Audrey Tang
2025 Right Livelihood Laureate | Taiwan's First Digital Minister & Cyber Ambassador-at-Large | Pioneer of Digital Democracy & AI Governance
Irene Solaiman
Chief Policy Officer & SVP of Strategy at Hugging Face | Pioneer of AI "Staged Release" (Ex-OpenAI) | World Authority on AI Policy, Safety & Open-Source AI
Irene Solaiman is one of the world's foremost experts on AI policy, safety, and responsible deployment, and the Chief Policy Officer at Hugging Face. A pioneer of the 'staged release' approach who led the GPT-2 strategy at OpenAI, she now shapes how the AI community thinks about open-source models, alignment, and misuse. Named to MIT Tech Review's 35 Innovators Under 35, she gives audiences a rare, authoritative view from inside the AI frontier.
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Irene Solaiman biography
AI speaker Irene Solaiman is one of the world’s foremost experts on AI policy, safety, and responsible deployment, and the Chief Policy Officer and SVP of Strategy at Hugging Face, the most popular community-oriented platform for AI builders. Working at the intersection of cutting-edge research and real-world policy, she helps governments, companies, and the global AI community navigate the hardest questions raised by increasingly powerful AI, from safety and misuse to openness, alignment, and geopolitics.
Solaiman has been at the center of the AI safety conversation since before it reached the mainstream. As a researcher and public policy lead at OpenAI, she initiated and led its bias and social-impact research and pioneered the “staged release” approach to deploying AI, the strategy behind the phased rollout of GPT-2, which has since shaped how the entire field thinks about responsibly releasing powerful models. Her research on adapting GPT-3’s behavior earned a spotlight at NeurIPS 2021. She later built AI policy at Zillow before joining Hugging Face in 2022.
Open vs. Closed: The Future of Responsible AI
Widely regarded as the foremost expert on AI release strategies, Solaiman is known for reframing the heated “open versus closed” AI debate: release, she argues, is a spectrum, and open and closed systems each carry distinct benefits, risks, and tradeoffs. Named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 for her work and profiled by outlets including TechCrunch, she serves on the Partnership on AI’s Policy Steering Committee, and advises responsible-AI initiatives at the OECD and IEEE. She holds a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
As a speaker, Irene Solaiman is clear, balanced, and refreshingly free of hype, translating the most complex questions in AI into insight leaders can actually use. She speaks on AI safety and policy, open-source AI, the national security and geopolitics of AI, AI cybersecurity, and where the technology is heading next. Audiences gain a rare, authoritative view from inside the AI frontier, from someone who has helped shape how the world builds and governs it.
Irene Solaiman Speaking Videos
Irene Solaiman: The Role of Openness in International AI Safety
An Insider’s Outlook on Global AI Coordination – Irene Solaiman | IASEAI 2025
Irene Solaiman Keynote Topics
Having built and led AI policy at OpenAI and Hugging Face, and spoken at the world’s most prominent AI policy convenings, Irene Solaiman is uniquely placed to explain how we actually keep AI safe. In this keynote she translates complex technical realities into practical policy insight: where the real risks lie, what responsible development and deployment require, and how governments, companies, and civil society can work together. An authoritative, balanced briefing for anyone making decisions in the age of AI.
One of the most consequential debates in technology is whether AI should be open or closed, and, as the field’s foremost expert on release strategies, Irene Solaiman shows why that framing is too simple. Release, she explains, is a spectrum, and open and closed systems each have real strengths, risks, and tradeoffs depending on the deployment environment. In this keynote she gives audiences a clear, nuanced understanding of how AI gets built and shared, and what it means for innovation, competition, and safety.
AI is now a central axis of global power, developed and deployed across nearly every continent, and that raises urgent questions of security, competition, and international cooperation. Drawing on her work on AI models deployed globally, Irene Solaiman helps leaders understand the geopolitical stakes of AI: the security risks, the opportunities for cooperation, and how different nations and regions are approaching governance. A sharp, timely keynote for leaders navigating an AI-shaped world.
As organizations race to deploy AI, many overlook a crucial point: securing AI systems requires practices that differ from standard internet cybersecurity, whether you’re serving your own models or using an API. Irene Solaiman explains what leaders and technical teams need to know to deploy and use AI securely, from the new categories of risk to the hygiene and skills that must be updated for the AI era. A practical, essential keynote for any organization putting AI into production.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Irene Solaiman
Why Irene Solaiman?
Booking Irene Solaiman brings audiences one of the world’s foremost authorities on AI policy, safety, and responsible deployment, a leader who has shaped the field from the inside. As Chief Policy Officer at Hugging Face and formerly a policy and research lead at OpenAI, she pioneered the “staged release” approach now used across the industry and is the recognized expert on AI release strategies. Named to MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35, she is clear, balanced, and refreshingly free of hype, giving leaders a trustworthy, nuanced understanding of AI safety, openness, and governance. She is ideal for events on AI, technology, policy, security, and the future. To bring Irene Solaiman to your next event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
Who is Irene Solaiman?
Irene Solaiman is an American AI research, policy, and strategy expert, and the Chief Policy Officer and SVP of Strategy at Hugging Face, where she leads policy and research teams and develops company strategy. She is one of the world’s leading experts on AI safety, responsible deployment, and release strategies. Earlier in her career, she initiated and led bias and social-impact research at OpenAI, where she also led public policy and pioneered the “staged release” strategy for GPT-2, and she later built AI policy at Zillow Group. She serves on the Partnership on AI’s Policy Steering Committee and the Center for Democracy and Technology’s AI Governance Lab Advisory Committee, advises responsible-AI initiatives at the OECD and IEEE, and has held fellowships at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and Stanford. She was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2023, and holds a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
What is Irene Solaiman’s view on open vs. closed AI?
Irene Solaiman is widely regarded as the foremost expert on AI release strategies, and her central argument reframes one of the most heated debates in technology. Rather than treating “open versus closed” AI as a binary choice, she argues that release is a spectrum, a gradient with many points between fully open and fully closed, and that open and closed systems each carry distinct benefits, risks, and tradeoffs depending on the context in which a model is deployed. This perspective grew directly out of her work pioneering the “staged release” of GPT-2 at OpenAI, where she helped develop a phased, evidence-based approach to putting powerful AI into the world responsibly. For Solaiman, the right question is not simply whether to open-source a model, but how to match a release strategy to its risks, its benefits, and its intended use, combining technical and policy insight to guide responsible development and deployment. It’s a nuanced, pragmatic stance that has made her an influential voice for governments, companies, and the open-source AI community alike.
What topics does AI speaker Irene Solaiman cover?
Irene Solaiman speaks on AI safety and policy, open-source AI and release strategies, the national security and geopolitics of AI, AI cybersecurity, and broader AI and technology trends. Her keynotes suit events on AI, technology, policy and governance, security, and the future, for corporate, government, and general audiences. To book Irene Solaiman as a speaker, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book Irene Solaiman as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Irene Solaiman as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Irene Solaiman's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Irene Solaiman or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Irene Solaiman speaking fee?
Irene Solaiman speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Irene Solaiman to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Irene Solaiman.
How can I contact Irene Solaiman?
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Can I book Irene Solaiman for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Irene Solaiman is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Irene Solaiman for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
