Carlos Alvarado Quesada
48th President of Costa Rica (2018-2022) | Professor of Practice, The Fletcher School, Tufts | TIME 100 Next | National Geographic Planetary Leadership Award
Nita Farahany
World's Leading Neuroethics Scholar | Duke Law Professor | Author, The Battle for Your Brain | UNESCO Neurotechnology Ethics Co-Chair
Nita Farahany is the world's foremost authority on what happens when AI meets the human brain, and why the choices made now will define freedom for generations. A Duke Law professor, Obama-appointed bioethics commissioner, and author of The Battle for Your Brain, she helped shape the first global standard on neurotechnology ethics and has addressed Congress and Davos. Her keynotes leave senior audiences with frameworks to act, not just reasons to worry.
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Nita Farahany biography
Nita Farahany is the world’s foremost authority on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of neurotechnology and artificial intelligence, the scholar who coined the concept of cognitive liberty and has spent two decades making the case that mental privacy is the defining rights frontier of our era. She is the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke Law School, Founding Director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, and Faculty Chair of the Duke MA in Bioethics & Science Policy.
AI speaker Nita Farahany holds one of the most unusual academic pedigrees in public life: a Bachelor’s in Genetics from Dartmouth, a Master’s in Biology from Harvard, and both a JD and PhD in Philosophy from Duke, credentials that let her move fluently between the laboratory, the courtroom, and the policy chamber. She clerked for Judge Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, taught at Vanderbilt Law, and was the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Stanford Law before joining Duke. President Obama appointed her to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, where she served for seven years.
Her book The Battle for Your Brain: Defending Your Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology became an international landmark, not merely a bestseller but a policy text that has shaped legal frameworks across multiple jurisdictions, informed congressional testimony, and propelled a global conversation on mental privacy that intensifies as brain-sensing wearables and generative AI converge. She has been elected to the American Law Institute, named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and recognized among the Vox Future Perfect 50 as one of the thinkers most shaping the future.
Defining the Global Agenda on Cognitive Liberty
Farahany served as U.S. delegate and elected co-chair of the UNESCO expert group whose work produced the first global standard on the ethics of neurotechnology, a Recommendation adopted by UNESCO’s member states to safeguard mental privacy worldwide. She also chairs the Uniform Law Commission study committee on mental privacy, advises the NIH BRAIN Initiative and DARPA on the ethical, legal, and social implications of their research, sits on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Frontier Risks, and is a past president of the International Neuroethics Society. Her Davos keynote on brain transparency reached global leaders and drew millions of views.
As a speaker, Nita Farahany commands rooms that span C-suites, legislatures, and scientific institutions because she offers something rare: a synthesis of technical depth, legal precision, and moral urgency. She has addressed TED, the World Economic Forum, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and U.S. judicial conferences. Audiences leave not just informed but activated, with a clear grasp of what neurotechnology and AI mean for their organizations, their people, and their own minds, and what must be decided now, before the window to act narrows.
Nita Farahany Speaking Videos
Your Right to Mental Privacy in the Age of Brain-Sensing Tech | Nita Farahany | TED
When technology can read minds, how will we protect our privacy? | Nita Farahany
Nita Farahany Keynote Topics
Brain-sensing technology has left the realm of science fiction. Wearable EEGs are already deployed in workplaces across Asia and Europe, AI systems can infer emotion, attention, and intent from physiological signals, and the generative tools reshaping knowledge work are beginning to touch our cognitive processes in ways we scarcely understand. Farahany lays out this terrain with precision: the genuine medical and productivity breakthroughs alongside the risks of mental surveillance, cognitive warfare, and the erosion of the last truly private space we possess. Audiences leave with a clear framework for what cognitive liberty means for their organizations and what protecting it will require.
