Travels from New York, New York, USA
Cassie Kozyrkov's speaking fee falls within range: Over $75,000
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 is a sought-after AI advisor and 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.
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 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 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.
When AI Can Act, Leadership Must Change How to steer your organization through the next wave
AI isn't just changing how leaders work. It's changing what leadership is.
As AI moves from answering to acting, leaders face a new challenge: becoming capitalists of human attention, investing judgment where it matters most, and directing newfound capacity toward ambitions once considered impossible. Which means the leader’s work is simultaneously harder and more important than ever. In this provocative, practical keynote, Cassie Kozyrkov, who served as Google's first Chief Decision Scientist, reveals why AI investments fall short and what leaders can do differently. Through surprising examples, she shows you how to rethink your role, redesign systems, and ditch the pre-AI habits holding your organization back.
Leaders leave knowing where to focus, what to change first, and how to turn AI activity into real results across the organization. They'll gain a way to navigate not just today's AI breakthroughs, but the ones still to come, starting with one surprisingly powerful action they can take immediately.
Audiences will leave ready to:
- Set an ambition worth leading toward: Identify a previously abandoned organizational goal, explore whether AI could now make it achievable, and add it to a living wishlist for leadership to revisit regularly. - Put every AI pilot to the leadership test: Identify the senior leader who wants the outcome, the business metric it should improve, and how success will be measured. - Redesign the business as if starting from scratch: Hunt for friction, then imagine building a digital-native competitor without legacy systems, then identify the processes and handoffs they'd eliminate. - Turn AI time savings into business results: Decide where employees should reinvest hours saved through AI, such as serving customers better, rather than simply expecting more output. - Get employees invested in AI transformation: Approach psychological safety as AI infrastructure and create incentives that reduce workslop and increase team motivation.
Stop Chasing AI and Start Getting Ahead How to Make AI Work for You, Not the Other Way Around
AI is moving so fast, it’s hard to keep up! New tools, new expectations, and a nagging question: Will what makes me valuable still matter?
What if getting ahead isn't about keeping up?
In this funny, inspiring keynote, Cassie Kozyrkov, Google’s first Chief Decision Scientist, turns the AI race on its head. Forget trying to master every new tool. The real advantage starts with knowing what you want to accomplish and discovering how AI can help you get there.
Through vivid storytelling and audience interaction, Cassie reveals why the most valuable AI skill isn't technical expertise. It's knowing what's worth trying in the first place. The best place to start? Not with the latest AI tool, but with something you've always wished you could do better.
You'll leave motivated by a renewed sense of agency and a powerful new approach to AI you’ll be eager to apply immediately.
- Get unstuck: See why working with AI is much easier than most people think and learn a quick hack for diving in. - Take another shot at something they thought was impossible: Revisit an abandoned work goal, explore new approaches with AI, check what's realistic, and take one small step forward immediately. - Align AI to their priorities: Do a fearless audit of how they’re using AI and use the results to unlock its potential. - Make one frustrating task easier: See why getting started is easier than ever… and to do this, spend 24 hours noticing what wastes your time, then use AI to free up your attention for what matters. - Make their AI wins a win for the team: Check that their AI shortcuts aren't creating extra work for colleagues, then share one success and one mistake so everyone can learn.
