate agents into real workflows, developer systems, and enterprise software.
David Talby
David Talby is CEO of John Snow Labs and Pacific AI. He is an applied AI leader who created the open-source Spark NLP and LangTest libraries and chairs the Applied AI Summit…
David Talby is CEO of John Snow Labs and Pacific AI. He is an applied AI leader who created the open-source Spark NLP and LangTest libraries and chairs the Applied AI Summit for practitioners.
Talby focuses on putting AI into production in regulated healthcare and life-sciences settings. His talks cover agentic AI, NLP, model evaluation, governance, and compliance, grounding AI strategy in the technical and operational details required for safe, useful deployment.
Cassie Kozyrkov
Cassie Kozyrkov is CEO of Kozyr and Google’s former chief decision scientist. She is known for connecting decision intelligence, statistics, data science, and AI with executive leadership and education.
Kozyrkov helped popularize…
Cassie Kozyrkov is CEO of Kozyr and Google’s former chief decision scientist. She is known for connecting decision intelligence, statistics, data science, and AI with executive leadership and education.
Kozyrkov helped popularize decision intelligence as a bridge between data, AI, and action. Her keynotes and courses focus on AI-first leadership, statistics, experimentation, and decision-making, helping leaders understand what AI can do and decide where it can be the most useful.
Manasi Vartak
Manasi Vartak is an AI product and infrastructure leader who founded Verta, joined Cloudera through its acquisition, and now works on AI-defined vehicles at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies.
Vartak founded Verta…
Manasi Vartak is an AI product and infrastructure leader who founded Verta, joined Cloudera through its acquisition, and now works on AI-defined vehicles at Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies.
Vartak founded Verta to tackle production AI infrastructure and later led enterprise AI work at Cloudera, including agentic and hybrid AI products. Her speaking includes AI adoption, model operations, governance, evaluation, and AI-native development, focusing on turning technical capability into usable systems.
Bernard Marr
Bernard Marr founded Bernard Marr & Co. and works across writing, advising, and keynote speaking on artificial intelligence, data, strategy, digital transformation, and the future of work.
Marr translates AI and emerging…
Bernard Marr founded Bernard Marr & Co. and works across writing, advising, and keynote speaking on artificial intelligence, data, strategy, digital transformation, and the future of work.
Marr translates AI and emerging technology into accessible business strategy through books, articles, advisory work, videos, and keynotes. He regularly addresses generative AI, AI agents, data, digital transformation, and the future of work, giving executive audiences a broad view of technology’s business implications.
Adrien Treuille
Adrien Treuille is Snowflake’s director of product for generative AI and the co-founder and former CEO of Streamlit. His earlier work spans robotics, simulation, and computer science research.
Treuille combines product leadership…
Adrien Treuille is Snowflake’s director of product for generative AI and the co-founder and former CEO of Streamlit. His earlier work spans robotics, simulation, and computer science research.
Treuille combines product leadership with a research background in robotics, simulation, and crowdsourcing. After building Streamlit into a widely used data-app platform, he moved into generative AI at Snowflake, where his work and talks connect AI product development with tools for data practitioners and enterprises.
Ethan Mollick
Ethan Mollick is an associate professor at the Wharton School and author of Co-Intelligence. His research and writing examines AI, innovation, entrepreneurship, work, education, and organizations.
Mollick studies how generative AI…
Ethan Mollick is an associate professor at the Wharton School and author of Co-Intelligence. His research and writing examines AI, innovation, entrepreneurship, work, education, and organizations.
Mollick studies how generative AI changes work, education, innovation, and organizations, pairing academic research with hands-on experiments. Through One Useful Thing, books, and talks, he gives leaders practical ways to understand model capabilities, agents, human-AI collaboration, and the pace of AI change.
Reid Hoffman
Reid Hoffman is a technology entrepreneur and investor who co-founded LinkedIn. He is now focuses on building and investing in AI, including work with the AI drug-discovery company Manas AI.
Hoffman speaks…
Reid Hoffman is a technology entrepreneur and investor who co-founded LinkedIn. He is now focuses on building and investing in AI, including work with the AI drug-discovery company Manas AI.
Hoffman speaks and writes extensively about AI adoption, entrepreneurship, networks, and technological change while investing in and building AI companies. His work examines how individuals and organizations can use AI as a collaborator, alongside questions of innovation, governance, and economic impact.
Jonathan Reichental
Jonathan Reichental is founder of Human Future, an author, educator, and former city CIO whose work includes AI, digital transformation, smart cities, emerging technology, and public-sector innovation.
Reichental translates emerging technology into…
Jonathan Reichental is founder of Human Future, an author, educator, and former city CIO whose work includes AI, digital transformation, smart cities, emerging technology, and public-sector innovation.
Reichental translates emerging technology into practical leadership and public-sector strategy through books, courses, consulting, and talks. His work covers generative AI, smart cities, blockchain, digital transformation, and technology governance, helping audiences understand how AI fits into wider changes in business and society.
Selection Methodology
I selected the leaders on this list based on their relevance, demonstrated expertise and impact, professional credibility, and ongoing contributions to the field.
Continue Reading for Free
Create a free account to finish this article, plus get ongoing access to timely insights and practical resources.
Have an account? Log In
I look for evidence such as leading meaningful initiatives or delivering notable results within their organizations, developing influential ideas or practices, publishing research or educational resources, speaking or teaching, and other contributions that demonstrate impact within their work or the broader field.
What’s Next?
Boost your SaaS growth and leadership skills. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest insights from CTOs and aspiring tech leaders. We'll help you scale smarter and lead stronger with guides, resources, and strategies from top experts!
