Good morning!
I’m back in New York after a thrilling week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. At our Fortune Global Forum, economics and geopolitical tensions were hot topics, but the future of the workforce and workplace also came up in so many conversations.
Take the legendary hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, who told my colleague Diane Brady onstage that America is developing a dependency on a tiny cohort of high-level workers, specifically those in tech. He warned that most workers’ prospects are increasingly dependent on a narrow segment of the economy.
“If you’re looking at, let’s say, the AI world, and really what amounts to about 3 million people—1% of the population—leading, and then … the 5% or 10% around them, you have one world that the whole world is dependent on,” he explained. “And then you have the bottom 60% of the population.”
Speaking of AI and the workforce, I led a conversation on building a tech future-ready workforce, and how leaders can make sure human workers and AI agents work collaboratively and productively.
Vinay Firake, tech and consulting firm Wipro’s CEO of APMEA Strategic Market Unit, told me that in order for a company to ensure success with its AI programs, it’s “absolutely essential” to have the human inserted at the right place. It’s not about AI replacing jobs, he said—but leaders do need to think critically about which tasks require a human touch.
One of the big questions that Anne Lim O’Brien, vice chair of Global & CEO Practice at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, said she gets from corporate clients is around using AI in succession planning and to decide which employees get promoted. She acknowledged that it can be helpful, but also issued a warning: Managers must critically think about everything AI spits out, and not take it at face value.
“Frankly, it saves so much. You get all your answers at your fingertips. It’s so sexy,” she said. “But is it the be-all and end-all of your answers? No.”
You can watch all of our Fortune Global Forum panels on video here.
Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com
