Speaking
Talks that Change How You Think About Tech
Dr. Elaine Kasket is a leading cyberpsychologist, author, and keynote speaker who helps people stay connected to their humanity in a digital world.
Elaine is a psychologist by training, but became a cyberpsychologist through experience and curiosity. ‘How could I not be drawn in?’ she says. ‘We’re living through a massive shakeup, and the collision of technology and psychology reverberates through every part of our lives. All psychology is cyberpsychology now.’
As a keynote speaker, Elaine brings ‘all psychology is cyberpsychology’ home in a way that keeps audiences talking and thinking long after she leaves the stage. She has spoken at TEDx in Oxford, Congreso Futuro in Chile, re:publica in Berlin, Pullman xChange in Dubai, and events throughout the UK, Europe, and beyond. She’s the author of two cyberpsychology books: Reset: Rethinking Your Digital World for a Happier Life (2024) and All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of Your Personal Data (2019).
Elaine speaks about AI companions and grief bots, digital wellbeing in an extractive attention economy, brand narratives in the age of AI, and why privacy matters when surveillance is everywhere. She covers technology across the lifespan, from digital gestation to digital afterlives and every stage in between.
As a seasoned professor, speaker, and storyteller, Elaine doesn’t merely lecture. She connects intellectually and emotionally with her audiences, bringing empathy, psychological rigour, and philosophical depth. She helps audiences approach familiar topics with fresh eyes, unlock new solutions to sticky problems, and see perspectives they never thought of before.
On this page, you can read testimonials and hear Elaine’s takes on:
Beyond these topics, Elaine tailors her cyberpsychological expertise to your individual requirements. Get in touch with Andrew Hickman at The Speaking Office to discuss what she could bring to your next event.
Wondering why a cyberpsychologist might be so perfect for your event? Learn more about cyberpsychology here.
For enquiries contact
Andrew Hickman
The Speaking Office
+44 753 843 8455
Testimonials
Beyond ‘detox’:
Finding agency in a digital world
We're told to disconnect in order to find ourselves. We're also told to stay plugged in lest we get left behind. Both are sales pitches.
On one hand, the wellness industry sells us retreats and detoxes. On the other, the tech industry sells us optimisation, productivity, and efficiency and the idea of better living through technology. Neither industry is telling the truth about what's real, what’s possible, or what's actually at stake.
The current narrative is that we're in a race with AI, and that our value lies in how well we can compete. Running that race is making is overwhelmed, anxious, and exhausted. Meanwhile, we're handed a story about ourselves: you’re addicted. You’re hijacked. You’re helpless. Maybe the story feels truly, or partly true. But it’s also a narrative that conveniently lets the systems off the hook.
Just because these ideas are pervasive doesn't mean they're true. Elaine Kasket has spent two decades researching the psychology of our digital lives. In her keynotes, she explores the agency we still have, and how we can use it to live better lives.
Drawing on cyberpsychology, contemplative practice, and her work as an author and consultant, Elaine explores:
Competing narratives: The stories we're sold about both technology and ourselves, and whose interests they serve
The limits of optimisation, productivity, and efficiency: Why it’s such a problem that machines are trying to be more like humans, and humans are trying to be more like machines.
Where agency lives: How we can live in the most workable zone, where we’re neither totally in control nor totally helpless
Device meditations: Activities that help audiences experience awareness and agency, available as part of keynotes or as standalone workshops
Why this talk?
Elaine applies a unique lens that moves past familiar, tired debates about screen time and addiction to the deeper questions: what are we being sold, why do we react the way we do, and what’s actually true? How can we relearn critical thinking and reclaim our agency?
Audiences leave not with rules but with a different sense of what's possible. Elaine brings wit, rigour, and nuance to a topic that’s almost always oversimplified.
Who is this for?
Creative conferences, wellbeing and ideas festivals, digital-culture events, and organisations wanting a smarter take on digital wellbeing. This topic is available as a keynote or workshop, including the digital mindfulness activity experienced by participants at the PolyOpportunity Berlin Salon.
Want to delve deeper before booking? Learn more by reading or listening to Elaine’s latest book, Reset, or engage with her thought leadership about agentic AI in organisations.
Always there and never enough:
Technology, intimacy, and what we really need
We’re lonelier than ever, and the tech industry has noticed.
Not long ago, it seemed like social media’s impact headed our list of concerns. A lot has changed in a short space of time. AI companions are now being marketed as the solution to our isolation. They’re available 24/7, never distracted, and all about you. Millions are already using them: Replica, ChatGPT, Character.AI. But what does it mean when we start becoming intimate with machines?
