By Yvette Odoyo
AI for Good 2026: Understanding the Technology Beyond the Headlines
Artificial intelligence has moved quickly from a conversation about the future to a reality shaping the present. It is influencing how people learn, work, create, communicate, and solve problems across nearly every sector. Yet alongside the excitement around what AI can achieve comes a growing uncertainty, particularly among young professionals entering a world of work that is changing faster than many can predict.
For many, the question is no longer whether AI will affect their careers, but how they can understand, adapt to, and responsibly influence the role it plays in society.
This was one of the central conversations at the AI for Good Global Summit 2026, held in Geneva, Switzerland. The annual summit brought together governments, researchers, technology leaders, civil society organizations, innovators, and young people from around the world to explore how artificial intelligence can contribute to solving global challenges while ensuring that its benefits are accessible to all.
Across discussions on healthcare, education, climate action, creativity, employment, and digital inclusion, one question repeatedly emerged: how do we ensure that AI remains a tool that serves people, rather than a force that determines their future?
Representing the World YMCA at the summit, interns Zachary Alex Frankel and Alexander Advani approached this question from two different perspectives. Zachary reflected on what AI means for young professionals navigating a changing workplace, while Alexander explored what responsible AI adoption means for organizations committed to youth development and social impact.
Their reflections offer two complementary views of a technology that is still evolving, and whose greatest impact will ultimately depend not only on what it can do, but on how people choose to use it.
Understanding AI Beyond the Hype
A young professional’s perspective — Zachary Alex Frankel
Entering the AI for Good Global Summit, Zachary’s goal was not simply to learn about artificial intelligence as a technology, but to better understand the wider ecosystem developing around it.
For many young professionals, the rapid advancement of AI can feel as daunting as it is exciting. The possibility of innovation exists alongside a very real concern: being left behind in a workplace that is changing rapidly.
“As a young professional, the intelligence revolution which the working world finds itself in the midst of is equally as daunting as it is unclear. For many of us, the fear of being left behind vastly outweighs the excitement at possible societal innovation.”
The summit provided an opportunity to move beyond the AI tools most people interact with daily and explore the broader questions surrounding the technology. Through sessions on topics ranging from youth participation in AI governance to the use of artificial intelligence in addressing societal challenges, Zachary gained a deeper understanding of the opportunities, and limitations, of AI.
One discussion that particularly stood out focused on the future of work and how young professionals should prepare for an increasingly AI-enabled workplace.
A panelist challenged the audience to think differently about the skills young people need, suggesting that the next generation should focus on developing what he described as “senior skills.”
Rather than competing with AI in areas where machines can already process information quickly and efficiently, young professionals should strengthen capabilities that remain deeply human: communication, leadership, strategic thinking, implementing organizational vision, and making decisions within complex environments.
The message was not that young people need to compete with AI, but that they need to understand how to work alongside it.
A similar idea emerged during a discussion on AI and African music, where South African music legend Yvonne Chaka Chaka offered a reminder of the boundaries of artificial intelligence.
“AI has never loved, it has never shared, and it has never lost.”
His words captured a recurring theme throughout the summit: AI can support human creativity, but it cannot replace human experience.
It can help write, analyze, organize, and create, but it does not have memories, emotions, relationships, or lived experiences. Those human elements remain central to the way people communicate, lead, and connect with one another.
For Zachary, this was one of the most reassuring takeaways from the summit. AI may significantly change how people work, but it does not remove the need for people. Instead, it reinforces the importance of the skills, perspectives, and values that technology cannot replicate.
At the same time, as the summit made clear, AI is still developing. The direction it takes will depend on the choices made by the people building, governing, and using it.
From AI Adoption to AI Responsibility
What this means for the World YMCA — Alexander Advani
Alexander approached the summit through a broader organizational lens: what responsibility do institutions have in ensuring AI contributes positively to society?
One of his strongest takeaways was that the global conversation around AI has already shifted.
The question is no longer simply whether organizations should use artificial intelligence. The more important question is how they can use it responsibly.
Throughout the summit, speakers emphasized human-centred design, ethical governance, digital inclusion, and the importance of preparing younger generations to participate meaningfully in an AI-driven world.
A recurring theme was that young people should not be viewed only as users of future technologies. They must also be recognized as future innovators, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and decision-makers who will influence how AI develops.
For the World YMCA, this perspective carries particular importance.
As a movement focused on young people and community leadership, the YMCA has an opportunity not only to support young people in using AI tools responsibly, but also to help them understand, question, and shape the technologies that will influence their future.
Another major discussion throughout the summit was the relationship between digital access and AI access.
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into education, employment, and entrepreneurship, existing inequalities in connectivity risk becoming inequalities in participation. The digital divide could quickly become an AI divide.
For Alexander, this reinforced the importance of initiatives that expand digital skills and access, including the World YMCA’s Digital Transformation Strategy and local digital inclusion efforts across the Movement.
Ensuring that young people can participate in an AI-enabled world begins with ensuring they have the tools and connectivity to do so.
Beyond external impact, the summit also raised important questions about how AI can strengthen the World YMCA internally.
Used thoughtfully, artificial intelligence could support greater collaboration across regions, improve access to knowledge and resources, and help National YMCAs learn from one another more effectively. The opportunity is not to replace the human relationships at the centre of the YMCA, but to strengthen the organization’s ability to deliver its mission.
Alexander left Geneva with a sense of cautious optimism. AI will continue to evolve, but its impact will be determined not only by technological progress, but by the values and decisions guiding its use.
Two Perspectives, One Shared Responsibility
These reflections highlight two different dimensions of the AI conversation.
Zachary’s perspective focused on the individual: how young professionals can navigate uncertainty, develop uniquely human skills, and see AI as a tool rather than a replacement.
Alexander’s perspective focused on the collective: how organizations like the World YMCA can ensure that AI adoption is responsible, inclusive, and aligned with their values.
Together, their reflections point to a broader lesson. Preparing for an AI-enabled future is about more than learning how to use new technologies. It is about developing the critical thinking, creativity, leadership, and ethical awareness needed to influence how those technologies are applied.
The AI for Good Global Summit did not provide every answer. In many ways, it highlighted how many questions remain open as artificial intelligence continues to evolve.
But it reinforced one important idea: the future of AI will not be shaped by technology alone. It will be shaped by the people who guide it.
For the World YMCA, that means continuing to ensure that young people are not simply adapting to technological change, but are equipped to participate in the conversations, decisions, and innovations that will define the world ahead.
