Annie Hardy is a Global AI Architect & Futurist focused on the Future of the Internet, with an emphasis on Generative and Responsible AI. She joined Cisco in December 2019, bringing nearly two decades of experience in strategic visioning, human-centered design, and innovation. Her work emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion in AI development, advocating for diverse voices in tech innovation to build trust and reduce bias.

Annie Hardy is a Global AI Architect & Futurist focused on the Future of the Internet, with an emphasis on Generative and Responsible AI. She joined Cisco in December 2019, bringing nearly two decades of experience in strategic visioning, human-centered design, and innovation. Her work emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion in AI development, advocating for diverse voices in tech innovation to build trust and reduce bias.

She is a pioneer in democratizing responsible innovation at Cisco, pioneering efforts to drive training on and adoption of Generative AI tools, and build new AI offerings with Partners. Prior to Cisco, she founded zeet insights, an Austin-based market and design research firm focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, solar energy, and smart mobility.

She is a recognized thought leader, contributing to Cisco’s global conferences, speaking at events like SXSW, and publishing insights on the impact of emerging technologies. Her personal passions include music (she wrote and co-produced the album Life Bites Back), creating a movement for women to own their financial destiny, serving her community, building technology futures that will be kind to the next generation, and seeking out gluten free funnel cake.

Annie holds a B.A. in Communications and Spanish from Austin College and studied at Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists and the AI Austin Alliance.