Speakers
Mark Little, Visionary Entrepreneur & Journalist, Kinzen
In a world of uncertainty, Mark Little examines how technology, trust and innovation can unlock new possibilities. Mark will talk about how resilient organisations and individuals can navigate disruption, shape the future and find opportunity in the age of chaos.
Mark Little is a journalist-turned-tech entrepreneur and author whose career has taken him from war zones to Silicon Valley, and ultimately to the faultlines of technology and democracy. At a moment when superhuman technology is radically reshaping our lives, work and society, few people are better placed to explain how leaders and innovators can thrive in an age of radical uncertainty. Mark’s background in broadcast media makes him an expert communicator on various topics, including online trust, AI and democracy, and the impact of technology on leadership and innovation Following twenty years at Irish State Broadcaster RTÉ, Mark Little created his first digital startup. Storyful was the world’s first social media newswire, combining the discipline of a traditional news agency with authenticated user-generated content, and in 2013 was acquired by News Corp.
Subsequently Mark accepted a senior management role at Twitter, where he was, firstly, VP of Media Partnerships for Europe, and then Managing Director. After leaving Twitter, Mark co-founded Kinzen with Aine Kerr, a former Facebook executive. Their aim was simple: using technology to strengthen democracy and protect public conversations. In 2022, Kinzen was bought by Spotify. Kinzen used a human-in-the-loop approach to artificial intelligence. Its human analysts created machine-readable data sets and optimised AI models to detect harmful and violent content in multiple languages and markets. The results scaled human editorial judgement in a way that pure automation cannot replicate. Mark gained critical insights into the potential of human-centred AI to protect the delicate balance of speech and safety.
Mark was a foreign correspondent and TV anchor for almost 20 years, taking him from the corridors of power in Washington to the frontlines of war in Iraq. In 2001, Mark Little won the Irish TV Journalist of the Year Award for his dispatches from Afghanistan. A quarter of a century on, this skilled communicator and business leader is publishing his fourth book in October 2026. This will be a unique eye-witness account of the unravelling of democracy in the Age of Attention, and an inspiring preview of a new Age of Intention. Mark sets out the case for hope and human agency in the age of superhuman technology, and charts the rise of a digital civil rights movement that will ultimately transform human leadership and citizenship.