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AI transformation expert & professor

Karan Girotra

Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI

Business Strategy

Accelerate AI adoption with Karan Girotra, Cornell Tech Professor and leading AI transformation expert. Karan has led executive education programs for Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM, drawing on his award-winning research into how artificial intelligence transforms business models and organizational productivity and delivers competitive advantages.

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Karan Girotra

New York City, United States

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Karan Girotra's biography

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Cornell

Digital Expert

Educator

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At a glance

Leads Cornell Tech’s research on AI and business transformation
Has led executive education programs for Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and KPMG
Author of the bestselling The Risk Driven Business Model

Professor Karan Girotra is the Charles H. Dyson Family Professor of Management and Professor of Operations, Technology, and Innovation at Cornell Tech and the Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. One of the foremost academic voices on artificial intelligence and business, his research examines how AI transforms cognitive work, reshapes organizational productivity, and shifts economic power across value chains. Karan was one of the founders of Cornell Tech, Cornell University's New York City campus, integrating technology, business, and law. He leads the campus's research on AI and business transformation and directs its flagship studio-based education and executive programs. Before Cornell Tech, Karan held the Paul Dubrule Sustainability Chair at INSEAD, earned his doctorate at the Wharton School, and completed his undergraduate degree at IIT Delhi. His research has earned multiple best paper awards and the Wickham Skinner Early Career Research Award. His book, The Risk Driven Business Model, became a business bestseller. Karan works directly with organizations to identify AI-driven opportunities and build the processes to scale them. He has led executive education programs for Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Moody's, Accenture, MetLife, KPMG, Maersk, and many others, combining academic rigor with practical organizational application across industries including financial services, healthcare, and logistics. Leaders and teams who work with Karan come away with a clear-eyed view of what AI can and cannot do today, how to close the gap between pilot and deployment, and where the real value lies — not in productivity alone, but in fundamentally new business models. Book Karan to help your organization move from AI curious to AI competitive.

Karan's showreel and videos

Topics, sessions and talks

AI Capabilities: State Of Play

Professor Karan Girotra cuts through the noise with a clear-eyed map of what frontier AI can actually do today, from autonomous agents capable of working independently for days to systems that outperform humans in specific domains, alongside the areas where AI still falls short. Karan explains why the uneven shape of that capability matters far more than any headline benchmark, translating the full picture into concrete implications for the knowledge work, decisions, and operations that define your organization.

AI Transformation: Bigger Than You Imagine, Harder Than You Expect

Professor Karan Girotra draws on historical parallels to show why every major abundance technology, from electricity to the internet, delivered productivity gains first, then far larger value from rethinking the business itself. Abundant intelligence follows the same arc. The real prize is not efficiency but new products, new services, and entirely new business models, along with the shifts in economic power they trigger across the value chain. Karan maps what that opportunity looks like and what it demands of leaders who want to capture it.

AI: The Deployment Challenge

No technology has been adopted faster, yet the gap between what AI can do and what organizations actually deploy has never been wider. Professor Karan Girotra argues that the bottleneck is not the model; it is people, structures, and systems. Drawing on research and executive program delivery experience, he covers the practical levers that close the gap: governance that drives use without waste, redesigning jobs and teams, taming the sprawl of decentralized AI pilots, disciplined experimentation, and reskilling at the speed the moment demands.

Agentic Commerce: AI Is Interested In You

Professor Karan Girotra explores the emerging reality of consumers increasingly delegating discovery, comparison, and purchase decisions to AI agents — hyper-rational buyers that blunt traditional marketing and insert powerful new intermediaries into the value chain. For leaders in payments, financial services, and consumer-facing industries, the central question becomes which surfaces you own, which you rent, and where economic power will ultimately settle in a world where AI is your customer's most trusted advisor.

Why we recommend booking Karan

Karan combines award-winning academic research with experience from leading hands-on executive programs for Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM. Best for C-suite audiences who want the sharpest evidence-based thinking on AI strategy and what it really means for their business.

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Email karan.girotra@getapeptalk.com or call PepTalk on +44 20 3835 2929 (UK) or +1 737 888 5112 (US), and one of our speaker agents will contact you within hours to confirm availability and fees. If you can, please include your budget upfront – it helps us fast-track your request. It’s also helpful to know the date, format (virtual or in-person), location, and a bit about your audience. As speaker agents, PepTalk can secure Karan Girotra for commercial and corporate events, conference keynotes, leadership talks, celebrity brand endorsements & partnerships, personal appearances, and motivational speaking engagements. We can assist with enquiries about Karan Girotra's speaking fees, availability, and booking process for private business functions, industry conferences, and team events. Please note, for media interviews, autographs, charity appearances, or personal matters, we recommend contacting Karan Girotra directly.

What is Karan Girotra's speaking style like?

Karan delivers clear, insightful sessions that demystify AI, blending academic expertise with practical business applications. Participants gain actionable strategies and a realistic understanding of AI’s potential and limitations.

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