From fatigue-detection headbands in mining operations to tools that read emotional states during video calls, neurotechnology is entering the enterprise faster than most HR and legal teams realize. Farahany examines the real tradeoffs: the legitimate safety and productivity gains set against the morale, creativity, and trust costs of monitoring mental states without consent. She offers a framework for adopting these tools in ways that motivate rather than police, building the employee trust that makes innovation possible in the first place.
What does it mean to think freely when AI can augment, replicate, and increasingly anticipate our cognition? Farahany reframes the generative AI debate, moving past automation anxiety to show how human relational intelligence, mental agility, and self-awareness become the premium skills of an AI-augmented world. Drawing on neuroscience and law, she shows audiences how to treat AI as a genuine cognitive partner while protecting the qualities of human thought no algorithm can reproduce.
Privacy law was built for a world in which thoughts stayed safely inside the skull. That world is ending. Farahany sets out why cognitive liberty, the right to mental self-determination, is fast becoming the most consequential human rights question of the coming decade, and what governments, corporations, and individuals must do to establish guardrails before the technology outpaces any meaningful response. Built for policy, legal, and senior executive audiences who need not just the risks but the architecture of a solution.
Speaker topics
FAQs on Booking Nita Farahany
Why Nita Farahany?
Booking Nita Farahany means bringing the world's most credible voice on neurotechnology, AI ethics, and cognitive liberty to your stage. As the scholar who wrote the book on mental privacy, The Battle for Your Brain, and who co-chaired the UNESCO expert group behind the first global standard on neurotechnology ethics, she speaks with an authority no commentator or futurist can replicate. What makes her exceptional on stage is the rare blend of technical fluency and accessibility: she makes the most complex intersections of AI, neuroscience, and law tangible, urgent, and actionable for audiences across industries. Whether your event centers on AI strategy, the future of work, corporate culture, or responsible technology adoption, Farahany shifts how senior audiences think and act. Contact Aurum Speakers Bureau to check availability and discuss your event.
What is cognitive liberty and why does it matter?
Cognitive liberty is the right to mental self-determination, the freedom to control your own brain, thoughts, and mental experiences without unauthorized external interference. Nita Farahany developed and championed this concept as the foundational framework for the age of neurotechnology, and her advocacy helped inform the first global standard on the ethics of neurotechnology. As brain-sensing wearables, AI systems capable of interpreting emotional and cognitive states, and consumer EEG devices reach workplaces, classrooms, and homes, cognitive liberty is fast becoming the most contested human rights issue of the coming decade.
What is Nita Farahany's book The Battle for Your Brain about?
In The Battle for Your Brain, Farahany offers a rigorous yet accessible exploration of how advances in neurotechnology and artificial intelligence create unprecedented new abilities to monitor, decode, and potentially manipulate human thought and emotion. She argues that society sits at an inflection point: the same technologies that can diagnose neurological disorders early, boost productivity, and enhance cognition also enable new forms of mental surveillance by employers, governments, and corporations. The book lays out a framework for protecting cognitive liberty while embracing the genuine opportunities these technologies offer, and it has been adopted in policy, legal, and academic settings worldwide.
What topics does AI speaker Nita Farahany cover?
Nita Farahany speaks on neurotechnology and mental privacy, cognitive liberty and human rights in the AI age, the ethics of generative AI and brain-computer interfaces, neurotech in the workplace, and how organizations can adopt emerging technologies responsibly without sacrificing employee trust or dignity. Her talks are built for senior leadership audiences facing the real-world implications of AI, not speculative futures but decisions that need to be made today. To book Nita Farahany for your next event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book Nita Farahany as a keynote speaker?
Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Nita Farahany as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Nita Farahany'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 Nita Farahany or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.
How much is Nita Farahany speaking fee?
Nita Farahany 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 Nita Farahany 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 Nita Farahany.
How can I contact Nita Farahany?
We only work with Nita Farahany on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Nita Farahany and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Nita Farahany speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Nita Farahany for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.
Can I book Nita Farahany for a virtual keynote?
Yes, Nita Farahany is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Nita Farahany for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
