Jamie Bartlett

Jamie Bartlett, Author, Researcher, Broadcaster and Speaker on Artificial Intelligence, Cybercrime and Digital Culture

• Sunday Times bestselling author of How to Talk to AI (And How Not To)
• Creator and presenter of the hit BBC podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen, investigating one of the largest cryptocurrency scams in history
• Author of The Dark Net, Radicals, The People Vs Tech
• Leading commentator on AI, cybercrime, online fraud, digital culture and the future of democracy
• Founder of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the think tank Demos
• Speaker known for combining investigative storytelling with sharp analysis of how technology is reshaping society

Speaking

Jamie Bartlett has spent much of his career exploring the parts of the internet most people never see. From online extremism and crypto scams to artificial intelligence, digital surveillance and fringe political movements, he has built a reputation as one of Britain’s most insightful interpreters of how technology changes human behaviour, power and society.

Today, artificial intelligence is a major focus of his work. His 2026 Sunday Times bestseller How to Talk to AI (And How Not To) examines how people can make better use of increasingly powerful AI systems without surrendering judgement, creativity or agency. Jamie cuts through both the hype and anxiety surrounding AI. He explores how large language models really behave, why the way we question them matters. For organisations trying to understand how AI fits into their business, he provides a very practical framework for thinking more clearly about both its opportunities and its limitations.

This perspective is grounded in more than fifteen years of research into technology and society. In 2010, Jamie founded the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos, where he pioneered the use of machine learning and large-scale social media analysis to understand political movements, extremism and changing patterns of online behaviour.

His speaking also draws extensively on his investigative work. Whether discussing Silicon Valley, cryptocurrency fraud, the dark web, digital political movements or scams worth billions, Jamie focuses on the people and incentives behind technological change.

For audiences in finance, insurance, cybersecurity and professional services, Jamie offers a particularly valuable perspective on how digital crime evolves. Fraud, identity theft and online scams adapt rapidly, exploiting new technologies and human vulnerabilities, while AI, deepfakes and automation are creating new challenges around identity, trust and verification.

Alongside keynote presentations, Jamie delivers practical AI masterclasses for corporate teams. Drawing on the research behind How to Talk to AI, these sessions explore how people can work more effectively with large language models, including asking better questions, recognising hallucinations and unreliable answers, challenging AI rather than merely accepting its output.

He has delivered keynote presentations for organisations including Google, American Express and J.P. Morgan, and regularly speaks at conferences, festivals and leadership events.

Speaker Topics

• Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work
• How to Talk to AI and Get Better Results
• AI, Trust and Human Judgement
• Cybercrime and the Future of Fraud
• Deepfakes, Misinformation and Digital Trust
• The Dark Net and Online Crime
• Cryptocurrency, Scams and Financial Crime
• Social Media, Algorithms and Political Power
• Technology, Democracy and Digital Society
• Online Extremism and Digital Movements

Why Book Jamie Bartlett?

Jamie Bartlett combines the investigative instincts of a journalist with more than fifteen years spent researching how technology changes human behaviour, business and society. From artificial intelligence and cybercrime to cryptocurrency fraud, social media and the dark web, he makes complex digital issues understandable to audiences at every level of a business without resort to either hype or alarmism.

His strength as a speaker is connecting emerging technology to its real-world consequences. Drawing on bestselling books, major BBC investigations and original research, Jamie helps audiences understand where genuine opportunities lie, where new risks are emerging, and the importance of human control as the technology becomes increasingly powerful.

Biography

Born in Kent and educated at Oxford and the London School of Economics, Jamie began his career researching online social movements and emerging digital cultures. In 2010, he founded the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos. The centre became an early pioneer in using social media analysis and machine learning to understand how online behaviour influences politics and public life. Long before social media was widely recognised as a force capable of reshaping elections, activism and extremism, Jamie was investigating how digital networks were changing the way ideas spread and movements grow.

His first book, The Dark Net, became an international bestseller and established him as a leading voice on internet subcultures and the hidden architecture of online life. The book took readers inside communities ranging from political extremists and hacktivists to cryptocurrency enthusiasts and darknet marketplaces, examining what these emerging digital worlds revealed about wider society.

He followed it with Radicals, an investigation into political outsiders and movements attempting to build alternatives to mainstream society, and The People Vs Tech, which examined the growing tension between digital technology and democratic institutions. The People Vs Tech was longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and won the 2019 Transmission Prize.

Jamie has also become known for long-form investigative broadcasting. In 2019, he created and presented the remarkable BBC podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen, investigating OneCoin and the disappearance of its founder, Ruja Ignatova. The series became a global hit, reaching number one in podcast charts and attracting millions of downloads. Jamie subsequently turned the investigation into the eponymous book, The Missing Cryptoqueen. The story demonstrated one of the recurring themes in Jamie’s work: technology may enable new forms of crime, but successful fraud still depends on profoundly human qualities such as trust, persuasion, ambition and the desire to believe.

Jamie later created and presented Believe in Magic, a BBC investigation into the extraordinary story surrounding a high-profile charity and the online communities around it. His BBC Two documentary series Secrets of Silicon Valley examined the growing power of technology companies and the role digital platforms were beginning to play in politics, culture and democracy. The Gatekeepers, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and as a podcast, explored how social media platforms came to dominate public life and shape what billions of people see and consume.

His more recent investigative work has continued to explore trust in the digital age, including the growing collision between artificial intelligence, online fakery, synthetic content and institutions increasingly struggling to distinguish authentic information from manipulation.

Jamie Bartlett’s books have been translated internationally, while his TED Talk on how dark net technology is moving into the mainstream has attracted millions of views. Jamie has also written widely for publications including The Spectator, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Foreign Policy.

Across books, podcasts, research and speaking, Jamie’s work is united by a consistent idea: technology is never only about technology. It is about power, behaviour, identity, persuasion and human nature. Whether investigating AI systems, crypto scams, internet extremists or Silicon Valley, Jamie helps audiences understand not just where technology is heading, but what people will do with it when it gets here.

To contact Jamie Bartlett for keynote speaking, AI masterclasses, conferences and corporate events, call a Specialist Speakers agent on +44 [0]204 616 0868 or email info@specialistspeakers.com