Gerd Leonhard: Technology Futurist

  • Global Futurist and Visionary: Gerd Leonhard is a world-renowned futurist and thought leader specializing in the intersection of humanity and technology. His work explores how emerging technologies like AI, robotics, and digital transformation will shape the future of work, business, and society.
  • Captivating Keynote Speaker: Known for his dynamic and thought-provoking presentations, Gerd delivers engaging keynotes at major global events. His insights into digital transformation, sustainability, and the future of business captivate audiences from CEOs to policymakers.
  • Expert on Digital Ethics and Sustainability: Gerd is a passionate advocate for balancing technology with human values. His expertise in digital ethics and sustainable innovation offers organizations a roadmap for navigating the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

Travel & Fee Range:**

  • Travels from: Bern, Switzerland
  • **Fee range: 250k-500k
5/5
5/5 (4 reviews)

Keynote Topics

Amidst the fears and everyday realities of wars and pandemics, the urgency to address global warming and the societal challenges of technological hyper-transformation the world continues to change at a mind-boggling pace.

Radical and once unthinkable climate-emergency measures like new carbon taxes (such as for airline tickets or  for buying meat) are becoming increasingly likely as consumers and concerned citizens around the world push for real and unheard-of change.

At the same time, Company CEO’s are touting their new commitments to stakeholder values, not just shareholder values. So how can we make The Good Future a reality?

Investors and the media is buzzing with excitement as businesses and individuals alike are starting to tap into Generative AI models like Dalle2, ChatGPT and many others. ChatGPT churns out unique texts that often have a disturbingly human-like quality.

Already being utilized in customer service, content production, paper-writing, coding and so on, it appears that generative AI is getting ready to transform the internet as we know it – with Google entering into ‘Red Alert’ mode and Microsoft investing 10 Billion US Dollars into OpenAI. But their impacts on society could be just as vast, in many good ways and in many quite worrisome ways.

How can these tools – and AI in general – help us to achieve what I call ‘The Good Future‘?

Here’s what’s so exciting about ChatGPT: It’s a state-of-the-art language model that can generate human-like text. This makes it useful for a number of natural language processing tasks. Because it is based on OpenAI’s GPT architecture, it can also be fine-tuned to specific tasks and domains.

On the other hand, ChatGPT‘s potential to perpetuate bias has sparked concern as it is trained on ‘random’ internet texts that may include biased or deceptive information.

This raises worries about its use in education, employment, law enforcement, and healthcare. ChatGPT can also to be used to generate deep fake texts, so it could be used to spread misinformation and disinformation, influencing public opinion and elections.

It could be heaven or it could be hell – how to get it right

“The metaverse is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets” (Wikipedia).    

“The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world” (Facebook’s Meta briefing).

On the one hand, the Metaverse could be ‘the Internet we’ve always wanted’: Immersive, real-time/feel, 3D… and that could be great for business, commerce, retail and of course technology companies:)

On the other hand, it could end up to be more of a MetaPERverse, replacing human relationships and experiences with deep surveillance and a bizarrely monetized simulations, reducing complex human life to data feeds, fancy graphics and AI-fuelled convenience: Consensual hallucinations sold as ‘human empowerment’?

Imagine social media’s aberrations and abuse – but x 1000!

In this talk, I outline both the ‘heavenly’ possibilities of the Metaverse as well as the more troubling aspects while depicting possible ways forward, based on my motto of ‘embracing technology but not becoming it‘

  • GREEN IS THE NEW DIGITAL: THE SUSTAINABILITY REVOLUTION
  • EXPONENTIAL CHANGE: DIGITIZATION, DECARBONISATION, REFORMATION
  • THE NEXT 10 YEARS (BEYOND THE PANDEMIC)
  • THE 10 MEGASHIFTS OF EXPONENTIAL TRANSFORMATION
  • AWESOME HUMANS AND AMAZING TECHNOLOGY: WORK & EDUCATION
  • WHY AND HOW THE FUTURE IS BETTER THAN WE THINK

Over the past two decades, Gerd Leonhard has risen to one of the top 10 futurist keynote speakers worldwide. With over 2,000 engagements in 60+ countries since 2004, and a combined audience of over 2.5 million people, Gerd has been listed by Wired magazine as one of the Top 100 Most-Influential People in Europe, and […]

Over the past two decades, Gerd Leonhard has risen to one of the top 10 futurist keynote speakers worldwide. With over 2,000 engagements in 60+ countries since 2004, and a combined audience of over 2.5 million people, Gerd has been listed by Wired magazine as one of the Top 100 Most-Influential People in Europe, and as ‘one of the leading media futurists in the World’ by The Wall Street Journal.

Gerd focuses on the future of humanity and technology, digital ethics, artificial intelligence, future-leadership and foresights. His keynotes, are renowned for their hard-hitting and provocative  style – inspiring, humorous, motivational, and always personal. Using cutting-edge creative  motion design, Gerd’s performances have become a unique immersive experience on the big screen, reinventing the visual side of the conference industry.

Gerd Leonhard is highly regarded as a global influencer and has advised many business leaders and government officials around the globe. His diverse list of clients include governments, NGOs and Fortune 500 companies such as SAP, Microsoft, Google, Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, Sony, UBS, Tetrapak, Mastercard, BBC, Unilever, Lloyds Bank, WWF, Sony, The Guardian, Telkom Indonesia, Siemens, RTL, France Telecom, The Financial Times, Ogilvy, Omnicom, The EU Commission, VISA, Audi, NetAPP and many others.

