Michelle K. Lee
Michelle K. Lee is a globally recognized AI futurist and former AWS and Google executive helping leaders turn AI into real business impact.
Why book Michelle K. Lee for your next event
- Michelle translates complex AI and GenAI into clear business strategies that drive productivity, growth, and measurable ROI across industries.
- With senior leadership experience from AWS, Google, and government, she brings rare insight into both innovation and responsible AI governance.
- Her keynotes combine Silicon Valley depth with board-level relevance, equipping leaders to act decisively in an AI-driven world.
Non-binding request for Michelle K. Lee
Futurist, AI Strategist, Former AWS VP & Google Executive
Michelle K. Lee is a sought-after AI keynote speaker, technology strategist, and leadership advisor with a career shaped at the center of innovation. As the former Vice President of the Machine Learning Solutions Lab at Amazon Web Services and a senior executive at Google during its formative years, Michelle has helped shape how some of the world’s most influential organizations use data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Today, as Founder and CEO of Obsidian Strategies, she advises executives and boards on how to identify and implement AI initiatives that deliver the highest return on investment while balancing opportunity, risk, and responsibility.
Michelle K. Lee and the Business of AI
Michelle K. Lee has spent her career building and advising data-driven organizations where AI is core to strategy and execution. At Amazon Web Services, she led the Machine Learning Solutions Lab, guiding global clients on how to apply AI, GenAI, and machine learning to real-world business challenges. Her work focused on increasing productivity, improving customer experiences, and driving revenue, not experimentation for its own sake. This practical orientation makes her keynotes especially relevant for leaders looking to move from ambition to action.
From Silicon Valley to Global Influence
Before AWS, Michelle spent eight years as an executive at Google during a period of rapid growth and innovation. Her time in Silicon Valley gives her a deep understanding of how breakthrough technologies scale, how culture influences innovation, and why leadership decisions matter when technology moves fast. These experiences allow Michelle to speak with authority on digital transformation, innovation, and the future of work, grounded in lessons learned inside some of the most influential technology organizations.
Founder of Obsidian Strategies
As Founder and CEO of Obsidian Strategies, known as “Architects for AI-Driven Strategies,” Michelle works with Fortune companies to identify their most valuable AI opportunities. Her approach is structured, outcome-focused, and aligned with business priorities. She helps leadership teams understand where AI can create advantage, how to deploy it responsibly, and how to organize teams and governance models to support long-term success. Her advisory work bridges strategy, technology, and execution.
Leadership, Governance, and Responsible AI
Michelle brings a rare combination of private-sector innovation and public-sector leadership. As the presidentially appointed Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, she led a 200-year-old organization of more than 10,000 people through an agency-wide AI strategy. By applying AI and data analytics, she improved the quality, speed, and consistency of patent decisions. At AWS, she also served as the founding business executive lead for responsible AI efforts, addressing policy, regulatory, and ethical considerations tied to AI services and applications.
Trusted Voice to Boards and Policymakers
Michelle K. Lee is a frequent speaker on AI, digital transformation, leadership, and board governance. She has spoken at the World Knowledge Forum, South by Southwest, CES, Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Conference, and the National Association of Corporate Directors. She is a member of the MIT Corporation and serves as a board director, giving her firsthand insight into the questions boards are asking about AI risk, oversight, and value creation. She has testified before Congress around ten times and is regularly featured in leading media for her expertise.
Book Michelle K. Lee for Your Event
When you book Michelle K. Lee for your event, audiences gain clarity on how AI is reshaping industries right now and what leaders must do next. Her keynotes are strategic, candid, and grounded in experience from the front lines of innovation. Michelle equips executives, boards, and senior teams with the confidence and frameworks needed to lead in an AI-driven future where technology, responsibility, and business results must move forward together.
Keynotes
Keynote by speaker Michelle K. Lee:
AI: THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE AND PRACTICAL AND 7 LESSONS FOR IMPLEMENTING AI IN YOUR COMPANY
AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our generation. Computers can now create, “see,” “hear,” predict, and perform a wide variety of human tasks.
Recent developments in AI (including generative AI, computer vision, machine learning, and robotics) will impact every business and aspect of our lives with both positive and negative effects. As a result, every organization needs to ask itself, what is its AI strategy?
Michelle Lee has spent her career advising some of our country’s most innovative AI/data-driven companies (Amazon and Google), which gives her unique perspectives on the applications of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. In this engaging talk, Michelle cuts through the hype and brings the high-level talk down to reality with concrete examples and recommended actions.
Audiences will come away with the 7 lessons for AI implementation that can help their companies increase operational efficiencies, enhance customer experiences, and generate new revenue.
Keynote by speaker Michelle K. Lee:
REAL IMPLICATIONS OF GENERATIVE AI: THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF AI AND HOW TO PREPARE FOR AN AI-CENTRIC WORLD
AI is powerfully transforming virtually every aspect of our business and personal lives including the way we analyze data, make predictions, generate content, delight our customers, grow revenue and increase operational efficiencies. However, there are challenges to using generative AI for organizations in terms of accuracy, copyright, bias, regulations, and more.
Just because something can be achieved by AI doesn’t mean it should. Based upon her unique multi-disciplinary experiences from the top levels of technology, business, law and government, Michelle Lee shares with her audience concrete examples of incredibly powerful business applications of AI, some associated risks, and how to balance the two to lead organizations to leverage responsible, reliable and trustworthy AI applications.
For this thought-provoking yet practical talk, Michelle Lee draws upon her experiences as a technologist and AI expert who has spent her career building and advising the most innovative AI/data-driven companies like Amazon and Google, her time as a top-ranked governmental official (Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office) and her experiences as a lawyer and policy maker to examine the practical implications of Generative AI for organizations.
Audiences will come away understanding where to lean-in on AI and Generative AI, where not to, and how to leverage AI for competitive advantage.
Michelle Lee Keynote
Watch Michelle K. Lee in action!
