Cheryl Cran
Future of Work & Change Leadership Expert
Michelle K. Lee
Futurist | AI Expert and Strategist | Founder & CEO, Obsidian Strategies | Former VP (AI) at Amazon Web Services, Google
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Book Michelle K. Lee, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Speaker
About This Speaker
Michelle K. Lee is an AI keynote speaker, technology and leadership expert, and founder and CEO of Obsidian Strategies. She previously served as VP of Amazon’s Machine Learning Solutions Lab. There, she advised Amazon’s biggest clients on implementing AI, GenAI, and machine learning. Now she shows business leaders how AI drives productivity, customer experience, and revenue across industries.
Throughout her career, Michelle has built and advised some of the country’s most innovative AI and data-driven companies, including Amazon and Google. For example, she also spent eight years as a Google executive during its formative years, giving her a unique Silicon Valley perspective.
At AWS, Michelle led a global team of consultants and data scientists. Together, they helped clients spot and implement AI opportunities. In addition, she served as the founding business executive lead for AWS’s responsible AI efforts, where she addressed policy, regulatory, and ethical risks in AI.
Before Amazon, Michelle served as the presidentially-appointed Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In this role, she led over 10,000 people to implement an agency-wide AI strategy. As a result, she improved the quality, speed, and consistency of patent decisions.
Michelle trained as a computer scientist at the MIT AI Lab. She has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NPR, and the MIT Sloan Management Review. Additionally, she has testified before Congress about 10 times.
Michelle speaks frequently on AI, innovation, digital transformation, and board governance. Notably, her talks have appeared at the World Knowledge Forum, South by Southwest, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Conference, CES, and the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Speaker Fee: $50,000+
Contact an agent to get Michelle's availability and ratesSpeaking Topics: Michelle K. Lee
Real World Implications of Generative AI: The Promise and Perils of AI and how to prepare for an AI-Centric World 
AI is powerfully transforming virtually every aspect of our business and personal lives including the way we analyze data, make predictions, generate content, delight our customers, grow revenue and increase operational efficiencies. However, there are challenges to using generative AI for organizations in terms of accuracy, copyright, bias, regulations, and more. Just because something can be achieved by AI doesn’t mean it should. Based upon her unique multi-disciplinary experiences from the top levels of technology, business, law, government and boardroom, Michelle Lee shares with her audience concrete examples of incredibly powerful business applications of AI, some associated risks, how to balance the two to lead organizations to leverage responsible, reliable and trustworthy AI applications and the implications of AI on workforce and labor needs. For this thought-provoking yet practical talk, Michelle Lee draws upon her experiences as a technologist and AI expert who has spent her career building and advising the most innovative AI/data-driven companies like Amazon and Google, her time as a top-ranked governmental official (Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office) and her experiences as a lawyer and policy maker to examine the practical implications of Generative AI for organizations. Audiences will come away understanding where to lean-in on AI and Generative AI, where not to, and how to leverage AI for competitive advantage.
AI: The Art of the Possible and Practical and 7 Lessons for Successful Implementation
AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our generation. Computers can now create, “see,” “hear,” predict, and perform a wide variety of human tasks. Recent developments in AI (including generative AI, computer vision, machine learning, and robotics) will impact every business and aspect of our lives with both positive and negative effects. As a result, every organization needs to ask itself, what is its AI strategy? Michelle Lee is an MIT AI Lab-trained computer scientist who has spent her career advising some of our country’s most innovative AI/data-driven companies (Amazon and Google), which gives her unique perspectives on the applications of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. In this engaging talk, Michelle cuts through the hype and brings the high-level talk down to reality with concrete examples and recommended actions. Audiences will come away with the 7 lessons for AI implementation that can help their companies increase operational efficiencies, enhance customer experiences, and generate new revenue.
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