“Cassie Kozyrkov is a standout speaker with a rare ability to make complex ideas feel intuitive. An expert in AI decision-making, she brings clarity to topics that are often buried under jargon and overcomplication. Her presentations are thoughtfully constructed and genuinely engaging, full of analogies that resonate long after the session ends. Rather than overwhelming her audience, she invites them in—breaking down difficult concepts without ever talking down. Cassie has a gift for making technical content accessible without losing depth. Whether you’re steeped in AI or just beginning to explore the field, you walk away from her talks not only understanding more, but seeing things in a new light.” – Brenna Lenoir, SVP Marketing, CodeSignal
“We were thrilled to have Cassie Kozyrkov as our keynote speaker at the Applied AI Nordics conference. Her ability to blend humor, charm, and deep insights into the world of AI not only captivated the audience but also sparked meaningful conversations about our collective future during the breaks. Her talk was definitely the highlight of the conference based on audience feedback.” – Dan Rose Johansen, Todai CEO & Founder, dan.rose@todai.ai, Applied AI Nordics 2024
“Thank you for your keynote at CoreLogic’s Intrconnect. Our clients absolutely loved it.” – John Rogers, Chief Innovation Officer, CoreLogic, john.rogers@corelogic.com, Intrconnect 2024
“Recently, Cassie Kozykrov spoke to the CFO Leadership Council with a captivating discussion on Generative AI, engaging over 200 finance chiefs. Right now, there’s no denying that this topic is at the epicenter of challenges and opportunities CFOs and their teams face, and Cassie’s delivery was eye-opening. What struck us wasn’t just her undeniable prowess as a top-tier data scientist. It was her knack for distilling complex, often intimidating AI concepts into practical, digestible insights tailored for a financial audience that doesn’t live in the tech weeds. Her eloquence in demystifying AI and framing it as a game-changer for competitive edge was a revelation. Seeking a speaker who can not only navigate but also illuminate the AI labyrinth for your team, turning what feels like science fiction into a business strategy? Look no further. Cassie is your person. Her session isn’t just a presentation; it’s a lightbulb moment waiting to happen.” – Jack McCullough, Founder and President, CFO Leadership Council, CFO Leadership Council 2023
“Loved the presentation today at Franklin Templeton and so grateful to have you here. All our folks were inspired. I had about 100 more questions! Sincere thanks for being here.“ – Barry Kruse, VP, Franklin Templeton Investments 2023
“It was great discussing with Cassie yesterday on Lenovo’s view on AI foundation models at our Tech World fireside.” – Dr. Yong Rui, Senior Vice President and Corporation CTO, Lenovo Group, Lenovo Tech World 23
“Cassie was very professional and great to work with on all details of her presentation. I appreciated how promptly we heard responses and feedback on travel and presentation details and she truly is an expert in all things AI! Loved her personality and kindness. She’s great to work with!” – Tiffany Milar, Senior Event Marketing Manager, tiffany.milar@pattern.com, Accelerate24
“It was truly a remarkable experience having Cassie Kozyrkov as a speaker at our AI Day of Learning for East Hanover associates at Novartis US. Cassie’s insightful discussion, Decision Intelligence: Better Decisions at Scale, left us inspired and invigorated about the endless possibilities ahead. Her passion for data sciences was palpable and contagious, igniting curiosity within our teams and fostering a deeper sense of enthusiasm for the potential of AI in healthcare. We are very appreciative of Cassie’s contribution, which enriched our understanding and further motivated us to embrace the transformative power of AI. Thank you, Cassie, for your impactful presence and helping to illuminate our AI journey as a force for good as we reimagine medicine for our customers and the patients we serve.” – Sterlena Taylor, Executive Director of Novartis US Innovation Lab, sterlena.taylor@novartis.com, The AI Experience: A Day of Learning 2024
“We were very appreciative to have the pleasure of Cassie Kozykrov as our Day 2 keynote speaker at Callan’s annual National Conference held in San Francisco. Leading to the event, her team was very professional and well-organized. They sent her material in advance and made sure we were set with all we needed in preparation for the event. On stage, Cassie had a great delivery and was very engaging with our audience. She took a very complex topic and made it understandable to all in attendance with her great visuals and examples. She is extraordinarily intelligent and it was very interesting to hear her explain the use of AI in a non-threatening and intriguing manner. She left the audience with key nuggets to digest and take back with them. We had nothing but positive feedback from her presentation. I had researched many different options and Cassie was by far the best choice of what we had reviewed. I am very pleased to have had her on stage at our event and wish her the best in her success in the future! I would strongly recommend her as a speaker on AI at any event.” – Barb Gerraty, Callan Institute Director, gerraty@callan.com, Culture Conversations: FOCUS 2024
“It was an honor and a remarkable opportunity for me to host yesterday our Tetra Pak learning session with Cassie Kozyrkov, an inspiring role model for Decision Science professionals! We had an excellent scoring of the session. 4.7/5. Big thanks to Cassie Kozyrkov for her invaluable insights.” – Alberto Barroso, PhD, Global Head of Decision Science, alberto.barroso@tetrapak.com, TetraPak Learning Conference 2024
