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Built from your audience
Where time allows, a short pre-event survey shows what your leaders already use, how they rate themselves and what they find hardest. The content is built from the answers.
Jay Jaboneta / Speaking
AI & leadership keynote speaker · Philippines · SingaporeOrganizational AI Fluency. Built with HOPE.
Everyone on your team is already using AI. Is your organization using it effectively, responsibly — and together?
That means a team that uses AI the same way, inside clear rules, with a named person accountable for what ships. My keynotes give leaders the architecture to get there — and HOPE, the human discipline that carries the change. I'm the Founder & Organizational AI Fluency Architect of Kenzo AI, author of Start with HOPE, and a TEDx speaker on four stages across three countries.
Recently on stage
- CGI · PGDC Leadership Connect · 100 leaders · Makati · Sept 2026
- Global Payments · GSC Management Summit · full day · Tagaytay · Sept 2026
- ASEAN Innovation Summit · plenary keynote · Davao City · Sept 2026
Rooms I've led — from boardrooms to classrooms
- CGI
- Global Payments
- HI-Eisai
- ASEAN Innovation Summit
- Philippine Airlines
- Facebook Philippines
- Office of the President of the Philippines
- SixEleven
- Trias Southeast Asia
- Ateneo de Davao University
- De La Salle Lipa
- De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde
- AngelHack
- Acumen Academy
50+Keynotes, workshops & talks a year
4TEDx stages across 3 countries
1,000+Teachers trained through Kenzo AI
200+Communities reached through Yellow Boat of Hope
Why organizers book Jay
Not a talk your leaders have heard elsewhere. A session built for your room.
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The room moves
Hands-up diagnostics, live demonstrations on the tools already in your stack, table work and games. People remember what they did, not what they were told.
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Leaders leave with tools
Short, named frameworks a leader can use the next morning and teach to their own team — plus a written commitment for the first move after the event.
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It doesn't end at the applause
Through Kenzo AI, the keynote can become an Organizational AI Fluency journey: workflows, guardrails, champions and measurement.
Signature keynotes
What I speak about.
Every session is rebuilt for the room. The backbone stays the same: move people from AI experimentation to responsible, repeatable capability — and give leaders a human system for carrying the change.
Flagship keynote
Organizational AI Fluency: From AI-Literate to AI-Ready
The goal is not an AI-fluent individual. It's an AI-fluent organization. Leaders see why access and usage don't add up to advantage, where accountability has to stay human, and how to build capability across people, work, guardrails, adoption, leadership and measurement — without turning AI into a tool demo or a policy lecture.
Leaders leave with
- A clear read on where their team sits, from spark to system
- The two layers they personally own: leadership and measurement
- An honest script for the "Will this replace me?" conversation
- A written commitment for the first move after the event
For people leaders
Leading Forward Together: Future-Proofing Leadership in an AI-Powered World
For managers whose people are absorbing AI and transformation at the same time. The manager is where AI strategy becomes employee experience — this session gives them the language, the frameworks, and live demonstrations on the tools already in their stack.
Experiential · team leadership
HOPE in Action: An Afternoon Leadership Experience
Five games. Four moves. Nobody plays alone. Leaders practice Harness potential, Open your wallet, Perspire and Empower others as team challenges, then process each one in five minutes. Pairs with any keynote for a full-day summit.
Leadership keynote
Leading AI with HOPE
Hope isn't a strategy. HOPE is a discipline. The human system in front of AI transformation: invest in people, budget for fluency instead of running on free trials, iterate until useful work becomes repeatable, and teach capability forward until it no longer depends on one person.
Signature story
Start with HOPE: Building What Matters
In 2010, one Facebook post about children swimming to school in Zamboanga became the Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, which has since reached 200+ communities. The story shows how ordinary people build lasting impact — and how the same discipline applies to founders, educators and changemakers.
Also available: Innovation Labs & Ecosystem Building · Youth Leadership & Nation Building · Social Media for Social Change.
Ask about a topic →Not sure which fits? Describe your audience and I'll recommend one.
In the room · September 2026
Two summits. Two days. 140 leaders.
Back-to-back sessions for two global companies' Philippine leadership teams — one built around a single keynote, one around a full day.
