Free Solo Climber Alex Honnold and AI Now Co-Founder Kate Crawford Headline FICO World 2019

FICO announced the keynote speakers at FICO World 2019, November 4-7 in New York City, including renowned climber Alex Honnold.  Honnold, the subject of the Oscar and Emmy winning documentary Free Solo, will speak during the Tuesday opening session. Kate Crawford, co-founder and co-director of New York University’s AI Now Institute and a Microsoft principal researcher, will present during Thursday’s closing session on ethical AI.

Honnold will discuss how attendees can do anything with enough preparation, illustrated by his own numerous expeditions, including the 2017 trek immortalized by Free Solo along the 3000-foot “Freerider” route in Yosemite, California’s El Capitan summit.

FICO World will focus on “Better Decisions with AI,” exploring not only how organizations can incorporate analytics into their operations, but how they can ensure the decisions they make are the right ones, ethically and mathematically. Crawford, whose work involves developing new ways to measure, analyze and improve the algorithms powering today’s AI systems, joins FICO Chief Analytics Officer Dr. Scott Zoldi to discuss how AI developers can ensure decisions remain sensitive and responsive to the complex social dynamics surrounding them.

In addition to Honnold and Crawford’s keynotes, FICO World will offer more than 90 presentations across 13 tracks, from thought leaders including sponsors AWS and Equifax.  Mark Begor, CEO, Equifax, will be discussing the momentum of the Data Decisions Cloud solution since FICO and Equifax launched it in March. Other companies scheduled to present include Bank of America, J.D. Power, and T-Mobile.

“Business leaders who attend FICO World 2019 will gain the latest analytic innovations and best practices for making real-time customer decisions, fighting cybersecurity threats and optimizing business results, “said Nikhil Behl, FICO's chief marketing officer. “These valuable insights will not only help organizations advance their digital transformation and launch new customer strategies, but outpace competition.”