Available to book
Sam Rad
Sam Rad, a futurist speaker and anthropologist, helps leaders navigate AI and accelerating change without losing the human side of transformation. A four-time entrepreneur, she has advised the United Nations and is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree.
Sam Rad is a futurist, anthropologist, and four-time entrepreneur who helps organizations navigate accelerating technological change without losing sight of what makes them human.
Trained in anthropology and engineering, Sam was among the first researchers to study the virtual world Second Life and later among the earliest to clone herself using AI. She has advised the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the Federal Reserve Bank, has spoken on stages across five continents, and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Sam's work spans artificial intelligence, blockchain, and immersive realities. She helped develop the protocols behind ERC-721, the standard behind NFTs, and founded four companies, including Chronicled and NYOUM. That combination of technical grounding and anthropological insight lets her translate complex change into practical guidance for leaders and teams.
Audiences leave her keynotes with a clearer read on where technology is heading, concrete tools for strategic foresight, and a renewed focus on the human skills that remain hardest to automate. Sam is the author of two number one bestselling books, Radical Next and Bitcoin Pizza.
Book Sam to give your organization a grounded, human way to think about what's coming next.
Topics, sessions and talks
Technology, culture, and geopolitics are rewriting the systems societies run on, and Sam Rad calls this shift the Age of Acceleration. Drawing on her background as a futurist and anthropologist, she traces how artificial intelligence, immersive realities, and quantum computing are converging to reshape industries and everyday life. Sam guides audiences through the legacies of the past and the realities of the present, leaving them better equipped to respond to change already underway.
How do you thrive, not just survive, through radical and accelerating change? Sam Rad draws on her path from funding her first tech venture with skydiving jumps, to inventing technologies years ahead of their time, to working as a cybersecurity professional. She combines personal anecdotes, case studies, and research into an immersive blueprint for navigating uncertainty, leaving audiences with tools for intuitive forecasting and a mindset built for resilience rather than reaction.
A single person with an internet connection can now do damage that once required an entire operation. Sam Rad moves past technical checklists to focus on cognitive security, showing organizations how to think like the people who threaten them. Her human-centered approach gives every team member, regardless of role, practical tools in creativity, critical thinking, and discernment, leaving audiences able to anticipate threats several moves ahead rather than only react to them.
A four-time entrepreneur and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Sam Rad has advised the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and Federal Reserve Bank on emerging technology and AI. She continues to build at the frontier of AI and immersive technology, giving audiences a current, working view of what's ahead.
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frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Sam Rad structures her keynotes around a blend of personal narrative, case studies, and research — drawing on her own entrepreneurial history and technical background to ground abstract concepts in lived experience and translate them into practical forecasting tools for audiences.
Sam Rad's sessions cover the convergence of artificial intelligence, immersive realities, and quantum computing; resilience and strategic foresight through accelerating change; and cognitive approaches to cybersecurity. She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, has advised the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the Federal Reserve Bank, and is the author of two number one bestselling books, Radical Next and Bitcoin Pizza.
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