Azeem Azhar

Are generative AI companies a boom, or a bubble, for asset managers, private equity firms and investors? Global futurist and venture capitalist Azeem Azhar is helping the financial sector keep up with the latest developments in AI technologies, shedding light on if a company is likely to be the next Blockbuster – or the new Netflix. Having invested in more than 35 tech companies, he is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on the impact of technology on humanity. The founder of Exponential View, a trends-oriented interdisciplinary research group focused on the impact of AI in companies with 100,000 global newsletter subscribers, he’s also a researcher at Oxford University, Stanford University and Harvard Business School. Azhar’s punchy, accessible talks about AI’s impact on asset management and investment drive home the fact that financial leaders need to change the way they work because of AI to make smarter bets while considering inherent risks to their portfolios. Looking ahead, he outlines how the technology will develop and what future opportunities it will create. Blending industry knowledge, history, science and theory with practical hands-on advice, Azhar shares key insights from how his team and others – including his financial services clients Goldman Sachs, UBS, Fidelity, Investec and Morgan Stanley – have applied generative AI with fantastic results.

The climate crisis has presented humanity with its greatest challenge yet. The good news is, emerging technologies are offering us a powerful path to reaching net zero by 2050, and investment in climate tech is ramping up. In this talk, renowned technology writer, investor and corporate advisor Azeem Azhar, award-winning author of “The Exponential Age,” gives audiences an inside look at the promising technologies that are our best hope for addressing the climate crisis. He also highlights related research he conducted with PwC, discusses investment opportunities, and shares insights from experts at the forefront of climate tech, many of whom he has personally interviewed. Audiences will gain a valuable window into proven decarbonization strategies that can be implemented across industries to begin counteracting the growing climate crisis.

The world is going through uncertain times right now with fluctuating energy prices, manufacturing costs and supply chain efficiency challenges. But, according to award-winning technology analyst, author and entrepreneur Azeem Azhar, there’s a coming abundance. In this eye-opening presentation, he draws on his international bestseller, “The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society,” to illustrate how exponential improvements in technology like artificial intelligence, communications networks, sensors, renewable electricity and more will lead to great business opportunities and a bright future for humanity. Attendees will learn the ways that investments in deep technology are already setting businesses up to benefit from more plentiful energy, computation power, and products, and how their organizations can invest now to take advantage of these great opportunities in the near future.

High-tech innovations are created at dazzling speeds; technological forces we barely understand remake our homes and workplaces; centuries-old tenets of politics and economics are upturned by new technologies. It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace. In this talk, drawn from his award-winning 2021 book, “The Exponential Age,” renowned technology writer, investor and corporate advisor Azeem Azhar explains how and why new technologies are fundamentally altering the world, what we can expect in the future, and how we can navigate. He delves into how the exponential gap created by these changes has inevitably resulted in the rise of AI, automation, and other technologies – such as renewable energy, 3D printing and synthetic biology – and offers a whole new way to think about technology, one that will transform our understanding of the economy, politics and the future.

New technologies – from generative AI to decarbonization technologies – continue to emerge each day, impacting how businesses and society live, learn, socialize and innovate. Many of these changes are causing disruption and unexpected pivots in organizational and consumer behavior. How can companies determine which technologies will be relevant to their business and customers in the next five to 10 years, and which ones can be ignored? In this talk, renowned technology writer, investor and corporate advisor Azeem Azhar provides practical frameworks for examining how emerging technologies will positively or negatively impact your company’s innovation, operations, leadership, employees and customers. Leaders will be able to use these frameworks to evaluate which new technologies will be most relevant and beneficial as their organizations lay out strategic blueprints for the future.