AI Keynote Speaker
& Speaking Topics
AI Keynotes for Companies & Conferences
Sharon Gai is an AI keynote speaker, author and former Alibaba executive based in New York City. She helps business audiences understand artificial intelligence and put it to work with practical examples and her Bee vs. Beekeeper framework.
Explore keynotes on generative AI and productivity, the future of work, AI leadership, agentic commerce, AI search visibility and responsible AI adoption. Presentations are tailored for corporate events, leadership meetings and association conferences, in person or virtually.
Signature AI Keynote
Generative AI & Productivity: How to Do More with Less Using AI
How can teams turn AI curiosity into useful daily work? In this practical keynote, Sharon Gai helps audiences identify where generative AI can support research, writing, analysis and customer-facing workflows—and where human judgment remains essential.
Using her Bee vs. Beekeeper framework and experience at Alibaba, Sharon explains how to move from doing every task yourself to directing, reviewing and improving AI-assisted work.
Best for: company-wide events, leadership offsites and association conferences.
Audience takeaways:
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Identify repeatable tasks that are suitable for an AI-assisted workflow.
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Apply a simple cycle: define the task, provide context, review the output and improve the process.
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Build adoption through practical habits, clear ownership and human checks.
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Measure useful outcomes such as time saved, quality and customer experience.
Why Sharon
Sharon Gai brings a former Alibaba executive’s perspective to AI, ecommerce and the future of work. She translates complex technology into clear business examples and practical questions leaders and teams can act on.
Based in New York City and available internationally, Sharon tailors her keynotes to the audience, industry and event goals. Her Bee vs. Beekeeper framework helps audiences rethink how they work with AI.
For hands-on implementation after a keynote, explore her AI training and AI adoption services.
Industry-specific AI Keynotes
Agentic Commerce & the Future of Retail
What changes when AI helps customers discover, compare and buy products? This keynote explains agentic commerce in plain language and explores what retailers, brands and payments businesses can do to prepare.
Drawing on her Alibaba experience, Sharon Gai connects the shift toward AI shopping assistants with product discovery, customer experience and commercial strategy. The focus is practical readiness, with a clear distinction between what tools can do today and what remains emerging.
Best for: retail and ecommerce conferences, brand leadership teams, marketplaces and payments events.
Audience takeaways:
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Understand how AI shopping agents can change discovery, comparison and checkout.
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Identify product information, availability and trust signals that support AI-assisted shopping.
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Assess where human choice, permissions and customer relationships still matter.
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Choose a focused pilot and define measures for customer experience and business value.
AI Agents at Work: Workflows with Human Oversight
How do you move from asking AI questions to using it in a repeatable business process? Sharon Gai explains how AI agents can support everyday work while people retain clear ownership of decisions and results.
This session translates agentic AI into practical workflow choices: what starts a task, which tools and information are available, how outputs are checked and when a person must approve the next step.
Best for: business leaders, operations teams and organizations moving beyond individual AI experiments.
Audience takeaways:
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Choose a manageable workflow for an AI-agent pilot.
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Define triggers, review checkpoints and stop rules.
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Set boundaries for access, costs and actions that need approval.
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Evaluate quality and business value before expanding the workflow.
AI Search & Brand Visibility: From SEO to AEO and GEO
How can brands stay discoverable as customers use AI-generated answers alongside traditional search? This keynote explains answer engine optimization (AEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) in business-friendly terms.
Sharon Gai explores how clear content, credible evidence, accessible websites and consistent brand information support discovery. Audiences learn how to assess their current presence and build a practical improvement plan without treating AI recommendations as something any brand can guarantee.
Best for: marketing leaders, brand and content teams, ecommerce businesses and growth conferences.
Audience takeaways:
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Understand the relationship between SEO, AEO and GEO.
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Answer customer questions with clear, useful and well-supported content.
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Connect brand expertise, product information and customer proof.
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Measure search visibility, referral traffic and qualified enquiries over time.
Responsible AI Adoption: AI Agent Security & Governance
What should an AI agent be allowed to do, and when should a person step in? This business-focused keynote helps leaders and employees think through trust, accountability and sensible boundaries as AI moves from generating answers to taking actions.
Sharon Gai explains everyday choices around approved tools, data access, review steps and ownership. The session gives business audiences a shared language for working with their security, legal and technology teams.
Best for: leadership meetings, company-wide AI adoption programs and business technology conferences.
Audience takeaways:
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Match access and permissions to the task being performed.
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Distinguish low-risk assistance from consequential actions requiring approval.
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Recognize risks such as misleading outputs, data leakage and hidden malicious instructions.
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Define an accountable owner, review process and escalation route for each pilot.
Future of Work
The Future of Work & Human Skills: What’s Left for Humans?
As AI changes the tasks people do, how should teams rethink their contribution? Sharon Gai explores the future of work through judgment, curiosity, creativity and responsibility.
This keynote helps audiences examine their own workflows, recognize changing skill requirements and use AI while continuing to develop their expertise.
Best for: employee conferences, professional associations and organizations preparing their workforce for AI.
Audience takeaways:
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Separate a job into tasks and identify where AI may help.
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Practice evaluating AI outputs instead of accepting them at face value.
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Strengthen communication, contextual judgment and problem definition.
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Create a practical learning plan for a changing workplace.
AI Leadership & Change Management: From Busy Bees to Beekeepers
AI adoption is a leadership challenge as well as a technology decision. Sharon Gai shows how leaders can help teams move from scattered experimentation toward useful, accountable ways of working with AI.
Her Bee vs. Beekeeper framework gives executives a practical way to rethink delegation, team responsibilities and review processes while supporting employees through change.
Best for: leadership offsites, executive conferences and HR or learning and development events.
Audience takeaways:
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Connect AI initiatives to a clear business problem and outcome.
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Clarify which tasks AI supports and who owns the result.
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Build confidence through communication, practice and feedback.
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Use pilot results to decide what to improve, expand or stop.
AI Skills & Career Adaptability: Generalist or Specialist?
What should professionals learn as AI changes how work gets done? Sharon Gai explores how deep expertise and broad curiosity can work together in an AI-enabled workplace.
This career-focused keynote helps audiences identify transferable strengths, test new tools thoughtfully and build a habit of continuous learning.
Best for: professional associations, talent development programs and career conferences.
Audience takeaways:
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Identify the expertise that helps you evaluate AI-generated work.
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Connect knowledge across functions to solve business problems.
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Choose learning experiments linked to your actual responsibilities.
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Build a practical plan for adapting as tools and roles evolve.
Ecommerce and Retail
AI in Retail & Ecommerce: Customer Experience and Growth
Where can AI make a useful difference in the customer journey? Drawing on her Alibaba experience, Sharon Gai explores practical applications across product discovery, personalization, merchandising and customer service.
Best for: retail, ecommerce, brand and customer experience conferences.
Audience takeaways:
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Identify customer problems worth addressing with AI.
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Evaluate opportunities across discovery, service and marketing workflows.
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Balance useful personalization with customer trust and human support.
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Define a focused pilot with clear measures of value.
Retail Innovation: Lessons from China’s Digital Commerce
What can global brands learn from China’s digital commerce ecosystems? Sharon Gai draws on her experience at Alibaba to explore social commerce, livestreaming, marketplace strategy and the connection between content and shopping.
Best for: global brands, retail leaders and international business events.
Audience takeaways:
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Understand how content, community and commerce connect in digital ecosystems.
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Assess which ideas may translate to your customers and market.
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Evaluate platform strategies without assuming one market’s model fits every business.
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Turn lessons into a practical customer experience experiment.
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Check her availability
Sharon is available for virtual and in person presentations