Khaled Bin Braik’s central message was that talent, rather than gold, oil, real estate, infrastructure, capital, or technology, is the world’s most valuable asset because people are the differentiator that make every other asset useful. Speaking from his work across the region, he argued that “the greatest wealth of any nation is its people” and that human capital development has been a cornerstone of national strategy, particularly in the United Arab Emirates. Infrastructure can be built, capital deployed, and technology acquired, but organizations and nations need people to use those assets effectively. He framed this as especially urgent because global challenges such as climate change and geopolitical developments are significant, while the potential to turn them into opportunities depends on cultivating adaptable, agile, creative leaders.

He then identified three major shifts currently reshaping the talent landscape. The first is generational: younger workers entering the workforce have different expectations around career progression, development, flexibility, and benefits. Referencing PwC’s global hopes and fears survey of 50,000 workers across 48 countries, he described a divergence between AI-enabled workers who are positive and driven, and a larger share of workers who are anxious about finances, jobs, and access to growth opportunities. The second shift is the need to build and sustain critical capabilities, which in the UAE context includes nationalization and a shift in focus from how many people were hired to how far they progressed into leadership roles. The third, and most widely discussed, is AI’s impact on jobs and skills; he said the UAE is one of the fastest-growing AI talent markets and that demand for jobs with AI skills has tripled over the past couple of years.

On the question of AI skills shortages, Khaled said the shortage is global, but emphasized Abu Dhabi’s ecosystem approach: government, business, and education working together on the skills agenda. Rather than only asking whether there is a skills gap, he urged leaders to ask whether there is a coordination and alignment gap across the ecosystem. He described government as the ecosystem orchestrator, businesses as the parties defining skills agendas, and education providers as the creators of platforms and learning journeys. He pointed to Abu Dhabi’s value proposition—opportunity, ambition, infrastructure, safety, stability, and healthcare—and highlighted the plan to make Abu Dhabi government AI native by 2027, including the claim that 95% of public sector workers are now trained on AI foundations.

For the private sector and young professionals, the session closed on a practical and optimistic note. Khaled urged companies to double down not only on attracting talent but also on developing and retaining it, because AI is reshaping both jobs and skill sets. He predicted future roles will be hybrid, combining domain expertise, human judgment, and AI fluency. He also argued that organizations must move beyond AI literacy toward AI agency: knowing how to use AI, when not to use it, how to apply human judgment, and how to validate results. For young professionals in or considering Abu Dhabi and the UAE, his advice was to invest in learning and upskilling. While acknowledging global challenges and anxiety about job prospects, he said he remains “always glass half full” because the opportunities and human potential are greater.