A true thought leader in the futurist space, Gerd Leonhard is above all a dedicated humanist who believes that  all technological progress should further collective human flourishing. His credo is simple: People, Planet, Purpose and Prosperity.

Gerd uses his keynotes, presentations, workshops and advisory sessions to deep-dive on complex topics. Recurring themes include the coming redefinition of human-machine relationships, exploring what it means to be human in a world of machines and algorithms, the future of work and jobs, and the ethics of technology. As Gerd Leonhard likes to say, humanity will change more in the next 20 years than in the previous 300 years – so let’s maintain and protect what makes us human!

Gerd Leonhard has spent his lifetime  engaging  with change, as a professional artist, internet entrepreneur, and author; now exploring the role of visionary thinker and speaker. Gerd’s background is in the music business; in 1985 he won Berklee College ‘Quincy Jones Award’ and subsequently spent 12 years working as a professional guitarist, composer and producer. He then caught the internet-bug and became a digital music & media entrepreneur.

From 1995 to 2002 he served as Founder/CEO of several internet startups, based in San Francisco.  In 2002, following the .com meltdown and the 9/11 crisis, Gerd Leonhard returned to Europe and discovered his new calling as a futurist and as the CEO of The Futures Agency, a global network of over 40 leading futurists, speakers and personalities. The future is already here – we just haven’t paid enough attention!

Gerd Leonhard | Technology Futurist

As we rush headlong into a machine-led world where the very essence of human being is being increasingly challenged, Gerd is reminding us to consider what moral values are we prepared to stand up for before “being human” alters its meaning forever.

Gerd Leonhard travels around the globe to speak at leading conferences, events and seminars, helping individuals, enterprises and government organizations to deal with ‘future shock’, and to embrace change. Gerd is also an influential author. He is the co-author of the visionary book ‘The Future of Music’ and the author of five other books including his last best-seller, ‘Technology vs. Humanity’, which is now available in ten languages.

Gerd’s films on the future of technology and humanity, digital transformation and artificial intelligence have reached millions of viewers. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA, London) and an advisory board member of the Indian and Canadian Research Institutes. He resides in Zürich, Switzerland and presents both in English and German.

Contact us at Speakers Inc and view our International site

Speakers Contact

Speaker Enquiry Form

Talent Resources to download

In order to view the below you must be logged in.

  • Powerpoint Slide – For meeting and event planners
  • Gallery Images
  • High Resolution Images
  • PDF Files
  • Books and Magazine Links

View further speakers

At the age of 21, Devi Sankaree Govender started her career in journalism. She landed a freelance job at the SABC, whilst completing a BA degree at the University of Natal in Durban. Devi quickly moved from presenting music shows and reading the news to becoming a talk show host for the national public broadcaster, […]

  • Current Affairs

Mark Grobbelaar began karate at the age of nine and holds a 6th Dan, as well as provincial and national colours, he has over 45 years experience in his field and is founder of a revolutionary concept to give women their power back. “The course of my life changed after a friend of mine, was […]

  • Personal Security

MacFarlane Moleli is a distinguished South African broadcaster, journalist, and highly sought-after conference emcee. With a robust media career spanning over two decades, his captivating voice, sharp intellect, and refined stage presence have made him a preferred choice for leading events across the continent. MacFarlane’s expertise is deeply rooted in his journalistic background, having worked […]

  • Event Emcee
  • (7 reviews)

Embark on an extraordinary journey with Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo as they unravel the profound lessons learned from 25 years of collaboration amidst the world’s most unforgiving terrains. Their keynote presentation, “The Power of Relationships,” is an unparalleled narrative that delves into the intricacies of human connections, mirrored against the backdrop of […]

  • Power of Relationships

Nobukhosi Dlamini is an influential figure in the technology sector, specializing in innovation, data protection, enterprise information management, cybersecurity, corporate IT, and agile transformation. Her expertise spans over two decades, during which she has become a recognized leader in driving digital transformation and cybersecurity across global organizations. As a sought-after speaker and advocate for inclusive […]

  • Cybersecurity Speaker

Lerato Mbele joined the BBC in 2012. Prior to that, Lerato served as a Senior Business Anchor for CNBC Africa. She hosted a variety of business programs and discussions related to the economics, business strategy, stock markets, entrepreneurship and leadership. Lerato Mbele began her journalism career in 1999 at South Africa’s state-owned broadcaster The South […]

  • Business Emcee

Dr. Roze Phillips is an African futurist dedicated to unleashing the abundance of Africa to the world. She is the founder of Abundance@Work and speaks and consults regularly on topics related to the Future of Work and the Workforce of the Future. Roze does a radio show on Cape Talk radio about Future trends and […]

  • Futurist Speaker
  • (2 reviews)

Shakes Dlutu, affectionately known as “Shakes,” has devoted his life to empowering others through motivation, emotional intelligence, and youth engagement. With over a decade of experience in the fields of personal development, mentorship, and life skills, Shakes has become a sought-after motivational speaker for his unique ability to connect with audiences from all walks of […]

  • Motivational Speaker
Disclaimer
The profiles and images embedded on these pages are from various conference entertainers and other talent.

These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by Speakers Inc.

Fee ranges where listed on this website are intended to serve as a guideline only.

All talent fees exclude VAT, travel and accommodation where required.

Our Mission

We are your partner creating memorable and engaging experiences that go beyond the event itself.

Newsletter Signup

* indicates required

Intuit Mailchimp

Subscribe to our Newsletter and get connected:

Our Mission:

We are your partner creating memorable and engaging experiences that go beyond the event itself.

© All rights reserved 2025.  Designed using Voxel