Speaking & Media
Keynotes, panels, podcasts, and interviews on AI, cognition, diplomacy, and the human dimensions of technological change.
Keynote Speaking
Dr. Kilburg speaks on the psychological dimensions of AI adoption — why the hardest part of the AI revolution isn’t the technology, but the human. Drawing on three decades of experience across diplomacy, military service, and academia, he delivers keynotes that challenge audiences to rethink their relationship with AI and build the cognitive discipline to use it wisely.
Featured Keynote Topics
The AI Revolution Is Psychological
Why the real transformation isn’t technological — it’s cognitive. How judgment, trust, and expertise change when AI is embedded in decision-making, and what leaders must do to stay in command.
Your Organization Needs a Cognitive Strategy
The new professional discipline of managing your cognitive relationship with AI. What to think, what to delegate, what to verify, and what to protect — introduced through Mind Leap’s proprietary frameworks.
Hierarchy of Intelligence Governance
A three-layer governance framework for the age of AI — and why the middle layer, psychological governance, is the one that most organizations and governments leave entirely unaddressed.
AI and Diplomacy: Enhancing Global Engagement in the Age of AI
How AI is transforming diplomatic engagement, crisis management, and public diplomacy — drawn from 21 years of Foreign Service experience and the author of the first field guide on AI in foreign affairs.
Dr. Kilburg can keynote on any topic in this range and adjacent themes. For a deeper look at the ideas behind these talks, see his full collection of articles.
Interviews, Panels & Public Remarks
U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy
Synthetic Statecraft: Advocate, Don’t Fabricate
Prepared remarks for the ACPD virtual panel “AI-Powered PD: Navigating the New Frontier.” Dr. Kilburg argues we have entered the age of synthetic statecraft and proposes a clear operational rule for public diplomacy practitioners: AI must not be used to create or disseminate official government messaging that is intentionally false, misleading, or deceptive.
May 6, 2026
Public Diplomacy Council of America
How the World Sees the U.S. Matters: AI and Public Diplomacy
Panel discussion with Karl Stoltz and Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau on soft power, strategic communication, and AI in public diplomacy.
February 23, 2026
Kirnel of Truth with Kirn Braich
The Coming AI Tsunami
Podcast interview on the approaching wave of AI transformation and what it means for individuals and institutions.
December 15, 2025
FedGov Today with Francis Rose
AI Meets Diplomacy: How the State Department is Harnessing Tech to Shape Global Relations
Interview on AI adoption in the U.S. diplomatic corps and lessons for government agencies.
August 14, 2025
Earlier Appearances
Radio Media Metrics Kazakhstan (January 23, 2018)
Innovation, English Language and Cultural Identity — English & Russian, with interpreter
Watch on YouTube · Read Online
Synthesized Audio & Avatar
AI-generated adaptations of Dr. Kilburg’s writing and speaking.
A Unified Theory of the Cognitive Industrial Revolution
NotebookLM Podcast of Dr. Kilburg’s Essay
The Agricultural Revolution freed us from hunger; the Industrial Revolution freed us from physical toil; now AI is automating the mind itself. This podcast maps Jensen Huang’s trillion-dollar machine stack against the seven-layer human cognitive stack — and asks who is steering the feedback loop between them.
March 24, 2026
Mind Leap
NotebookLM Podcast of Dr. Kilburg’s Forthcoming Book
A thirteen-minute overview of Mind Leap: How to Think, Feel, and Flourish in the Age of AI. Explores distributed cognition, the cost of outsourcing judgment, and the triad of human capacities — iteration, discernment, and autonomy — that AI cannot replace.
May 19, 2026
AI Use Cases for Diplomats
Book Trailer — Delivered by Dr. Kilburg’s AI Avatar
A short introduction to AI Use Cases for Diplomats, the world’s first field manual on artificial intelligence and diplomacy — delivered, transparently, by an AI avatar of the author. From spotting early signs of unrest to processing visas while catching fraud, the book is a practical look at how AI is making diplomats more effective, not replacing them.
November 22, 2025
“The technology was never the hard part. The hard part was the human — whether the person using AI retained their judgment, their discernment, and their sense of purpose.”
“Most AI efforts focus on the technology. My work focuses on what the technology does to us.”
“The goal is not to slow AI adoption. It is to make it conscious — and to build the discipline that makes it wiser.”
Dr. Don Kilburg
Founder & CEO, Mind Leap Institute