CGI · PGDC Leadership Connect 2026 · Building What's Next
AI Fluency for Leaders and transforming the workplace to be AI-ready.
Hands up.100 leaders, one honest diagnostic
Two questions. Hands up.The gap between the first and the second is the whole talk.
The room opened with two questions. Who used AI for real work in the last seven days? Most hands went up. Who would say their whole team uses it the same way? Far fewer.
The keynote lived in that gap: why individual AI use doesn't add up to an AI-ready workplace, what leaders specifically own in the shift, and how to move a team from experiments to a shared, governed way of working.
Technology changes the work. It's you who sustains that change.— from the opening slide
What the room worked through
- AI-literate vs AI-ready — a live hands-up diagnostic of where the room actually stood
- Decide · Brief · Assist · Verify — a live demonstration of AI-assisted work with a human gate
- The six-layer Kenzo AI Architecture — three layers shown in the demo, three only leaders can build
- From Spark to System — a hands-up read on where each team honestly sits today
- The conversation leaders can't delegate — an honest answer to "Is this going to replace me?"
Global Payments · GSC Management Summit
One day, two movements. Morning builds the system. Afternoon builds the connections.
Morning · AI keynote
Leading Forward Together: Future-Proofing Leadership in an AI-Powered World
Built from a pre-event survey of the leaders in the room. Live demonstrations on the tools already in their stack, a practical script for the question every team asks in private — "Is this going to replace me?" — and a five-line commitment written on their phones before lunch.
Afternoon · HOPE leadership experience
HOPE in Action: five games, four moves, nobody plays alone
Eight teams. Each HOPE move practiced as a game, then processed in five minutes so the lesson lands. The afternoon closed with the final build, Tallest Tower, where all four moves had to work at once.
HHuman BingoOCups UpPPen and BallETrust Your LeaderAllTallest Tower
40 leaders, one book, one shared languageGSC Management Summit · Tagaytay
O · Cups UpNothing lifts until everybody puts tension in
Fun first. The meaning comes after — and it takes five minutes.Eight teams, four rounds, one final build
Most summits put an AI talk in the morning and a team-building activity in the afternoon, and the two never meet. This day was designed as one argument in two halves: the morning laid out the architecture for leading with AI; the afternoon made leaders practice the human discipline that carries it.
The afternoon grew out of Start with HOPE. The room left holding copies of the book — and four moves they had already practiced together, not just heard about.
What the room walked out with
- A shared language for leading through AI and transformation at the same time
- Working frameworks — RECIPE for briefing, the 5A Gate for verifying, CARE for responsible use
- A five-line commitment — written on their phones and read aloud to the person beside them
- Four HOPE moves, practiced — Harness, Open, Perspire, Empower, each played as a team challenge
Plan a session like this →Keynote or full day — tell me about your summit.
The point of view
What leaders hear from me — and keep repeating.
An AI keynote that only shows tools is out of date by the next product release. These are the ideas that hold, whatever the tools do next.
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Access is not advantage. Usage is not fluency.
Everyone has the tools. Many people are using them. Very few teams can use them consistently, safely and measurably. That third group is where the advantage sits.
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AI changes the work. It doesn't move the accountability.
Decide, brief, assist, verify. The tool can draft; a human still owns what ships. Leaders who make that line explicit earn trust from the people most worried about the change.
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Tools can be bought. Organizational capability can't.
One AI-fluent manager is useful. An AI-fluent organization is the goal: people, work, responsible use, adoption, leadership and measurement, built so the capability survives beyond a few early adopters.
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Hope isn't a strategy. HOPE is a discipline.
Frameworks don't adopt themselves. People carry them, or they don't move. Harness potential, Open your wallet, Perspire, Empower others — the human system that carries the change.
What happens after you inquire
Easy to book. Built properly.
- Send the briefEvent, date, audience and what you want them to do differently afterwards.
- Get a recommendationKeynote, full day, workshop, program or advisory — matched to the outcome, not the time slot.
- Survey the roomWhere time allows, a short pre-event survey shapes the content around your people.
- The sessionLive demonstrations on your stack, a room that moves, frameworks to keep.
- The next stepEvery session ends with a written commitment and a clear path from spark to system.
