Lara Lewington
Boards are being asked to make calls on artificial intelligence and health technology before the evidence base has settled. Most senior teams have a strong grasp of the hype cycle and a weak grasp of what the science actually supports, where the ethical exposure sits, and which innovations will reach customers and workforces inside the planning horizon. The gap between confident vendor pitches and defensible internal judgement is widening.
Lara Lewington is a technology journalist and broadcaster who helps senior audiences separate evidence from hype across artificial intelligence, ethics and the health-tech frontier, drawing on 14 years inside BBC Click and her Penguin book Hacking Humanity.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Lara Lewington
- Fourteen years inside BBC Click gives her a first-hand catalogue of which AI and health-tech claims held up and which collapsed, useful for boards trying to triage vendor pitches.
- Hacking Humanity (Penguin, 2025) is a structured, sourced argument on the technologies extending healthspan, not a survey article, so audiences leave with a thesis rather than a topic tour.
- Formal study in the Ethics of AI at the London School of Economics, layered onto her broadcast work, makes her a credible voice in governance and risk conversations, not only product showcases.
- She is regularly trusted to host the main stage at AI Summit London, Founders Forum, London Tech Week and the Royal Academy of Engineering, which means she moves comfortably between keynote and high-stakes moderation in the same event.
- Long-form access to the people building this technology, from Silicon Valley founders to NHS clinicians, lets her describe what is actually being deployed rather than what is being announced.
Biography highlights
- Co-presenter of BBC Click, the corporation’s flagship technology programme, for seven years until the show ended in March 2025; reporter on the programme from 2011.
- Author of Hacking Humanity: How technology can save your health and your life (Penguin, WH Allen, July 2025).
- Fronted BBC Panorama’s “Beyond Human: Artificial Intelligence and Us” and BBC One documentary “Forever Young?” on biological age reversal.
- AI Agony Aunt on ITV’s Lorraine since 2023; recurring technology commentator on Good Morning Britain, Woman’s Hour and BBC Radio 5 Live.
- Studied Ethics of AI at the London School of Economics; Senior Fellow at the John Schofield Trust mentoring early-career journalists.
- Host and moderator at AI Summit London, Founders Forum Global, LEAP Tech Arena, London Tech Week and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Biography
Most boardroom conversations about artificial intelligence and health technology run aground on the same problem. The pace of announcement outstrips the pace of verification. Lara Lewington has spent 14 years inside the programme that, more than any other in British broadcasting, exists to do that verification on the public’s behalf: BBC Click. She reported for the show from 2011, co-presented from 2018 with Spencer Kelly, and stayed until the programme ended in March 2025.
Hacking Humanity (Penguin, July 2025) takes the same instinct into book form. It examines the AI, gene editing and robotics now reshaping medicine, with a clear thesis: the meaningful prize is healthspan, the years lived in good health, not raw lifespan. Endorsed by Lorraine Kelly, Davina McCall and Dr Amir Khan, it draws on access from Silicon Valley founders to NHS clinicians, and frames where the science is real, where it is premature, and where the ethical exposure sits.
The AI ethics work is anchored by formal study at the London School of Economics and a steady stream of fronted documentaries: Panorama’s “Beyond Human: Artificial Intelligence and Us”, BBC One’s “Forever Young?”, ITV’s “Tonight: Healthy Ageing”, and BBC Radio 4’s “A Documentary: By ChatGPT”. She is the AI Agony Aunt on ITV’s Lorraine, a regular voice on Good Morning Britain and Woman’s Hour, and a Senior Fellow at the John Schofield Trust.
Event organisers book her for two distinct jobs. She delivers keynotes on AI ethics, the human impact of automation and the healthspan revolution. She also hosts and moderates the main stage at AI Summit London, Founders Forum Global, LEAP Tech Arena, London Tech Week and the Royal Academy of Engineering, where the brief is to interview a chief executive or scientist and keep the conversation honest in real time.
Key speaking topics
- Artificial intelligence and its human impact
- AI ethics and responsible deployment
- Health technology and the healthspan economy
- Longevity science and biological age
- Wearables, diagnostics and consumer health data
- The role of robotics in care and clinical settings
- Technology hype versus evidence
Ideal for
- Boards and executive teams setting AI policy and digital health strategy
- CHROs, chief medical officers and benefits leaders shaping workforce health programmes
- Health, life sciences and pharma leadership audiences tracking the AI inflection in their sector
- Conference organisers needing a credible host or moderator for AI, health-tech and innovation main-stage sessions
Audience outcomes
- A clear read on which AI and health-tech claims are evidence-backed and which are still vendor narrative
- A working vocabulary for healthspan, longevity science and the technologies driving them
- Sharper questions to put to internal teams and external suppliers on AI ethics and data governance
- A grounded view of how rapidly diagnostic and preventive technology is moving from research into mainstream use