Davos 2026: Reclaiming Human Purpose in the AI Tsunami
The recent dialogues at Davos have made one thing clear: we are no longer just "experimenting" with AI; we are industrialising it. While global leaders express a mix of "AI FOMO" and deep-seated caution, the consensus is that AI is an unavoidable force redefining our labour markets and our economies.
To navigate this "Intelligent Age" effectively, we must look beyond the technology itself and focus on how it reshapes our fundamental human experience.
Revisiting Humanity: Purpose vs. Task
The fundamental shift in the AI era is understanding the difference between a task and a purpose.
The Insight: NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang argues that while AI can automate "tasks"—the repetitive, rule-based drudgery—it cannot replace our "purpose".
The Radiologist Example: In radiology, the "task" is studying images, but the "purpose" is diagnosing disease and caring for patients.
The Outcome: By automating scan processing, radiologists gain the most valuable commodity in healthcare: time to spend with patients.
Human-Centric Strategy: This hasn't led to job losses; instead, the number of radiologists is growing because they can now provide better, more frequent care. By focusing on judgment, empathy, and leadership, we solve for higher-level human needs.
The Economic Shift: The Largest Buildout in History
Economically, we are witnessing what Huang calls "the largest infrastructure buildout in human history".
The Layer Cake: AI is a five-layer ecosystem starting with energy, followed by chips, cloud infrastructure, AI models, and finally the application layer.
Economic Benefit: Most economic value will be generated at the top "application" layer, where AI improves productivity in healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.
Labour Shift: This buildout is creating a massive demand for skilled trades.
The New Blue-Collar: Salaries for electricians, plumbers, and network technicians—the people physically building "AI factories"—are booming, with many reaching six-figure levels.
Community & Connection: Closing the Technology Divide
For the global community, AI is being framed as "the most accessible software ever created".
Global Equity: Unlike previous tech waves, AI's ease of use—driven by natural language—allows emerging economies to leapfrog traditional development barriers.
National Intelligence: Countries are encouraged to build their own "Sovereign AI" using their local language and culture as a fundamental natural resource.
Reskilling: The "social capital" of the future depends on AI literacy. Learning to direct and evaluate AI will soon be as fundamental as managing people.
Cultural Evolution: Rewriting the Social Contract
Culturally, AI is moving from "experimentation" to "transformative impact".
New Norms: We are shifting from a culture of "doing" to a culture of "curating".
Problem Solving: Jensen Huang even suggests he wants his engineers to spend "exactly zero per cent" of their time writing code so they can focus entirely on solving undiscovered problems.
Adoption Curve: 2025 has seen record venture capital funding for "AI-native" companies, signalling that our culture is rapidly moving toward a future where AI is integrated into the fabric of every industry.
The Ultimate Scenario
Roughly 90% of our progress in this new era comes from recontextualising existing needs—using AI to handle the "syntax" of life. The other 10% is real progress: solving problems that were previously "uncrackable" because we were too busy with the drudgery.
Success is not a world where machines do everything; it’s a world where Human-AI collaboration allows us to lean into our true purpose.