Frameworks in use
RECIPE · briefing5A Gate · verificationCARE · responsible useSix-layer Architecture · capabilitySpark → System · maturityHOPE · the human discipline
Formats · from spark to system
A keynote can create the spark. We can build the system.
Chosen by what your organization needs to be able to do afterwards — not by how long you have on the program.
45–90 min
Keynote
Built from a pre-event survey of your audience. Leaders leave with a commitment, not an impression.
1 day
Full-day summit
AI keynote in the morning, HOPE in Action in the afternoon — one argument in two halves.
Half day
Workshop
Hands-on with the team's own real work. Capped so everyone builds something they keep.
Multi-session
Program
Cohorts with follow-up clinics at day 30 and day 60, so the method is practiced, not heard once.
Ongoing
Advisory
Counsel on where AI creates value, what needs governing, and what to build next.
Also available: commencement addresses, panel moderation, leadership retreats, and virtual or hybrid delivery.
More rooms from 2026
Corporations, hospitals, schools, NGOs and business communities.
The format changes with the room. The outcome I'm accountable for doesn't.
Medical summitHI-Eisai HONE Summit50 oncologists · Fairmont Makati · August
Business communityBSLBAMakati City · July
HOPE workshopSixEleven Leaders ProgramDavao IT-BPM · March
NGO clinicTrias Southeast AsiaPhilippines + Indonesia
Faculty sessionPAREF Rosehill & NorthfieldCombined faculty
University workshopUPHSD – MolinoCavite · September
KeynoteSpeaker Spotlight · CGIMakati · September
Kenzo AI delivers for K–12 schools, universities, corporate teams, medical associations, NGOs and business communities across the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
See all engagements →Watch
Where the HOPE story started.
Two earlier TEDx talks on the Yellow Boat of Hope — the story behind the HOPE framework.
TEDxMontpellier — Yellow Boats for children2012 · the only Asian speaker invited
TEDxBritishSchoolManila — The Yellow School Boat2016 · an international school audience
As seen and heard in
TEDxMontpellier · Kinnaird College · British School Manila · Youth@MGCNLCA
AppleLeadership Academy Ambassador 2026
CNNYellow boats bring hope and education in the Philippines
Al JazeeraFoundation coverage for education access and community impact
HuffPostFeatured contributor and social innovator
Yahoo! SEA7 Modern Day Pinoy Heroes
For event organizers
Questions before you book.
How far ahead should we book?
Ideally 4–6 weeks ahead for events in the Philippines, so there is time for a pre-event survey of your audience. International engagements benefit from 8–12 weeks. Shorter timelines are sometimes possible — ask.
Will the session be built for our audience?
Yes. Every session is rebuilt for the room. Where time allows, a short pre-event survey shows what your leaders already use, where they rate themselves and what they find hardest, and demonstrations use the tools already in your stack.
Do you speak outside the Philippines, or virtually?
Yes. Jay speaks across the Philippines and Singapore, with international engagements available with appropriate travel arrangements. Virtual and hybrid delivery are also available.
What are your speaking fees?
Rates are shared on inquiry, because they depend on the format, audience, location and how much customization the session needs. Including a budget range in your inquiry helps Jay recommend the right format quickly.
Can it go beyond a single keynote?
Yes. Options range from a 45–90 minute keynote to a full-day summit, a half-day workshop, a multi-session program and ongoing advisory. Through Kenzo AI, the keynote can extend into an Organizational AI Fluency journey.
Is Jay vendor-neutral?
Yes. Demonstrations use the tools your organization already has, and nothing is sold from your platform. The work is about capability and judgment, not a product.
Book Jay to speak
Let's build the right session for your room.
Tell me who will be in the audience, what you want them to do differently afterwards, and where your organization is today with AI. I'll recommend whether the right answer is a keynote, a full-day summit, a workshop, a program or advisory work.
Speaking rates available on inquiry · Philippines, Singapore & international
- Lead time4–6 weeks for local events; 8–12 weeks for international.
- CoveragePhilippines and Singapore; international with travel arrangements; virtual or hybrid.
- Beyond the stageThrough Kenzo AI: diagnostic, workshops, workflow redesign, governance, champions, measurement and advisory.