With more than 20 years of leadership experience, Kieran has held senior positions including Chief AI Officer, CIO, and CTO across multiple international organizations. He is widely recognized as a trusted authority on automation, data strategy, and the future of work — guiding executives on how to use emerging technologies to drive sustainable growth.
As a leading artificial intelligence speaker, Kieran has delivered keynote sessions and advisory talks around the world, helping businesses navigate the complexities of AI adoption with clarity and confidence. His insights blend deep technical understanding with commercial acumen, offering a rare perspective on how intelligent systems can redefine business performance.
In this exclusive interview with The AI Speakers Agency, Kieran discusses the misconceptions surrounding AI, the ethical responsibilities of tech leaders, and the mindset businesses need to succeed in a data-driven world.
Q: You've built a remarkable career in artificial intelligence and technology. Can you share how your journey into this field first began?
Kieran Gilmurray: "Realistically, this started about 25 years ago, if not even 30 years ago. At university, when I was there, there weren't really computers, and the computers that were there were not exactly great. I remember typing and typing and typing and not having a clue about how to do saving.
"So you can imagine trying to write essays on one of the first computers that came into Manchester University wasn't the most fun thing in the world.
"But it sort of sparked an interest because you were looking at something there that really was the future at the time. And it wasn't until a couple of years later, when I went and taught English abroad, that I started to see customer records.
"Then you start sort of thinking, oh my goodness, hold on, we should be going into databases because we should be making far more use of our customer data to allow us to actually make better decisions and work.
"I remembered computers and then I put computers and databases together and went and did a Masters at Queen's University in Belfast. Not oddly enough, as you can imagine, my dissertation was on databases and coding and something else.
"I was doing a tech Masters and then got into computer coding, then got into automation. A couple of years later it was, no, actually, we've got the insight and we've got the computing technology and the automation that we need, but what about the foresight?
"I was fortunate to come across a company in England who were doing a lot of predictive analytics, and then you could start to see, oh my goodness, if we know what's happening and why it's happening and what might happen, and actually what can we do about it to get the results that we want, then as businesses we can turn something extraordinary into place.
"I did all that and ended up over the years being a CTO, a CIO, a Head of Process Excellence, a Chief AI Officer. And I've just been in that space ever since. So now I want great automation, great technology, great insight, and great foresight.
"Once you put those things together with financial literacy or some form of business acumen, and you keep your eye on the end goal, particularly focusing on what the customers want, then you can have a much better decision than any other business.
"So far it's worked out all right because any of the businesses I work with, when they do all of those things, become really fun places to work where there are a lot of high-performing teams able to use technology rather than the robot being in them. We take the robot out and just make things very profitable, very efficient, and a lot of fun."
Q: AI is shaping every industry at pace. What's the biggest misconception about it that you encounter in your work with businesses?
Kieran Gilmurray: "Yeah, there are so many misconceptions now because it's reached what I would describe as, you know, an inflated point of hype. The biggest one is that AI can do everything. And interestingly, I'm just off a consulting call a second ago because I tend to teach, I tend to talk, I tend to consult — big and small.
"I think that's a lot more effective once you can set strategy that works in the real world when rubber hits road. And then when you're able to actually implement it, you just come up with a much more effective person or role or function. But it can't do everything.
"You know, it's a tool in your toolkit. It's an amazing tool. And if you use that tool in the right lock, for want of a better phrase, then the world opens up — to more efficiency, more creativity, more innovativeness, more productivity, higher sales, higher ROI, reduced operating costs.
"The multiplier effect of using this technology is immense. But if you use it in the wrong circumstances, the cost effect multiplies over and over again. Rather than doing as I discovered recently when I was chairing a conference for some of the biggest CTOs and CIOs in the world — one had 223 what they confidently described as proof of concepts, what I confidently redescribed as proofs of cost — because there was nothing of any business benefit that was going to come out.
"So as long as you know what you're doing, AI is a great tool amongst other great tools. It's a brilliant one, I should say. And if you put a great tool with a great person, you can normally get a better result as long as you point everyone in the right business, outcome-based direction."
Q: From your experience, what do the most successful businesses get right about AI that others often overlook?
Kieran Gilmurray: "Yeah, the ultimate thing is actually an end goal that turns into pounds, pennies, pence, or dollars or yen, or whatever else it is. We're in business to make money. I accept third-party companies, charities and others aim to be more efficient, make better use of money and everything else, but we're looking for some form of economic return or output.
