Dr Kate Barker advises boards and chairs on what a director remains personally answerable for once artificial intelligence is inside the decision. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Company Directors Course, and holds a Doctorate of Business Administration, a master’s in organisational psychology and an MBA. As a global executive advisor and the world’s first Chief Futurist she has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, the Fortune Global Forum and the Economist Impact Summit, and holds a TIME100 AI Impact Award. London is one of Dr Kate Barker’s two home cities, and her UK engagements reflect the city’s centre of gravity: boards, financial institutions and the governance community.
For UK boards, the relevant credential is not that she talks about AI governance. It is that she has designed it for a government.
Her work is anchored in the Executive Cognitive Advantage Index, her diagnostic for the human capabilities that become more valuable as AI scales: judgement and discernment, cognitive agency, relationship capital, executive alignment, and human + AI decision performance. The instrument exists because of a gap her research across six thousand executive leaders opened up: 82% of leaders say AI has made their decisions faster, and only 54% believe it has made them better.
For a UK audience that gap has a legal edge. A director’s duty to exercise independent judgement does not transfer to a model, and cognitive agency is the capability that duty actually rests on. Where it erodes quietly, the exposure builds quietly with it.
Boards in our industry are being asked to oversee systems that move faster than their reporting cycles. Kate brings evidence rather than opinion to that problem, and she is practical about what a board can actually govern versus what it should leave alone. In a conversation full of assertion, that is worth a great deal.
FT Future of Business Summit · London Business School · World Economic Forum, Davos · Bloomberg New Economy Forum · Fortune Global Forum · The Economist Impact Summit · UN Global Futures Forum · World Government Summit, Dubai
What every board and executive team must decide as intelligent systems move from advice to action.
The governance structures, questions and disciplines that keep human judgement in charge of the machine, not the other way round.
Which capabilities are atrophying as AI absorbs executive thinking, which to protect, and which to build deliberately.
Delivered as mainstage keynotes, closed-door board briefings or full board retreats.
A short FAQ. For longer conversations, please write directly.
Dr Kate Barker is the world’s first Chief Futurist. She advises chairs, boards and sovereign institutions on AI oversight, built the Board AI Index used to assess board AI readiness, and holds a TIME100 AI Impact Award. Her doctoral research examined the effect of generative AI on organisational trust across six thousand executive leaders.
Decision ownership, information adequacy, governing altitude, and capability erosion. Boards are assessed against the five levels of the Board AI Index and leave with a documented position on each, which is increasingly what directors are expected to be able to evidence.
Through the speaking intake form. Twelve weeks minimum lead time. Fees and availability on request.
Twelve weeks minimum lead time. Eighty bookings a year. Every enquiry is read personally.