Michael Chase, AI keynote speaker.Keynotes for rooms that decide things.
Michael has spoken at CES and SXSW, three times at NRF Big Show, five times at the Digital Signage Expo, on a two-year cross-Canada tour for Canada Post, to YPO and MacKay CEO Forums, and in leadership rooms where the audience is twelve people and a decision. The talk changes every time. The standard does not: the room leaves with something it can act on Monday.
Next: TiECon Canada 2026, Ottawa · 30 Oct 2026
The trailer
Will AI Kill All Humans?
Two minutes on what has been happening, cut for the keynote at TiECon Canada 2026, Ottawa, 30 October, 10:45. As posted by TiE Ottawa.
On stage
Watch Michael in the room.
Hosting the fireside with venture capitalist John Ruffolo at TiE Toronto's Spirit Awards.
TiECon Canada 2024, Richcraft Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa, 8 November 2024. Michael's segment, from the event film. The full keynote is being cut by TiE. Watch on YouTube
Full keynote: Print in a Digital World, Think INSIDE the Box Direct Marketing Conference, The Carlu, Toronto, 25 October 2016. 35 minutes, published by St. Joseph Communications. Watch on YouTube
Real rooms
Where the talks happen.
Photographs from the stages, added as they surface from the archive.
Dates
On the calendar, and on the record.
Dated where the archive has given up the date. CES and SXSW are still being dug out.
- 30 Oct 2026
- 8 Nov 2024TiECon Canada 2024, Richcraft Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa. Keynote, on the year the theme was Disruptive Entrepreneurship: AI and Emerging Technologies. Watch the segment above. Returning to the same room on 30 Oct 2026.
- 2024TiE Toronto Spirit Awards. Hosted the fireside with venture capitalist John Ruffolo. The reel above.
- 2013 to 2024Google, internal and customer events. Many, from the St. Joseph years through Deloitte.
- 2023Deloitte leadership and clients, Chile. Santiago. The furthest south the work has taken him, and the same argument in a different market.
- 2023RBC innovation event, Toronto. Keynote, while at Deloitte.
- 2022 to 2025YPO chapters and MacKay CEO Forums. Every year, delivered with Deloitte. The rooms where the audience is a dozen owners and a decision.
- 2008 to 2018NRF Big Show, New York. Three appearances.
- 2008 to 2017Digital Signage Expo, Las Vegas. Five appearances.
- 2016 and 2017C2 Montréal, in the round. Twice, in the Cirque du Soleil big top.
- 25 Oct 2016Think INSIDE the Box Direct Marketing Conference, The Carlu, Toronto. Print in a Digital World keynote and trend report launch. Full talk above.
- 2015 and 2016Canada Post cross-Canada tour, eleven cities each year. Print in a Digital World, to some of the biggest companies in Canada.
- 25 Nov 2013Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Presented and launched a St. Joseph trend report on the convergence of new and traditional media, alongside Kirstine Stewart, then Head of Twitter Canada.
- OngoingCorporate events and private briefings. Countless, from town halls to boardrooms.
In motion
Five rooms, one voice.
Arena, launch hall, in the round, front edge and close-up.
The talks
Eight titles. One flagship.
Every talk is rebuilt for the audience in front of it. The lengths are starting points.
Main stage Will AI Kill All Humans? or Fasten Your Seatbelts · Board meeting Superintelligence, Minus the Hype · Leadership offsite Exquisite Corpse · Investor day or family office Show Me the Multiples · Plant and operations leaders Rehearse in Software. Build in Steel. · Marketing teams Brand Is the Last Moat
- 01
Will AI Kill All Humans?
From Terminator to The Matrix to the monster you are already building.
No. And the honest answer is duller and much closer to home. Terminator and The Matrix both imagine a single coherent intelligence that wakes up and decides. Mary Shelley got closer in 1818: her monster was not evil by design, it was mismatched parts assembled by someone who never stepped back to look at the whole. That is what most companies are building right now, one department at a time, one fold at a time. The talk runs the arc from the films to the frontier labs to the thing already walking around your own business, and leaves the room knowing which fold it has to go back and open.
- 02
Fasten Your Seatbelts
The map. Where AI is taking the market in the next eighteen months, across the models, the agents, the money and the factories. Who is already there, and what it cost them. Real examples, no slideware. You leave with that map and the three moves your company makes this quarter.
- 03
Exquisite Corpse
In 1925 the surrealists invented a parlour game. One person draws a head, folds the paper, passes it on. The next draws a torso without seeing the head. The third draws the legs. Unfold it and you have a monster. That is how most companies are deploying AI right now: finance on one tool, creative on another, operations on a third, IT approving a fourth, and nobody sharing context, memory or outputs. The AI does not know what the AI is doing. This talk names the condition, shows the shadow AI and vendor lock-in making it worse, and lays out the designed alternative: one knowledge backbone, one context model, bridges into the systems you already run, and someone accountable for the whole body. The surrealists made their monster on purpose. You made yours by accident. The room leaves with a one-page map of its own monster and the first joint to fix.
