AI is rapidly accelerating but our collective readiness is falling behind. While most conversations focus on its promise, far fewer confront the risks. Here are five challenges I believe demand urgent attention across our businesses, communities and governments.
1. We need an AI learning infrastructure for everyone
If upskilling is tough for tech professionals, what about the one-third of humanity lacking basic digital fluency?
Many programs still support the privileged – inside formal employment. But displaced workers and underserved communities need them most. Without targeted inclusion, AI will deepen inequality, widening the gap between those leveraging AI and those struggling to stay relevant.
This isn’t just a skills gap. It’s a societal fault line.
2. We’re building AI without fully understanding it
If we can’t explain how AI makes decisions, we can’t trust it not to fail. Could it bypass safeguards or take risky shortcuts? Imagine a loan denied or a diagnosis missed with no answers.
That’s why AI interpretability is critical. Yet over 80% of AI funding today goes to development while less than 20% supports oversight, ethics and impact.
We’re trying to design fireproofing while pouring gas on the fire.
3. Education alone is not enough
Access to knowledge is important, but knowledge without purpose is hollow. The best learning solves real problems, connecting knowledge to action.
As AI displaces humans, we risk creating a society of educated but unemployed individuals. Geoffrey Hinton, AI’s godfather, calls plumbing one of the safest jobs. If blue-collar jobs outlast many white-collar ones, maybe it’s time to confront our biases and rethink how education can truly empower us in the AI era.
4. AI will redefine ‘average’ – and not gently.
Many companies rate employee performance on a 1–5 scale. Most sit at a 3: meets expectations. But AI doesn’t ‘meet expectations’. It exceeds them fast.
With tens of thousands of tech workers laid off in June alone, the pressure to outperform is mounting. So, what happens to the solid, dependable majority? Will ‘competent’ come to mean ‘replaceable’? Will AI raise the bar too high for most to keep up?
5. We need to reimagine work and our social contract
Tech revolutions have always displaced jobs. But this time the pace and permanence feel different.
AI is expected to free workers for more meaningful work. But what will that work be? Even creativity is increasingly outsourced. Will we be left with government-funded leisure?
While Universal Basic Income (UBI) promises stability, it also raises deeper questions: If we no longer have to earn our living, are we empowered citizens or idle crowds?
Some governments are slowly stepping up – like the UK with its AI Growth Zones – yet most remain focused on defense and border security, not AI. So the support systems we need may not arrive in time.
Final Thought
We can’t afford to be passive spectators. AI is not just a technological shift. It’s a societal one. This is not just the job of policymakers or technologists. It’s up to all of us – to ask hard questions and advocate for inclusion, fairness, and purpose.
Governments, communities, NGOs rely on experienced people, engaged citizens, and dedicated volunteers. If we don’t step up now, who will?
As leaders, it’s our role to get involved, raise awareness, drive solutions, and inspire those around us to actively shape change – not just adapt to it.
Habit of Growth 