Immersive Futurist, AI Thought Leader & Storyteller; Award-Winning XR Creator
Karen Palmer Biography
Karen Palmer is a Black British XR creator, futurist, and TED speaker whose work explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, immersive storytelling, neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and social justice. Palmer develops emotionally responsive film experiences that use AI and facial recognition technology to adapt narratives in real time based on a participant's eye gaze and emotional state. Her projects examine the implications of AI bias, surveillance technologies, and digital inequality, transforming viewers into active participants in their own stories.
Palmer's background in parkour and freerunning informs her philosophy of moving through fear and rewiring subconscious behavior. Her early interactive project, "Syncself," combined film, technology, and parkour to explore how media can respond to human emotion. This foundation led to "RIOT," an emotionally responsive, live-action film that uses AI and facial recognition to place participants inside a riot scenario, prompting them to confront implicit biases. "RIOT" was recognized as part of Columbia University's Digital Dozen: Breakthroughs in Storytelling and has been exhibited at institutions including V&A London, Museum of Modern Art Peru, and PHI Centre Montreal, with coverage in The Guardian and Forbes.
Following "RIOT," Palmer created "Perception iO," an AI law enforcement training simulation and facial emotion detection experience that interrogates bias in AI systems and the need for transparency and regulation. The work was exhibited at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York as part of the Face Values: Exploring Artificial Intelligence exhibition, and received an Honorary Mention for the STARTS Prize at Ars Electronica. Palmer also developed "Consensus Gentium," commissioned by BFI, which won the XR Experience Competition at SXSW. Designed for smartphones, the film branches in real time based on the participant's eye gaze and emotions, fostering discussion about data privacy, unconscious bias, and AI governance. It has been shown at London Film Festival, Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan, Geneva International Film Festival, Munich Film Festival, and Ars Electronica in Austria.
As an international speaker, Palmer has delivered keynotes at venues and institutions including MIT, AT&T Shape Conference, Wired for Wonder Festival in Australia, TEDx Australia at the Sydney Opera House, Microsoft in Seattle, and Google Cultural Institute in Paris. She founded Hack the Future Labs, interdisciplinary think-and-action tanks that integrate art, neuroscience, technology, activism, and social justice to help individuals and organizations build new narratives. Palmer's work has been featured in Wired, Fast Company, CBS News, Channel 4 News, BBC News, and The Guardian. Through her projects, Palmer challenges audiences to engage with the futures shaped by emerging technologies and to claim agency within them.
Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on Karen Palmer and other top speakers and celebrities.
Karen Palmer Speaking Topics
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Imagining the Future of Corporate Clients' Businesses
For corporate clients Palmer can envisage a new narrative for the future or their business, through a culture and global lens, to enable them to be optimally prepared for the Future. The objective is to inspire the Leadership Team to start to imagine the business's future for themselves.
Palmer has delivered these with great success to clients such as Vertex Leadership Summit (Berlin), NBC Universal DigiFest (London), TomTom (Data &AI Summit), ThoughtWorks Leadership Conference (Canada) to name a few.
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Hack the Future Labs
In the time where she comes from they use the power of storytelling to envisage strategies of liberation. Empowering people to not just imagine alternative futures, but create the tools, networks, and open source tech to full-fill the visions.
Karen Palmer is currently in your time developing this blueprint now, titled "Hack the Future Labs," Think and Action Tanks at the intersection of Art, Neuroscience, Technology, Activism, Social Justice, Spirituality, and the Parkour Philosophy of moving through Fear.
Palmer shares her new immersive emotionally responsive film experience "Consensus Gentium." The film that watches you back using AI and facial detection technology to enable the participant to become conscious of their subconscious behavior.
The Talk Take away will be:
- A call to action that will inspire the audience to activate their agency.
Hack the Futures Workshop
These Labs are designed to facilitate breakthroughs regarding creative practice, business strategy, ideas blockages or any other challenges. By enabling the team to become aware of limiting subconscious beliefs and harness the power of storytelling to create new narratives and develop the building blocks to actualize them in reality.
Karen Palmer Videos
Karen Palmer - Tech Futurist, Expert on Machine Learning Bias, AI
An award-winning XR creator and futurist, Karen Palmer has quickly become one of the hottest keynote speakers on machine learning bias and the...
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How do I book Karen Palmer to speak at my event?
Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like Karen Palmer for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for Karen Palmer, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for Karen Palmer or any other speaker of your choice. -
What are the speaker fees for Karen Palmer
Speaking fees for Karen Palmer, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fees to book Karen Palmer are $10,000 - $20,000 for live events and $10,000 - $20,000 for virtual events. For the most current speaking fee to hire Karen Palmer, click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent. -
What topics does Karen Palmer speak about?
Karen Palmer is a keynote speaker and industry expert whose speaking topics include Anti-Racism, Art & Design, Artificial Intelligence, Black Heritage, Black History Month, Civil Rights, College, Disruptive Thinking, Diversity & Inclusion, Ethics & Integrity, Female Leadership, Futurism, Innovation, LGBTQ, Modern Media, Social Activism, Social Justice, Storytelling, Technology, TED, Television & Film, Thought Leadership, Virtual Reality, Women in Business, Workshop -
Where does Karen Palmer travel from?
Karen Palmer generally travels from London, UK, but can be booked for private corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. For more details, please contact an AAE Booking agent. -
Who is Karen Palmer’s agent?
AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully booked keynote speakers like Karen Palmer for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Availability button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Karen Palmer for your next private or corporate function. -
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AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host Karen Palmer or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us. -
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Karen Palmer is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Imagining the Future of Corporate Clients' Businesses, Hack the Future Labs, The Future Crashes into our Present and Popular Speaking Themes. The estimated speaking fee range to book Karen Palmer for your event is $10,000 - $20,000. Karen Palmer generally travels from London, UK and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Mutale Nkonde, Zack Kass, Andrew Busch, Alex Salkever and Ian Beacraft. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling Karen Palmer for an upcoming live or virtual event.
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