Day One at AI for Good 2026 Geneva: The AI Questions the World Is Asking

Jul 7 / Darren Winter

We arrived at Palexpo Geneva this morning for Day one of the AI for Good Global Summit 2026, and by the time the afternoon sessions wrapped up, our team had spoken to governments, NGOs, global professionals and organisations from across the world. Here is our take on what the world is asking about AI:

What are AI governance frameworks — and why do countries approach them differently?

The big theme of the day was AI governance. Government representatives and policymakers from multiple countries discussed how their nations are developing national AI frameworks, and the variation between them was striking.


Developed economies are largely working within or alongside established regulatory structures such as the EU AI Act, GDPR and sector-specific legislation. Developing nations face a fundamentally different challenge: how do you design and implement an AI governance framework when the technology is arriving faster than the institutions needed to regulate it?

This is not a peripheral concern. As our Company Director, Darren Winter, noted in conversation with several government delegates: "AI governance in developing countries is not just about catching up with the West, it is about having the opportunity to design frameworks that are more equitable, more human-centred, and more fit for purpose than those built under time pressure elsewhere."

The conversations around AI governance within organisations mirrored this at a smaller scale. Business leaders want to implement AI responsibly, but many are operating without a clear internal governance structure. 

AI upskilling — why the urgency is real?

AI upskilling was the most frequently raised concern of the day, among NGO representatives, senior professionals, and government advisors. One exchange that stood out came from a visitor who challenged the need for AI training, asking: "Did people get training on the internet before Google arrived?" It is a sharp question. The internet reshaped the world of work over two decades. AI may do the same in two years. In our view, the professionals who will adapt fastest are not necessarily those with the deepest technical knowledge; they are those with structured, credible, transferable qualifications that allow them to apply AI tools within their own professional context.

AI education for NGOs — access, affordability and impact

Several NGO representatives raised the challenge of AI education within resource-constrained organisations. The core tension is straightforward: AI tools are increasingly available to NGOs and can dramatically improve operational efficiency and impact measurement, but the staff who need to use them often lack the foundational knowledge to do so confidently and responsibly

Data protection in manufacturing — an underappreciated AI governance challenge

A specific area of conversation that James McConnell, our Strategic Business Partner, engaged with in depth was data protection in manufacturing environments. As AI systems are increasingly deployed on production lines and in operational technology settings, organisations are processing sensitive data about employees, processes, suppliers and customers n ways that existing data protection frameworks were not designed to govern.


The intersection of AI and data protection is an area where qualified professionals are in short supply. BCS Data Protection qualifications through Duco Digital Training provide a rigorous foundation for professionals working in these environments.

AI and human rights — governance as an ethical question

Several conversations throughout the day addressed the relationship between AI and human rights directly. Questions around algorithmic bias, AI-enabled surveillance, automated decision-making in criminal justice and welfare systems, and the governance of facial recognition technology were all raised.

Is AI actually needed? The question behind the question

One visitor posed a genuinely provocative question during the afternoon: "Is AI actually needed?" It is easy to dismiss this as scepticism, but it deserves a serious answer.

AI is not needed in the way that oxygen is needed. It represents a set of tools with transformative potential that can be directed toward human flourishing or harm, depending on the decisions made by the people and institutions that govern their use. The real question is not whether AI is needed but who gets to decide how it is used, and whether those people have the knowledge, the credentials and the ethical frameworks to make those decisions well.

AI augmentation and the future of careers — what should young people study?

One of the most energising conversations of the day concerned young people and the future of work. Just as digital natives (those who grew up with the internet) developed intuitive relationships with digital technology, we are now seeing the emergence of AI natives: children starting school today who will never know a world without AI-assisted tools, AI-generated content, and AI-mediated communication.


The question several visitors raised was genuinely difficult: what careers should young people be choosing in an AI-augmented world?
The honest answer is that no one can predict with certainty which specific roles will exist in ten or twenty years. But the evidence from previous technological transitions suggests that the people who thrive are not those who resist new tools; they are those who develop the human skills that AI cannot replicate: critical judgment, ethical reasoning, interpersonal communication, creative problem-solving, and the ability to work effectively across cultures. This view was echoed by Phillip Colligan, CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, who highlighted the need to equip young people to understand and responsibly use AI, rather than simply consume it. A practical takeaway was the availability of the free www.experience-ai.org learning resources, which help teachers and learners build foundational AI knowledge and skills for the future.

Another recurring theme in Phillip Colligan’s talk was also that agentic AI will amplify human capability rather than replace it, making the combination of human and AI intelligence far more powerful than either alone. While technical AI literacy is important, uniquely human skills—including relationship building, empathy, collaboration, conflict resolution, negotiation, and adaptability—will become even more valuable in the workplace.

The panel in the talk also highlighted the potential of AI tutors and personalised learning tools to help learners develop both technical and soft skills at scale. However, successful adoption will require strong guardrails, safety measures, and responsible governance, particularly when supporting children and vulnerable populations. Addressing the digital divide remains critical to ensuring that AI-driven opportunities are accessible to everyone, not just the digitally privileged. 
Ultimately, the panel concluded that trust will be the key unlock for AI success, with future human–AI workplaces built on the foundations of accuracy, safety, empowerment, and sustainability.

The goal of AI augmentation, therefore, should not be to compete with AI; it is to be the person who knows how to direct it.

Everyone arrives with different expectations about AI — and that is the point

Perhaps the most important observation from Day one is the simplest: everyone comes to AI with different expectations, different fears and different starting points. Governments want frameworks. Organisations want governance structures. Professionals want credentials that get them hired. NGOs want accessible education for their teams. Young people want clarity about their futures. Manufacturing firms want data protection expertise. Developing nations want frameworks that serve their own populations, not just imported models from elsewhere.


What every visitor to our stand today had in common was that they were asking questions about AI (rather than assuming it will either solve everything or destroy everything), which is a great starting point.
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Read about day two
Read about day three




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