- 04
Kill the Pilot
Why 2026 is the year proofs of concept die and production begins. The companies that crossed all hit the same wall: data in eleven places, nobody owning the workflow end to end, a sign-off from someone who never watched the tool run. They crossed anyway, because the software stopped waiting to be asked. Agents now hold context, use the systems you already run and finish the work. This talk names the pattern, maps where agents earn their keep and where they fail, and hands you a ninety-day test you can run yourself. You leave knowing which workflow goes first and who owns the outcome.
- 05
Show Me the Multiples
AI as a capital allocation problem. Compute, energy, data and distribution are the four scarce things, and the market is still learning who captures value and who rents it. A capital strategist's read on the market for people who have to put money somewhere. You walk out able to ask which layer a company actually owns.
- 06
Rehearse in Software. Build in Steel.
Plants that practise in software before they change on the floor. Michael developed the Nvidia digital-twin work for the BMW and Mercedes-Benz EV plants. This talk is what that work taught him about simulation, sensing and the plants that will run themselves. Plant leaders go home with a shortlist of decisions to rehearse first.
- 07
Superintelligence, Minus the Hype
A plain-language session on frontier models: what is real, what is marketing, what the labs are actually racing toward, and the decisions a board can no longer defer. Built for directors who are asked to govern a technology they are told is moving too fast to govern. It is not. The board leaves with the five questions to put to management at the next meeting, and a deck it can keep.
- 08
Brand Is the Last Moat
When agents do the shopping and content costs nothing, brand is what is left. One of Forbes' 100 most-followed CMOs, and the man who built Cup of Jo into a franchise with millions of views, on what still moves people, what the feed did to attention, and how to organise a marketing team now that the medium has an opinion. The team leaves with a way to rebuild its own production system around a point of view.
Formats
Pick the shape of the room.
What every booking includes
A briefing call before the event, so the talk is built for this audience and its numbers rather than recycled. A deck that survives being shared afterwards. Open Q&A for as long as the room wants it. Michael stays for the conversation after.
In person or virtual. Michael travels from Toronto.
Questions
What programmers ask about Michael Chase.
What does Michael Chase speak about?
Where AI is taking the market and what to do about it this quarter. Eight titled talks: Will AI Kill All Humans?, Fasten Your Seatbelts, Exquisite Corpse, Kill the Pilot, Show Me the Multiples, Rehearse in Software. Build in Steel., Superintelligence, Minus the Hype, and Brand Is the Last Moat.
What is Will AI Kill All Humans?
The flagship keynote. From Terminator to The Matrix to the monster you are already building: why the fear of one coherent intelligence is the wrong fear, and why the assembled system nobody designed is the real one. Next date: TiECon Canada 2026 in Ottawa, 30 October 2026, keynote at 10:45.
What is Fasten Your Seatbelts?
The market map: where AI is taking the market in the next eighteen months, who is already there, and the three moves your company makes this quarter.
What formats are available?
A keynote of 45 to 60 minutes with open Q&A, a moderated fireside of 30 to 45 minutes, a board briefing of 60 to 90 minutes inside the meeting, or a half-day executive session with a leadership team. In person or virtual.
How do I book Michael Chase?
Use the booking form or email michael@luxthink.com with the date, audience, format and what you want the room to walk out believing. Michael replies within one business day, usually proposing a short briefing call. A date check by email is fine.
Where has Michael Chase spoken?
CES, SXSW, NRF Big Show in New York (three times), the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas (five times), Google's internal and customer events, a two-year, eleven-city cross-Canada speaking tour for Canada Post to some of the biggest companies in Canada, TiE Toronto and C2 Montréal in the round. He has taught at Deloitte University, the firm's internal school, and at the Deloitte Greenhouse for client teams, and has spoken to leadership groups including YPO and MacKay CEO Forums, plus countless corporate events. The cities include New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, Orlando, Scottsdale and Cleveland in the United States, London, Singapore and Hong Kong, Santiago, and cities coast to coast across Canada. Next: TiECon Canada 2026 in Ottawa.
Where is Michael Chase based, and does he travel?
Toronto, Canada. He speaks in person anywhere and runs virtual keynotes and executive sessions.
Is there a speaker kit?
Yes. Bios at three lengths, an MC introduction, photos and the talk titles are on the speaker kit page. There is also a one-page PDF.
How much does Michael Chase charge for a keynote?
There is no published rate card. Fees are quoted per engagement after a short briefing call and depend on the format (keynote, fireside, board briefing or half-day executive session), in person or virtual, and travel from Toronto. The booking form has an optional budget range so Michael can suggest the right format. Replies within one business day.
Does Michael Chase do board briefings and virtual sessions?
Yes. Superintelligence, Minus the Hype runs 60 to 90 minutes inside the board meeting, after a call with the chair or CEO, and the board keeps the deck. Keynotes and executive sessions run in person or virtual.
Does Michael Chase work with speaker bureaus?
Yes. Bureaus, conference programmers and media producers can use the booking form or email michael@luxthink.com for fee ranges and holds. The speaker kit has bios at three lengths, an MC introduction and photos.
Book
Tell Michael about the room.
Date, audience, format and what you want them to walk out believing.
Replies within one business day