Meanwhile, the humans in our lives are right there, all around us, yet somehow harder to reach. Technology gives us constant access to each other, but not always to each other's attention. We're physically present but mentally elsewhere, managing notifications while missing the person we’re with. The loneliness economy is booming, and it's sometimes selling us the least helpful forms of connection.
What’s actually happening to our attention? What’s becoming of our attachment patterns? Is our capacity for intimacy eroding? How can we both understand and take more control of what’s happening? Can we resist?
Elaine Kasket has spent two decades as a cyberpsychologist, researching how technology shapes our closest relationships. In her keynotes, she explores the rise of AI companions, the erosion of human presence, and what genuine connection requires in the modern world.
Drawing on psychology research and practice, attachment theory, and her work as an author and consultant, Elaine explores:
The appeal of AI relationships: Why millions are allegedly turning to chatbots for comfort, and what that reveals about loneliness, attachment, our society, and our unmet needs
The attention economy at home: How our devices can fragment presence, undermine privacy, and diminish trust within our closest relationships
Attachment in the algorithmically driven environment: What happens to our capacity for intimacy and our willingness to do hard things when we can swipe, mute, or switch to something easier
Repair and reconnection: How to navigate boundaries, repair relationship ruptures, and achieve fuller presence in device- and information-saturated environments, without retreating from technology altogether
Tech in the therapy room: How technology is reshaping the mental-health industry, from AI therapists to ChatGPT emotional support to human therapists using emerging technologies in their work
Why this talk?
AI companions are about to go mainstream, and most people aren't thinking about what that means for human relationships. Elaine connects the loneliness epidemic, the monetisation of intimacy, and the choices we still have. Audiences leave with a clearer sense of what's pulling at their attention and affecting their relationships, and emboldened to do something about it.
Who is this for?
Parenting communities, schools, family wellbeing initiatives, therapists, educators, mental health organisations, and digital literacy programmes. Also relevant for tech companies and product teams building in the relationship and companion space. Available as a keynote, interactive workshop, parent-teen session, or facilitated discussion.
As a psychologist, coach, and couples therapist, Elaine brings deep expertise in technology and human connection. For more insight before booking, read her perspectives on AI relationships and AI therapy, or explore how technology affects us throughout the life span in her book Reset. You can also tune in to her podcast appearances.
When the Dead Remain:
Who decides what happens to our digital selves?
The dead are still here. They’re made to speak, they continue to ‘work,’ and they influence our everyday lives in ways that were science fiction a few years ago.
Chatbots trained on the dead are making headlines and driving the plots of movies and TV series. The dead stay in their social networks, retained by default. The recently deceased are deep faked for emotional, commercial, and ideological purposes. We’re sold the idea that technology can ‘solve’ grief. And the technology is advancing faster than our ability to think through what it means.
Just because something is technologically possible doesn’t mean that these developments are desirable. Elaine Kasket has spent over a decade researching what happens when death meets the digital world. In her keynotes, she addresses the intimate, the systemic, and the corporate implications of digital death.
Drawing on her consultancy work, groundbreaking books, academic scholarship, and behind-the-scenes roles advising on grief-technology storylines, Elaine explores:
The grief bot revolution: Why AI companions for the bereaved are poised to go mainstream, and what we need to understand before they do
Legacy and environment: How our digital Doppelgängers outlast us, from their carbon costs to the data trails we leave that affect future generations
Corporate accountability: What happens when the deceased become training data, product-development fuel, or posthumous influencers or workers
Designing your digital afterlife: Practical frameworks for individuals and organisations to prepare now
Why this talk?
Right now, we’re flooded with people talking about AI. Most focus on either productivity or disruption: how to harness AI’s benefits or understand its existential risks. Elaine applies a unique lens that exposes not just different questions, but unexplored territories.
Elaine’s death-lens on AI cuts through the noise because it starts with the ultimate human universal — death — and works outward from there. Audiences leave thinking differently about their own digital lives, often with an unexpected sense of clarity and motivation to act. Elaine brings warmth and humour to territory most people instinctively avoid.
Who is this for?
Elaine's digital-legacy talks work for ideas festivals, corporate stages, and thought leadership events, appealing to anyone grappling with what it means to be human in an age of AI. They can be tailored for tech companies and product teams, HR and wellbeing leads, data governance and legal teams, healthcare and end-of-life organisations, and leaders thinking about ethics, identity, and innovation. Elaine also delivers executive briefings, policy workshops, and the acclaimed Design Your Digital Afterlife workshop — as experienced by Pullman Hotels & Resorts.
Elaine is a world-renowned expert on death tech and its impact. To explore more before booking, learn what’s happening with grief bots and digital afterlives, read or listen to All the Ghosts in the Machine, or listen to one of Elaine’s many podcasts on this topic.
