Cassie Kozyrkov, CEO of Kozyr, is a renowned leader in artificial intelligence. She is best known for founding the field of Decision Intelligence and serving as Google’s first Chief Decision Scientist, where she spearheaded Google’s transformation into an AI-first company.
Today, Cassie Kozyrkov is a sought-after Artificial Intelligence-Advisor and keynote speaker who has transformed how organizations like Gucci, NASA, Spotify, Meta and GSK approach AI strategy. Passionate about elevating human potential through the responsible adoption of complex technology, she also serves on the Innovation Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and an investor in emerging product companies.
Cassie Kozyrkov Lecture topics
The Future is AI-First: Are You Ready to Lead?
Leading a business through the AI revolution demands vision and bold action. Cassie Kozyrkov, the architect of Google’s AI-first transformation, challenges leaders to re-think what it means to lead in the AI era. Cassie Kozyrkov shares innovative strategies for embedding AI into the fabric of your company, transforming not just how you work but what you can achieve. Attendees will walk away with a clear roadmap to becoming leaders in AI-driven innovation, equipped to outpace the competition and thrive in a rapidly changing technological landscape.
Audience Takeaways:
- Understand the principles of an AI-first organization.
- Learn strategies to embed AI into your company’s culture.
- Transform your leadership approach for the AI era.
- Gain insights to outpace competitors through AI-driven innovation.
- Prepare your organization for sustained success in the AI future.
AI Won’t Steal Your Job, But It Will Steal Your Excuses
Contrary to popular fears, AI won’t be the doom of humanity—but once AI starts handling repetitive tasks, you’ll have to face something even scarier: the chance to do truly impactful work. This session challenges you to drop the excuses, step up your game, and seize the creative freedom AI offers by taking drudgery off your plate. The best defense against job automation isn’t hiding from AI—it’s taking charge of it. Find out how embracing and leading AI initiatives can secure your role, build your influence, and allow you to thrive in the rapidly evolving future of work.
Audience Takeaways:
- Understand how AI can enhance rather than threaten your career.
- Overcome resistance to change and embrace technological advancements.
- Learn strategies to leverage AI for personal and organizational growth.
- Discover how to focus on meaningful, impactful work by automating the mundane.
- Become a proactive leader in the AI-driven future of work.
Why Businesses Fail at AI Adoption: From Buzzwords to Business Strategy
Artificial intelligence is no longer science fiction, yet many businesses fail to harness its potential at scale. In this insightful talk, Cassie Kozyrkov strips away the jargon to explore what’s easy, what’s hard, and how to spot genuine opportunities to improve your business with AI. She delves into why organizations struggle, uncovers the two biggest threats in the field, and discusses what this means for the future of work. Discover the secrets to successful AI innovation and learn how to avoid common pitfalls, unlocking AI’s true potential for your organization. Get ready to turn today’s hype into tomorrow’s growth.
Audience Takeaways:
- Identify common reasons businesses fail with AI initiatives.
- Understand practical challenges and opportunities in AI adoption.
- Learn strategies to successfully integrate AI into your business.
- Recognize and mitigate the biggest threats in AI implementation.
- Prepare your organization for the future of work with AI.
Mind The Gap: Digital Trust Habits For The AI Era
As AI advances rapidly, a trust gap emerges between its capabilities and our understanding. In this compelling keynote, Cassie Kozyrkov explores how you can navigate this gap. By sharing the story of one of history’s most ironic hoaxes, she illustrates why even the savviest among us can be misled and how to prevent it. Drawing from historical and modern examples, she reveals how understanding AI’s strengths and limitations empowers you to navigate tomorrow’s world. You will gain actionable strategies to build tech fluency, foster skepticism, and ensure AI empowers rather than misleads, building new digital trust habits to guide you confidently into the future.
Audience Takeaways:
- Understand the implications of the AI trust gap.
- Learn how to foster tech fluency and critical skepticism.
- Gain strategies to innovate responsibly with AI.
- Build trust within your organization and with stakeholders.
- Navigate rapid technological evolution confidently and ethically.
How to Upgrade Your Decision-Making… Instantly
Your life outcomes boil down to two things: luck and the quality of your decisions, making decision-making crucial. Yet society often neglects it as a skill to develop. In this empowering talk, Cassie Kozyrkov reveals how outcome bias and confirmation bias prevent us from learning the right lessons and making better choices. She demonstrates how tolerating these biases institutionalizes complacency and hinders progress. The good news? You can overcome them instantly by asking the most powerful question: “What would it take to change your mind?” Walk away with practical strategies to eliminate excuses, confront your biases, and elevate your decision-making immediately.
Audience Takeaways:
- Recognize and overcome outcome bias and confirmation bias.
- Transform decision-making into a powerful, honed skill.
- Learn practical techniques to improve decisions instantly.
- Foster a culture of better decision-making without excuses.
