Kitty Horlick

Kitty Horlick is the founder of Blackwood, a consultancy firm focused on onboarding traditional businesses into emergent technologies including AI and web3-associated technologies such as blockchain, NFTs, the metaverse and cryptocurrencies. As well as running Blackwood, Horlick is a Director at Rarify Labs which is counteracting the threat of AI to digital identities and content provenance through blockchain-based solutions. From deep fakes that can co-opt a person’s likeness for fake videos, to AI-generated images, such as the image of the Pentagon exploding which destabilized the S&P, AI has made the world a less reliable place. Providing provenance for content, data, and online identity credentials is becoming increasingly urgent, and as a technology defined by its traceability and security, blockchain is rapidly becoming the antidote.

Horlick is a long-term adopter of and investor in cryptocurrencies and NFTs with over six years of experience in the space. As early as 2017, she joined Ehab – a start-up devoted to revolutionizing the construction industry through blockchain. She is an insider, deeply embedded in the industry and with her finger closely on the pulse of the latest trends and challenges.

Though a deep believer in the disruptive potentials of AI, blockchain, the metaverse, and NFTs, Horlick is not an evangelist. Her focus as a speaker and consultant is on delineating the substance from the hype, and deftly identifying both the opportunities, limitations, and threats that these technologies present. Her goal is to enable audiences and companies to make informed decisions about exactly how their businesses can create value and tackle the challenges of these promising innovations. She provides detailed case studies of both successful and unsuccessful projects to shed light on what works and what doesn’t.

Horlick also has a particular interest in digital fine art and the NFT market and writes bi-monthly columns for gallery Unit London. Her writing addresses topics including the rise of AI in art, using NFTs to improve provenance and establish authenticity, and distinguishing between digital fine art and other NFT use cases. In addition to her background in blockchain, Horlick is an experienced communications expert and a vivid storyteller. She has worked as a PR executive for Portland Communications, and a multi-media journalist, writing for publications such as The Sunday Times and producing award-winning documentaries.

Blackwood was born out of her frustration that the growth and adoption of revolutionary tech were being stunted by a lack of clear and relatable expert guidance. As well as providing powerful insights into the possibilities of the metaverse, Horlick suffuses her talks with gripping anecdotes from her on-the-ground experience in the wild world of blockchain, most recently, for instance, staying with bitcoin-mining cow herds in the Caucus mountains.