Viktor Mayer‑Schönberger

Viktor Mayer‑Schönberger is a leading voice on artificial intelligence, big data governance, and digital regulation. As Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, Viktor has spent decades exploring how data and digital technologies reshape our economies, institutions, and daily decision-making. His keynote talks provide clear, thought-provoking insights into the challenges and opportunities AI presents—from algorithmic bias and decision automation to data ethics and regulatory frameworks. With a rare ability to bridge academic depth and accessible language, Viktor speaks directly to global audiences navigating the rapid acceleration of digital technologies.

Born in Austria in 1966, Viktor’s early success in national programming contests and the International Physics Olympiad led him to launch Ikarus Software at just 20 years old. The company’s flagship product, Virus Utilities, became Austria’s best-selling software, and in 1991 he was named Top-5 Software Entrepreneur in Austria. After earning law degrees from the University of Salzburg and Harvard, as well as an MSc from the London School of Economics, Viktor taught for nearly a decade at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He later held a senior post at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School before joining Oxford in 2010. His interdisciplinary background—spanning law, economics, and information science—continues to shape his world-renowned work on AI and data governance.

Viktor is the author of 11 books and over 100 academic papers, with many translated into multiple languages. His best-known titles include Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, co-authored with Kenneth Cukier and shortlisted for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year. His influential book Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age won both the Marshall McLuhan Award and the Don K. Price Award, and helped inspire the EU’s “right to be forgotten.” His most recent work, Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of AI, examines how humans can retain agency and ethical control in an increasingly automated world.

As a speaker, Viktor has addressed international audiences from IBM, Microsoft, and SAP to major government agencies and policy bodies. He’s a regular commentator in the New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist, BBC, and WIRED, and has advised Angela Merkel’s cabinet, the World Economic Forum, and Fortune 500 companies on the future of technology and data regulation. Every keynote Viktor delivers is tailored to the audience, offering not just academic insight but actionable ideas for navigating AI and the data economy with clarity, responsibility, and foresight.