Meet the OEB26 Speakers: Carissa Véliz

We are pleased to welcome Carissa Véliz as a keynote speaker for the OEB 2026 Opening Plenary. As Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, Carissa brings a critical perspective on the relationship between technology, ethics and human agency.
Her work examines how AI and digital technologies shape society, and why questions of trust, judgement and responsibility become increasingly important as these systems become more powerful.

What was your first thought about this year’s conference theme, “Sovereign Learning: Trust, Agency & the Education Reset”?

At a time when recent metrics like PISA suggest that education levels are going down, when professors attest to the difficulties of students in tasks like reading and writing, and when AI in the form of large language models provide the possibility for students to externalise learning, it is fundamental to ask ourselves how we can make sure that young and future generations retain the necessary skills to run society and thrive in it. The theme made me think about how agency and education are related: AI is not only jeopardising education, but also robbing us individually and collectively of agency that, upon reflection, we might be wise to retain.

If you could look ahead to the year 2046, what do you envision learning will be driven by?

I am no prophet, and therefore make no predictions. That said, my sense is that human beings today are not all that different from what they were a century ago. Personal interaction and reading are the bedrock of learning, a century ago as much as today, and given the evidence showing that people learn better in person and from books than from screens, if we do things right, personal interaction and reading are likely to still be the bedrock of learning.

What are you looking forward to the most at this year’s OEB?

The Q&A! I always enjoy and learn so much from people’s questions.

Thank you, Carissa! Carissa Véliz will be speaking at the OEB 2026 Opening Plenary “Sovereign Learning: Trust, Agency & the Education Reset” on Thursday, 3 December.


Carissa Véliz’s latest book, Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI, explores how our relationship with prediction, technology and decision-making is changing. Discover more about her work here.