Biography
Don Kilburg, Ph.D. is the Founder and CEO of Mind Leap Institute, helping individuals and organizations get AI adoption right — not just deploying tools, but building the mindsets and leadership capacity that make those tools actually perform. He is the author of AI Use Cases for Diplomats (Routledge, 2025) and Mind Leap: How to Think, Feel, and Flourish in the Age of AI (Routledge, forthcoming 2026). During his 21 years as a U.S. diplomat, he pioneered enterprise technology adoption across the diplomatic corps, developing AI use frameworks now embedded in government training programs and building tools that measurably expanded operational capacity. His work earned multiple State Department innovation awards. A U.S. Army veteran and experimental psychologist, Kilburg has briefed presidents, secretaries of state, and ambassadors. He directed strategic communications at embassies across Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Kilburg is based in Madrid and works with clients internationally.
Sessions
- AI For GoodPanelist
Panel 15 - Who's Really Deciding? Human Agency in the Age of AI
Wednesday 23 September, 13:00 – 13:40Panel StageAn algorithm nudges what your kid reads before bed. A hiring filter decides who a recruiter never sees. A health app flags what's wrong before your doctor does. None of this is speculative — it's this year's default UX. As AI mediates more of daily life — work, health, relationships, money, parenting — how much control do people actually keep, and how much do they just assume they still have? Voices from product, psychology, and policy separate where human agency genuinely holds from where it's already quietly gone. 40 minutes.
With Laura Sibony, Ana Peleteiro
- AI For GoodSpeaker
Panel 20 - Fair, Explainable, Accountable: Building Responsible AI in Production
Wednesday 23 September, 17:00 – 17:40Panel StageEvery company claims their AI is responsible — few can show the audit trail. Bias testing that catches real bias, explainability that survives a regulator's questions, and the governance structures that hold up when a customer, a journalist, or a lawsuit comes asking. Builders and compliance leads on what responsible AI looks like once it's not just a slide in the deck. 40 minutes.