“Cassie is a superstar, the delegates really love her and by making them happy, it’s a great feeling. Thanks and I hope our paths cross again.” – Saranda Arifi, Hyperight Editorial Director, saranda@hyperight.com, Data Innovation Summit 2024
“Cassie kicked off our event with a fantastic keynote! We’re looking forward to having her back at our next event later this year.” – Sam Lehmann, IQPC General Manager, sam.lehmann@iqpc.co.uk, Generative AI Week 2024
“Cassie delivered an extraordinary keynote at the IQ Digital Summit in Oradea. Her deep expertise in data science and AI, combined with an engaging and accessible presentation style, made complex concepts both clear and captivating. Cassie’s ability to connect data-driven insights with real-world applications was inspiring, leaving our audience not only more informed but also energized to implement innovative strategies in their own fields. Her talk struck the perfect balance between technical depth and practical relevance, making her content valuable to both industry professionals and those newer to the digital and AI space. Cassie’s passion for democratizing data and empowering decision-makers shone through, making her keynote one of the highlights of the event. We couldn’t have asked for a more insightful and inspiring speaker!” – Smaranda Heroiu, UPGRADE 100 Executive Director, smaranda.heroiu@upgrade100.com, IQ Digital Summit 2024
“Cassie delivered a fantastic opening keynote for the 2nd Generative AI Summit London, the audience loved it. Her and her team were also a pleasure to work with. She was a huge hit as always.” – Mhairi MacBride, IQPC Senior Program Director for R+D, Mhairi.MacBride@iqpc.co.uk, Generative AI Week
“We loved our conversation with Cassie, and overall, the webinar was very well received.” – Chelsea Molnar, CodeSignal Senior Marketing Manager, chelsea.molnar@codesignal.com, CodeSignal Webinar 2024
“Thank you for the excellent presentation, specially loved the way you presented a data heavy topic in a simple way.” – Nanak Banerjee, Product & Analytics manager, RateGain, Ideas Converge Summit 2024
“Thank you for the excellent topic last week at the Ideas Converge Summit, I wish I had it recorded to distribute to my teams. I look forward to seeing how AI is increasingly integrated into all areas of the Hospitality Industry and always asking ‘why.’” – Ryan M. Brough, Hospitality Technology Evangelist and Sales Engineer, Shiji Group, Ideas Converge Summit 2024
“We have been raving about Cassie internally as well since yesterday. It’s nothing surprising since I have been following and admiring her for a long time, but I thought that she was terrific. She is very polished, a good thinker, smooth in making her points and giving her feedback, and very insightful in her thoughts. Her brilliance was very much reflected. And for the team, you guys have also been fabulous to work with. I have worked with many AI and tech thought leaders (~10+). Some conversations went nowhere since the support staff was not collaborative and communicative. But you guys (Bridget, Karin, et all) made this such a great experience. This was by a long distance the best interaction I have had with. So, a big thank you for making it super easy, and I can’t wait for the next chance to work with you and Cassie.” – Shobhit Bhutani, Product Line Marketing Manager, Broadcom, Broadcom Webinar 2024
“I thought you’d be thrilled to hear that in early submissions from our post-event survey, attendees loved your talk. We asked attendees to rank the talks they saw. More respondents ranked yours first (41) than any other talk. The next most popular had ~30 votes. Thank you for speaking and going above and beyond to make Rev a great event.” – Nick Elprin, CEO of Domino (Cassie presented at Rev in the company of illustrious speakers like James Clear, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Nate Silver, and Cass Sunstein)
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Strategic Analytics: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review (HBR Insights Series)
Is your company ready for the next wave of analytics?
Data analytics offer the opportunity to predict the future, use advanced technologies, and gain valuable insights about your business. But unless you’re staying on top of the latest developments, your company is wasting that potential–and your competitors will be gaining speed while you fall behind.
Strategic Analytics: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review will provide you with today’s essential thinking about what data analytics are capable of, what critical talents your company needs to reap their benefits, and how to adopt analytics throughout your organization–before it’s too late.
Business is changing. Will you adapt or be left behind?
Get up to speed and deepen your understanding of the topics that are shaping your company’s future with the Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review series. Featuring HBR’s smartest thinking on fast-moving issues–blockchain, cybersecurity, AI, and more–each book provides the foundational introduction and practical case studies your organization needs to compete today and collects the best research, interviews, and analysis to get it ready for tomorrow. You can’t afford to ignore how these issues will transform the landscape of business and society. The Insights You Need series will help you grasp these critical ideas–and prepare you and your company for the future.
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