EN

AI pioneer · investor · author · keynote speaker

Searching for the right question about our intelligent future.

Two decades at the frontier of intelligent technology and human futures, from Jolting acceleration to the Network Society and the management of AIs.

Invite me to speak → Subscribe
Portrait of David Orban
Speak

Invite me to your stage

Keynotes on AI, acceleration, and the human future, for boards, conferences, and leadership offsites.

See speaking Advise

Work with David

I advise numerous companies and funds, and I am committed to democratizing access to high-quality mentorship for entrepreneurs worldwide.

Book a call Read

Follow the ideas

Essays, The Context, and Searching for the Question, in English, Italian, Hungarian, and Arabic.

Start reading

Who I am

About me →

I am an investor, entrepreneur, author, keynote speaker, and thought leader of the global technology landscape. My entrepreneurial accomplishments span several companies founded and grown over more than twenty years.

Investor

An early adopter of blockchain technologies and an active Bitcoin investor since 2010, I was the first to own Ether during the Ethereum launch in 2014.

Speaker

Over 100 keynote addresses worldwide for organizations including Abbvie, Cisco, Oracle, Roche, Ernst & Young, and Accenture.

Author

"Something New: AIs And Us", on technology redefining society, entrepreneurship, and what it means to be human.

Advisor

Faculty and Advisor at Singularity University, Trustee of Network Society Research, and mentor for the Thiel Fellowship.

Read the full story →
David Orban on stage
"My vision is at the crossroads of technology and society and their co-evolution."

Latest thinking

All writing →

Hyperstition Over Superstition

Pattern recognition gave us science, omens, and AI. Now we must strive to keep the world explainable.

· 6 min read EN

A Millicorn in Everyone’s Future

A unicorn is a private company valued above a billion dollars. A millicorn is one thousandth of one, and agentic…

· 7 min read EN

Which rung of sovereign do you mean?

Every AI sovereignty programme runs on hardware somebody else controls, and one man proved the same about a toaster.

· 4 min read EN

Present as Capital, Absent as a Voice

Across seven days and eighty-eight hours at two AI conferences, I searched every transcript for the Gulf. At the Berkeley…

· 4 min read EN

The Anatomy of a Pass

Over the course of 60 days in 2026 I reviewed every pitch that reached my inbox, and I declined most…

· 9 min read EN

Avoiding The Freezing Equilibrium

Advanced AI decides faster than we can check, until everything quietly freezes Picture a government office that used to receive…

· 5 min read EN

Exponential Aging

We tell the age of a baby in months. Thirteen months, eighteen months: each month of a new life is…

· 3 min read EN

On stage

Speaking →
David Orban: speaker reel

Keynotes for boards, conferences, and public events

Over 100 keynote addresses delivered worldwide, on how blockchain technologies and AI will catalyze socio-economic changes in our societies.

Invite me to speak → AV & speaker kit

The Context

About the show →

Technology, society, and why it matters

"When I started recording The Context several years ago, I didn't imagine that I would keep going with the determination, and the frequency that I found myself being able to deliver. It has been a wonderful experience, and I want to keep continuing."
Watch the series → Listen as a podcast
The Context: latest episodes

Podcasts

All podcasts →
Searching For The Question English Searching For The Question Technology and its implications for society, including the episodes of Searching For The Question Live. The Context English The Context Themes and trends in technology and society, and how we can turn understanding into action. Qual è la domanda Italiano Qual è la domanda Con un linguaggio divulgativo ed accessibile a tutti, in conversazioni che si svolgono attorno ai temi della tecnologia e la società. Include le puntate di Qual è la domanda Live.

The book

All publications →
Something New: AIs And Us, book cover

Something New: AIs And Us

Will human intelligence be replicated? And if this happens, will it be a shocking development equal to the discontinuity of humanity's arrival? What will happen to humankind itself?

  • Available in English, Italian, and Spanish
  • Paperback, Kindle, and free ebook
Get the free ebook → Buy on Amazon
"Technological singularity is the moment when artificial intelligence could take over."

Get in touch

Start a conversation

For speaking engagements, advisory work, or anything else, I read every message personally.

Contact me → Invite me to speak

Become a supporter on Patreon

Become a Patron: I am eager to create our future together with you. Be part of future episodes by asking your most ambitious questions.

Become a patron today