Generative AI (gen AI) is at the top of the hype cycle. Rightfully so, since it promises to fundamentally change how businesses operate and how society functions. It might not be coming for your job, but it’s definitely coming for your job description. You’ll learn how gen AI is practically applied across different sectors, unlocking new capabilities and raising new questions. You’ll be given a guided intellectual tour of the ACE model (assist-create-explore), gen AI’s current abilities and limitations, its profound impacts on jobs and skills demands, and the new ethical challenges it raises. And you’ll understand potential resistance from stakeholders, along with what’s next for gen AI. You’ll get insights from experts who connect cutting-edge research with real-world business and work, and who believe insight can be entertaining (let’s call it insightainment). Oh, and you’ll also discover what cats have to do with all of this.

AI brings boundless opportunities… but it also holds the potential to destabilise markets and undermine trust. From bias and discrimination to deepfakes, synthetic activism, misinformation, disinformation and sustainability concerns, this talk fearlessly ventures into the tech shadows. See how AI can be powerful and weird. And discover how its use can land us in hot water. Threats from AI don’t just imperil society; they endanger the integrity of your organisation. If customers can’t tell real from fake, brand reputation evaporates. If ads are indistinguishable from organic content, ad spending becomes fruitless. If AI undermines education and changes what younger generations expect, your workforce strategy is challenged. The audience will be exposed to what the new threats are, what organisations need to prepare for and where to from here. You’ll get insights from experts who connect cutting-edge research with real-world business and work. And you’ll get to experience AI at its strangest, in ways that make you both think and laugh.

How do you lead in a world that’s becoming increasingly disoriented and disorienting? In a world fuelled by shifts that fracture established orders and challenge proven approaches? In a world where change happens continuously, in many parts of your business and life at once? The 2025 Skills Horizon explores what leaders need to know next. And it features insights drawn from conversations with over 70 leaders and executives from around the world, from heads of government to head chefs. The Skills Horizon offers a graphic representation, in-depth quantitative and qualitative analyses, and actionable advice that provides insight into the relevancy, maturity and criticality of 36 skills needed in the future of work. It will help the audience plan for what’s ahead, lead through change, and stay ready for anything.

We’re witnessing times of profound change that will significantly alter the way we live, work, and do business. One of the biggest challenges we face is understanding the profound changes that are underway—their range, speed, and potential impact on individuals, business, and society. You’ll master the six megatrends that encapsulate the patterns of transformative change underway: impactful technology, accelerating individualisation, demographic change, rapid urbanisation, climate and resource security, and economic power shift. You’ll learn about the forces that will shape your business, and leave with unexpected facts, like why the world is running out of sand.