Richard Benjamins

Chief AI & Data Strategist, Telefónica

Richard Benjamins

Speaker Bio

Dr Benjamins is among the 100 most influential people in data-driven business (DataIQ 100, 2018). He is co-founder and Vice President of the Spanish observatory for ethical and social impacts of AI (OdiseIA), board member of the environmental non-profit?CDP, and external AI expert for the AI Observatory of the European Parliament. He was Group Chief Data Officer at AXA (Insurance) and before that held for 10 years executive positions at Telefonica on Big Data and Analytics. He is the founder of Telefonica’s?Big Data for Social Good department,?member of the?advisory board of the Centre for Digital Culture at?the Vatican, co-chair of enterprise advisory board of UNESCO's AI recommendation, member of GSMA’s AI for Impact taskforce, and?member of the B2G data-sharing?Expert Group?of the EC. ?He?co-founded iSOCO, an early AI startup, in 1999. Furthermore, he holds a PhD in Cognitive Science, has published over?150 scientific articles, is founding editorial board member of Springer’s AI Ethics journal, and is author of the books “The myth of the algorithm” (Spanish) and “A Data-Driven Company”?(English, Spanish), and "The algorithm and I" (Spanish).?He is?a frequent speaker on Artificial Intelligence events,?and?a strategic advisor to several start-ups.