Best AI Speakers Across APAC
Every conference agenda released this year has an AI session on it somewhere. Sometimes it opens the day. Sometimes it closes it. Increasingly, it's the reason people bought a ticket at all.
Why AI Is on Every Event Agenda
Boards want to know if they're moving fast enough. Marketing teams want to know if their customers are about to become algorithms. Governments want to know who is setting the rules before someone else does. AI has stopped being a single breakout session and become the lens through which almost every other business topic gets discussed, from customer experience to cyber security to the future of work.
That demand has created a crowded field of AI commentary, not all of it useful. What event organisers actually need is access to people who have built something, advised someone, or researched a question deeply enough to say something true about where this is heading, and to say it in a way a room full of people can act on.
Relevance Beats the Big Name
The instinct with a hot topic like AI is to book the biggest name available and assume the content will follow. It rarely works that way. An AI Speaker who has spent a career on machine customer strategy will land very differently with a marketing leadership team than with a room of Year 10 students, and neither will land well with a government policy audience trying to work out its own regulatory position.
The right AI Speaker is the one whose specific expertise matches your audience's specific problem. Below is a curated line-up of eleven AI Speakers working across strategy, ethics, education, marketing and geopolitics, each chosen for a distinct angle on where AI is taking business and society next.
The Best AI Speakers in APAC:
Mark Adams
Mark Adams turns AI from an abstract buzzword into a story people remember long after the lights come up. Co-founder of VICE, which he helped scale into a multi-billion-dollar media empire before turning his focus to AI strategy, Mark has advised figures from Taylor Swift's team to Fortune 500 boardrooms on how to move first and move fast. His talks suit executive and creative audiences who want energy alongside substance, and who are tired of hearing the same AI hype cycle repeated back at them.
Dr Sandra Peter and Dr Kai Riemer
Dr Sandra Peter and Dr Kai Riemer research the future of work for a living, then explain it in language executives can act on immediately. As Co-Directors of Sydney Executive Plus at the University of Sydney, they lead the Skills Horizon, an annual initiative built on conversations with more than 150 global leaders about what comes next. Together, they translate generative AI's opportunities and risks into a shared language for technical and non-technical teams alike, which makes them a strong fit for leadership offsites and government audiences working through AI strategy.
Katja Forbes
Katja Forbes asks the question most AI conversations skip: what happens when your next customer isn't human? She is the leading voice on Machine Customer Experience, the study of AI agents that buy, negotiate and transact as economic actors in their own right, and her frameworks, including the Five Faces of Machine Customers, give boards a language for a market already reshaping commerce. With thirty years advising organisations including Qantas and IAG, Katja suits senior corporate audiences that need to plan for AI agents as customers, not just as tools.
Professor Jon Whittle
Professor Jon Whittle has spent thirty years working on artificial intelligence, from helping NASA put it into space to leading more than 500 researchers as head of CSIRO's Data61. He founded Australia's National AI Centre, and his keynotes draw on hundreds of enterprise AI engagements to show why most AI transformation problems are human ones, not technical ones. A background in professional theatre means his delivery matches his research credentials, making him a fit for corporate leadership events and school or university audiences alike.
Bryony Cole
Bryony Cole studies what happens when AI starts doing our emotional labour for us. A globally recognised expert on emotional AI and synthetic intimacy, she has taken the stage at TED and SXSW to explain how AI companions are reshaping trust, connection and decision-making at work and at home. Her session library runs from executive keynotes on AI and leadership presence through to workshops built specifically for parents, educators and students, making her one of the few AI Speakers equally suited to a corporate offsite and a school assembly.
Matt Hart
Matt Hart has spent 25 years inside organisations including the BBC, Spotify and UNICEF, and he concludes that AI will master hardware and software, but only humans can master what he calls Humanware. His keynotes turn the neuroscience of creativity into practical systems for teams that need to keep innovating without losing what makes them distinctly human. Matt's work in schools through BIF Schools also makes him a strong option for education audiences exploring creative problem-solving alongside AI.
James Healy
James Healy wants organisations built for humans as they actually are, not as management theory assumes them to be. The founder of The Behaviour Boutique and former co-founder of Deloitte's global Behavioural Science practice, James applies anthropology, neuroscience and psychology to AI adoption, arguing that the biggest AI risk inside most organisations is human behaviour, not the technology itself. His talks suit corporate audiences working through AI adoption, culture change or cyber security awareness.
Louise Cummins
Louise Cummins spent two decades as a CMO before founding the Australian Centre for AI in Marketing to help marketing teams adopt AI without losing the trust of the people they're marketing to. Twice named in Australia's Top 50 CMOs, she brings a practical, non-technical entry point to AI for marketing and leadership audiences, alongside sessions built specifically for schools on AI, wellbeing and young people. Louise also works as a Master of Ceremonies and panel facilitator for events that need AI expertise woven through the whole day.
Dawid Naude
Dawid Naude wants AI conversations to stop being about fear and start being about what's actually possible right now. As CEO and Founder of Pathfindr, an official OpenAI services partner for Australia and New Zealand, he has taken AI adoption into organisations including Coles, Woolworths Group and the Victorian Government. His keynotes are built around live demonstrations rather than slides, suiting corporate and education audiences who want a practical, hands-on introduction to AI rather than a theoretical one.
Dr Mahsa McCauley
Dr Mahsa McCauley leads Computer and Information Sciences at Auckland University of Technology and chairs AI Forum NZ, positions that put her across New Zealand's AI research, policy and education all at once. She founded She Sharp in 2014 to support women and non-binary people in technology, and now leads a community of more than 2,000 members. Mahsa's sessions on AI literacy, cybersecurity and technology equity make her a strong fit for school, government and diversity-focused audiences across New Zealand and the wider region.
Toby Feakin
Dr Toby Feakin spent six years as Australia's inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology, putting him inside the room for the country's biggest decisions on technology policy. He has advised multiple Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers on where AI, cyber security and geopolitics collide, and his keynotes translate that experience into practical guidance for leaders working through AI adoption alongside real geopolitical and security risk. Toby is a strong fit for government audiences and corporates operating across the Indo-Pacific.
How to Choose the Right AI Speaker for Your Audience
If your audience is corporate leaders and event organisers weighing up the return on an AI keynote, look for Speakers who connect AI directly to commercial outcomes. Katja Forbes and Louise Cummins both translate AI strategy into board-level decisions, Dawid Naude brings a live, practical demonstration of what AI adoption looks like inside a business right now, and Mark Adams and James Healy pair AI insight with the storytelling and behavioural science that keeps a room engaged for a full session.
If your audience includes schools, universities or government bodies, several Speakers on this list build sessions specifically for those rooms. Bryony Cole and Matt Hart both run dedicated programs for students and educators, Dr Mahsa McCauley brings AI literacy and technology equity expertise developed inside a university faculty, and Dr Toby Feakin's background advising Australian governments on cyber and technology policy suits public sector audiences directly.
For prospective Talent considering Saxton as a bureau, this list is a signal of where the roster already sits. Saxton represents Speakers working across the full spectrum of AI, from Hollywood strategists and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to university researchers and government advisors, and the Innovation and Artificial Intelligence collections continue to grow as the category evolves.
Book an AI Speaker Through Saxton
Booking the right AI Speaker starts with a conversation about your audience, not a scroll through a website. Saxton's team has placed AI Speakers in front of boardrooms, conference halls, school assemblies and government forums across Australia, New Zealand and the wider Asia Pacific, and can match the right voice to your event based on the outcome you actually need. Let our experience inspire yours. Enquire with the Saxton team to start the conversation.
