t’s been a month since the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos ended, and I needed the time. Not to summarize what happened (there was too much!) but to sit with how it felt, and what stayed with me once the noise faded.
I arrived in Davos with skepticism. The world feels increasingly fractured geopolitically, socially and environmentally, and I wasn’t sure how conversations in such a rarefied space would meet the urgency of this moment.
A week later, I can say that I left still disconcerted but also more hopeful than I expected.
One thing was impossible to miss: AI was everywhere. In nearly every conversation (about growth, education, health, climate, or governance) AI surfaced as both promise and provocation. And yet, what struck me most wasn’t a sense that technology will replace humans, but almost the opposite.
The more AI dominated the dialogue, the more attention turned to what cannot be automated: human judgment, trust, values, agency, relationships, and leadership. Again and again, people returned to the same realization that the future will be shaped less by the tools we build and more by the people we become.
That reframing made the need to redefine the purpose of education feel even more urgent and more clear. Not education as content delivery or as workforce preparation alone. But education as the effort of equipping young people with agency, awareness, critical thinking, and the connectedness to navigate complexity and change. This resonated deeply with the work that we do every day at the Global Institute For Shaping a Better Future.
At the same time, Davos is a profoundly privileged space. Sitting with that this week, the tension feels important between global decision making and the voices that are too often missing from it. If we are serious about shaping a better future, then next year must include more voices rooted in local communities, more youth from the global south, and more people with lived experience of the challenges being discussed.
That’s also why, even a month later, I feel proud that we co–convened the inaugural Education House at Davos. Even at the margins, it mattered. It created space to remind us that education is not a side issue, but a foundational one. That conversations about AI, inclusive growth, climate justice, and progress are incomplete without asking who we are equipping, how, and for what purpose.
I didn’t leave with easy answers.
But with time to reflect, I’ve come back with a renewed sense that human centered approaches aren't “nice to have”, they’re essential. And that investing in people, leadership, and youth’s potential may be one of the most strategic choices we can make in an uncertain world.
Hope for me didn’t come from certainty. I guess it came from seeing our work reflected, even if imperfectly, in the global conversation.
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AI everywhere, human agency and leadership at the center
Image via Adobe Stock.
March 5, 2026
After a month to reflect, members of our delegation to this year’s World Economic Forum shared their thoughts on what struck and stayed with them most. For Anna Molero, there was a sense of unexpected hope in that the more AI dominated the dialogue, the more attention turned to human intangibles.
I
t’s been a month since the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos ended, and I needed the time. Not to summarize what happened (there was too much!) but to sit with how it felt, and what stayed with me once the noise faded.
I arrived in Davos with skepticism. The world feels increasingly fractured geopolitically, socially and environmentally, and I wasn’t sure how conversations in such a rarefied space would meet the urgency of this moment.
A week later, I can say that I left still disconcerted but also more hopeful than I expected.
One thing was impossible to miss: AI was everywhere. In nearly every conversation (about growth, education, health, climate, or governance) AI surfaced as both promise and provocation. And yet, what struck me most wasn’t a sense that technology will replace humans, but almost the opposite.
The more AI dominated the dialogue, the more attention turned to what cannot be automated: human judgment, trust, values, agency, relationships, and leadership. Again and again, people returned to the same realization that the future will be shaped less by the tools we build and more by the people we become.
That reframing made the need to redefine the purpose of education feel even more urgent and more clear. Not education as content delivery or as workforce preparation alone. But education as the effort of equipping young people with agency, awareness, critical thinking, and the connectedness to navigate complexity and change. This resonated deeply with the work that we do every day at the Global Institute For Shaping a Better Future.
At the same time, Davos is a profoundly privileged space. Sitting with that this week, the tension feels important between global decision making and the voices that are too often missing from it. If we are serious about shaping a better future, then next year must include more voices rooted in local communities, more youth from the global south, and more people with lived experience of the challenges being discussed.
That’s also why, even a month later, I feel proud that we co–convened the inaugural Education House at Davos. Even at the margins, it mattered. It created space to remind us that education is not a side issue, but a foundational one. That conversations about AI, inclusive growth, climate justice, and progress are incomplete without asking who we are equipping, how, and for what purpose.
I didn’t leave with easy answers.
But with time to reflect, I’ve come back with a renewed sense that human centered approaches aren't “nice to have”, they’re essential. And that investing in people, leadership, and youth’s potential may be one of the most strategic choices we can make in an uncertain world.
Hope for me didn’t come from certainty. I guess it came from seeing our work reflected, even if imperfectly, in the global conversation.