"Those businesses that put AI to the right use — they will win. Those leaders who act as, I describe, lighthouse leaders — in other words, they lead the way, they're a shining light as to what works and what doesn't work. AI tied to strategy to help build or better deliver business strategy — more profitably, more economically, more operationally focused.
"Those businesses that focus on their people and innovation, and in this day and age, agility, but always maintaining the focus on ROI — those who build a great AI strategy or tech strategy with a brilliant people strategy, with a great change management strategy, all focused on delivering a really good business strategy — will tend to win.
"But ultimately, remember, it's not about getting distracted by the tooling or the policies or the capability or the data or anything else. It's those that focus maniacally on their customers — what they want and delivering that in an agile, least-friction way. Something that excites and delights the customer where needed.
"When I've got my customers, my staff, my leadership team and everyone all focused in the right direction, doing what everybody should consider valuable, meaningful work, then I can get the business ROI or the outcomes that I want.
"You'd be amazed — that's not the most numerous amount of ingredients, but you'd be surprised at how many people ignore their customers, get focused internally, or run their staff into the ground and then introduce more change that they don't explain.
"You'd be amazed at how many companies get lost in all of the tech and all of the things that are happening in the world and forget the basics. In other words, we need to make more money than we spend in the long term to make sure we actually survive.
"So, if you can get the simple things right — and those are reasonably simple, though complex to install and to get working — if you do all those things: customer, staff, and business ROI, then you haven't gone too far wrong at all."
Q: Ethical AI is a major talking point. Why do you believe it's so crucial to the future of technology?
Kieran Gilmurray: "For so many reasons. Look, we're going to get judged every day by our staff, our customers, and most importantly by ourselves, to say, "Look, whether what we're doing is actually right or wrong." And let's be honest, we do know — I hope to God we do know — what is right and what is wrong.
"AI now — there are so many things that I can see that, by analysing great big data sets, we can use it in questionable ways. Let me give you an example. A number of years ago, I was working in an insurance brokerage. We could tell with a 95% certainty whether someone would come or go based on their price elasticity, which is a fancy name for saying if we up or down your price by a certain percentage, will you react or not?
"When you combine AI insight like that with other insight — for example, neuro-linguistic programming or behavioural science — all AI, all pattern-based, all data-based — then you probably know more about people than they do about themselves. And then you have the responsibility and the accountability to determine what you do with that.
"If I were to look at staff data without telling them, I could pretty much work out who's saying what to whom, who's connected to whom, who's going to go or not — but where is the privacy in that? I could manipulate customers should I wish, using NLP data and all those types of things. We could make decisions using AI that might involve biased data. The things that can go wrong — the things that you could do — all are possible.
"There are some naughty examples. One, let's say without naming them too much, is in a recent book by their ex-global PR person, who was able to describe how AI could identify very quickly young girls who put pictures up onto a particular social platform, then take them down because research has proven they're not confident about themselves or their looks. The next minute, AI is collecting all that data, packaging it up and selling it off to makeup advertisers.
"From a business perspective, isn't that wonderful — you can gain huge competitive advantage and sell a lot of product and advertising. But really, from a moral perspective, if it was your niece, your daughter, your sister, your aunt, your mother — would you do it?
"So I think ultimately we have tremendous power in our hands to get great insight, great foresight, to combine databases and things together that can define us more than anything. The question is — can you look yourself in the mirror at the end of the night and say, actually, look, I did really well today but I didn't harm anyone. I know right from wrong. I did the right thing by business, my customers, my staff, myself.
"If I can do that, then fantastic. Not all of us can do that, I'm sure, and not all businesses are as reputable as we have seen over the last number of years — that's why there are rules in place: body rules, association rules, local country rules, European legal systems. So if you don't judge yourself, someone else quite rightly will.
"Let's hope we do the right thing, because AI can allow us to achieve so much more than putting our best brains on the planet to work out thumbs up and thumbs down emojis. Let's hope we actually apply this great science to solving some of society's greatest problems — as opposed to targeting young girls with extra makeup if they're not quite feeling at their best today."
This exclusive interview with Kieran Gilmurray was conducted by The Champions Speakers Agency.
Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
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