Carissa Véliz

Véliz reveals how privacy serves as the foundation for democratic society, functioning as justice's blindfold that ensures equal treatment regardless of personal characteristics. Drawing from her bestselling book Privacy Is Power, she demonstrates how mass data collection undermines equality by enabling differential treatment based on personal information, threatens autonomy by creating systems that manipulate rather than inform, and weakens democracy by fracturing public discourse into personalized realities. Audiences learn why privacy should be understood as collective infrastructure rather than individual preference, how surveillance capitalism concentrates power in ways that threaten democratic governance, and what regulatory frameworks can protect privacy while enabling beneficial innovation. This session provides strategic guidance for leaders navigating data governance obligations and building organizations that compete ethically.

Based on her radical yet rigorously argued position, Véliz makes the case that personal data should be regulated as a toxic substance and the trade in personal information should end entirely. She examines how the data economy emerged from Google's discovery that personalized advertising generated enormous profit, why this business model creates negative externalities including democratic erosion and inequality, and how societies can transition away from surveillance-based business models. Organizations discover alternatives to data-extractive practices, practical frameworks for building privacy-respecting products and services, and why companies that pioneer ethical approaches to data will gain competitive advantage as regulatory environments tighten and consumer awareness grows. This provocative session challenges conventional wisdom about data as essential business asset and offers vision for technology that serves rather than surveils.

Véliz examines the critical ethical questions raised by artificial intelligence development and deployment, including how AI systems trained on improperly acquired data perpetuate injustice, why algorithmic decision-making often reinforces rather than reduces discrimination, what obligations organizations have regarding transparency and accountability in AI systems, and how to balance innovation with protection of fundamental rights. Audiences gain practical frameworks for implementing responsible AI that respects human autonomy, strategies for identifying and mitigating ethical risks in AI projects, and understanding of emerging regulatory requirements around algorithmic accountability. This session is essential for technology leaders, product teams implementing AI systems, and executives overseeing digital transformation initiatives who need to ensure their AI strategies align with ethical principles and regulatory expectations.

Drawing from her TEDx talks, Véliz explores how digital technology's dominance threatens aspects of human experience that depend on unobserved, unrecorded interactions. She demonstrates how constant surveillance changes behavior in ways that undermine authenticity, creativity, and genuine human connection, why maintaining analog spaces free from digital monitoring is essential for psychological health and democratic discourse, and what individuals and organizations can do to protect analog experiences while leveraging digital tools appropriately. Leaders learn how to create workplace cultures that value unmonitored thinking time, implement technology policies that protect employee privacy and autonomy, and understand why organizations that preserve space for analog interaction often generate more innovative and resilient teams. This thought-provoking session helps audiences rethink their relationship with technology and recognize analog life as essential rather than obsolete.