- Empower yourself and your team to make smarter choices.
Winning with AI: Embrace Change and Leapfrog the Competition
Entering the AI arena can be daunting, but with the right strategy, it can propel your organization ahead of the competition. In this keynote, Cassie Kozyrkov reveals how to build a winning AI approach by identifying key opportunities, scaling solutions, and fostering a culture that embraces change. Learn to assess your organization’s readiness, prioritize high-impact projects, and overcome technical and cultural challenges that derail initiatives. Through practical insights and actionable steps, you’ll be empowered to lead your team confidently through AI transformations—leveraging AI to innovate, optimize operations, and gain a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving market.
Audience Takeaways:
- Build a strategic approach to AI integration.
- Assess and enhance your organization’s AI readiness.
- Prioritize and scale high-impact AI projects effectively.
- Overcome common technical and cultural challenges.
- Leverage AI to innovate and outperform competitors.
The Cognitive Advantage: Why Great Leaders Will Thrive in the AI Era
As AI becomes more powerful, the real competitive advantage isn’t in the technology—it’s in the human mind. Cassie Kozyrkov, who spearheaded Google’s AI-first transformation, inspires you to embrace the one thing AI can’t replace: human judgment. In this engaging keynote, she challenges leaders to rethink their role in a world where AI delivers perfect answers in seconds. Cassie equips you with mental agility and decision-making frameworks needed to stay ahead, focusing on how to harness AI’s potential without falling into the trap of thoughtless automation. Get ready to think faster and lead smarter.
Audience Takeaways:
- Recognize the unique value of human judgment in the AI era.
- Develop mental agility and critical thinking skills.
- Learn decision-making frameworks to complement AI insights.
- Avoid the pitfalls of over-reliance on automation.
- Lead confidently and intelligently alongside AI advancements.
Ethics and AI Bias: How One-Track Thinking Could Derail Our Future
AI and data science are shaping the future of technology and society, yet these fields struggle with a lack of diversity that threatens to limit their potential and fairness. In this compelling talk, Cassie Kozyrkov explores how our choice of language influences culture in data professions and why many tackle AI bias the wrong way. She examines the risks of homogeneous teams in AI development, arguing that diversity isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s essential for building AI that serves everyone. Discover why you should be both worried and excited about humanity’s AI future and learn how you can help ensure it’s bright for all.
Audience Takeaways:
- Understand the critical role diversity plays in AI development.
- Recognize how language shapes inclusivity in tech cultures.
- Learn why diverse perspectives are key to addressing AI bias.
- Gain actionable steps to promote diversity within AI teams.
- Realize how to contribute to an equitable and fair AI future.
Decision Intelligence Unleashed: Optimize Decisions at Scale
In a world overflowing with data, decision-making becomes increasingly complex. Cassie Kozyrkov, the pioneer behind the field of Decision Intelligence, reveals how businesses can transform overwhelming information into strategic action. Decision Intelligence bridges the gap between data and effective decisions, turning insights into clear action plans at any scale. Cassie provides practical guidance on leveraging technology, processes, and people to optimize decisions, transform data into impact, and foster a data-driven culture. Elevate your organization’s decision-making capabilities and unleash untapped business potential.
Audience Takeaways:
- Implement Decision Intelligence to enhance decision-making.
- Turn vast data into actionable strategies.
- Optimize decisions across all levels of your organization.
- Foster a data-driven culture for sustained success.
More about Cassie Kozyrkov:
Her influence on Google’s culture is legendary; no matter how big the auditorium, Google had to use lotteries to manage the demand to participate in one of her live workshops. Her work, which included personally training over 20’000 Googlers in AI and data-driven decision-making, impacted more than 500 company initiatives.
Combining deep technical knowledge with theater-trained charisma, Cassie is a captivating keynote speaker with the rare ability to make complex concepts accessible, engaging, and actionable for executive and general audiences alike. Her humor, wit, and vivid analogies ensure that people of all stripes leave her talks inspired and equipped to drive innovation. Cassie has delighted live audiences in more than 40 countries and on all seven continents, including stages at the United Nations, World Economic Forum, Web Summit, and SXSW.
Cassie Kozyrkov has appeared on the cover of Forbes AI and featured in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Fast Company, WIRED, Success, Entrepreneur, as well as a recent documentary on the AI revolution. Her online courses and more than 200+ published articles have reached millions and cemented her position as a LinkedIn Top Voice and the #1 Writer in AI on Medium for many years. She is followed by more than 24’000 CxOs.
Hailing from South Africa, Cassie Kozyrkov began her undergraduate studies at the age of 15 at Nelson Mandela University and earned degrees in economics, mathematical statistics, psychology and neuroscience from the University of Chicago, NCSU, and Duke University, which honored her as a Few-Glasson Distinguished Alumna for her significant contributions to the fields of AI and Decision Intelligence.