Lucia Velasco

Lucia Velasco is the co-chair of the Future of Work for GPAI/OECD and the AI Policy Lead for the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies. She serves as an independent advisor to the European Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank and is currently the Director General of the National Observatory on Technology and Society in Spain. Lucia’s work aims to raise awareness of the ever-increasing influence of AI on the workforce, power dynamics, and society. She is an affiliate PhD Candidate and Researcher at Maastricht University, where she looks to develop policies that blend technological innovation with social justice. 

Beginning her career in the Spanish Parliament, Lucia has held various governmental advisor positions, working as a Policy Advisor Civil Servant for several years before being the Social Innovator and Research Director for Fundacion Tomillo. Lucia then returned to advisory roles within the Spanish Government, working in the Senior Advisor Office of the Prime Minister, progressing to the Chief of Staff – Cabinet Director for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. During this time, Lucia was involved in the High-Level Expert Group Future of Work for the European Commission. She served as a Board Member for the INCIBE and a Policy Leader Fellow for the European University Institute. She was an AI Senior Policy Lead for the Economic Forum and spent time in the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology for the United Nations. 

One of Spain’s most innovative leaders, she often contributes to multiple media outlets as a regular columnist and is a Policy Leader Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance as well as an Aspen Fellow. Lucia has published various scientific publications and is the author of ‘Will an Algorithm Replace You?’, in which she explores the ramifications of AI and mechanisation on daily life. 

A varied and incredibly intellectual individual, Lucia has been named in the ‘100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics’ list of 2025. Her focus on the economic landscape, geopolitics, technology, the future, transformation, and digitalisation makes her a knowledgeable and experienced speaker. She engages audiences with her expertise whilst also alerting them to be conscious of their usage of technology and AI, as well as recognising the impact of AI infrastructure on communities, the global job market, and the environment. She recently spoke on the Policy, Power, and Performance: Who Controls the Future of AI? Panel at the World Summit AI USA Programme in which she and fellow panellists discussed the future of AI, government responsibility, and the unspoken rules of AI.