Human values — not algorithms — should define future of leadership, innovation and workplace well-being
KUWAIT: The National Leadership Institute (NLI) hosted Breaking Barriers III: AI vs. EI – The Savior of Business on Sunday at the Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Center. Held under the patronage of Minister of State for Communication Affairs Omar Saud Al-Omar, the conference provided a high-profile platform to explore how innovation and leadership must evolve in an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.
In his remarks, Al-Omar emphasized that while AI offers powerful tools for analysis and performance, emotional intelligence remains essential to ensure technology serves humanity rather than becoming an end in itself. “We must harmonize technological progress with human values and responsibility,” he said.
He highlighted the New Kuwait 2035 vision, which aims to build a knowledge-based, diversified economy and strengthen digital integration across all sectors. He noted that the ministry of communications supports this vision by developing infrastructure, enabling smart transformation and fostering innovation among national talents.
NLI CEO Mohammad Al-Khulaifi said AI has become an integral part of professional and personal life, transforming the business landscape at unprecedented speed. This year’s conference, he explained, focused on balancing AI’s analytical and innovative power with emotional intelligence, which embodies human understanding and empathy — traits essential for effective leadership.
“The conference provided a unique platform for participants to engage in specialized sessions led by prominent local and international speakers,” he said. “Discussions centered on creating a new leadership paradigm that combines technology with human values, logic with emotion, and efficiency with humanity.”
Al-Khulaifi added that the event underscores the institute’s role in supporting Kuwait’s knowledge-based economy by fostering interactive environments for personal and professional development, nurturing leadership skills, and building essential competencies to keep pace with the rapidly evolving global job market.
Overdependence fears
During a session on “The Future of AI in Leadership” with UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications Omar Al-Olama, moderator Abdullah Boftain — Managing Partner of Kuwait News and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Kuwait Times — shared his perspective on AI’s risks, not to jobs, but to human emotional intelligence. “I am not afraid AI will take my job,” he said. “What worries me is that my children may lose their emotional intelligence, become overly dependent on AI, and even develop an addiction to it.”
Boftain also spoke with the Emirati minister about leadership qualities in the AI era, noting that technology now shapes how people perceive authority. “Previously, we sought leaders with charisma. Now, technology may overshadow emotional intelligence in how we choose leaders,” he warned. He praised the UAE’s leadership in the global AI race, highlighting the country’s goal to expand AI solution providers by over 500 percent, reaching 10,000 companies by 2030.
Al-Olama affirmed that AI has become an essential part of daily life, influencing learning, work and personal decision-making. The biggest challenge, he noted, is overreliance on AI, which can weaken critical thinking and blur the line between fact and opinion. He emphasized the need to redesign traditional education systems to keep pace with the digital revolution, integrating AI tools with intentional, mindful learning while maintaining practices such as writing with pen and paper to support multi-sensory development.
Emotional and social intelligence, he stressed, remain as important as technical knowledge — particularly in Arab societies where collaboration and community underpin workplace success. Effective leadership, he said, requires continuous development, humility, charisma, and adaptability. He added that the UAE leads global rankings in attracting and retaining AI talent and is already home to more than 1,200 AI-focused companies, with a target of 10,000 by 2030.
AI, Al-Olama noted, is improving the quality of life through innovations such as smart airports and digitally integrated services. “Every traditional business must transform into a digital one to remain competitive,” he said.
Poor delivery
Speaking on “Building AI-Ready Organizations,” Dr Mohamad Shaaban, Global Director of AI Product at Scale AI, delivered a stark warning about the realities of AI deployment, particularly in the GCC. After eight years of implementing AI systems, he said most failures occur because projects either never move beyond the proof-of-concept stage or reach production without delivering measurable value.
According to Shaaban, failures happen for two reasons: Organizations either build the wrong solution or deliver it the wrong way. While the causes were once evenly split, he noted that most failures today stem from poor delivery, not poor design, due to improved technology and more mature vendors.
He outlined three components essential to any successful AI solution: Digital context – accurately representing an organization’s data and processes; latent knowledge – capturing the judgment and expertise of experienced staff; oversight – ensuring safety, governance and controlled decision-making. Without these elements, even advanced models “behave like brains with no memory or understanding,” he said.
Shaaban cautioned against over-verticalized, plug-and-play solutions that ignore an organization’s unique context and against building systems based on future AI capabilities that do not yet exist — often rendering systems obsolete before launch. He stressed that success requires a forward-deployed delivery approach, where engineers, product leaders and domain experts work directly with the organization.
‘Augmented intelligence’
In another presentation, Andrea Cosentino, Affiliate Professor at ESCP Business School and Hult Business School, highlighted that while AI enables machines to perform tasks requiring human intelligence, it remains narrow, data-driven and non-conscious. It can analyze data or create artwork, he said, but it has no awareness, feelings, or values. Cosentino said AI’s rapid growth is fueled by an explosion of data, advances in computing power and breakthroughs in algorithms such as deep learning and transformers. Data quality, he warned, is critical: Biased or incomplete data produces biased or unreliable outcomes.
Emotional intelligence, he noted, remains a uniquely human advantage — encompassing self-awareness, self-management, empathy and relationship skills that enable leaders to navigate tension, uncertainty and fear while building trust. Rather than fearing AI, he urged leaders to ask: “How can we shape AI to protect human dignity?” The future, he said, lies in augmented intelligence — a partnership of AI and EI.
He added that Kuwait’s National AI Strategy (2025-2028) aims to position the country as a regional AI leader by 2028, aligning with Vision 2035. Government-backed partnerships with Microsoft and Google are accelerating cloud-enabled AI infrastructure across public-sector agencies.
Human relationships
On “Emotional Intelligence in the Age of AI”, bestselling author and leading EI expert Dr John Gray warned that AI is subtly reshaping human relationships. He argued that reliance on AI for advice or emotional support risks weakening interpersonal bonds, noting that some individuals now turn to AI systems instead of partners or family.
Gray stressed that AI draws people further into analytical thinking while reducing emotional connection. Human biology — including hormonal responses such as cortisol, estrogen and testosterone — governs empathy and communication in ways artificial systems cannot replicate. He warned that AI’s ability to simulate empathy may inadvertently displace the mutual listening and validation that relationships depend on, describing emerging cases in which women rely on AI for emotional processing and men withdraw after feeling unable to contribute meaningfully.
In workplaces, Gray said excessive reliance on digital tools can increase stress and diminish the sense of purpose that comes from human connection. AI, he noted, cannot generate the fulfillment that arises from being valued and heard. Gray concluded that societies must integrate AI in ways that strengthen, rather than replace, human relationships. Emotional intelligence, he said, is essential for well-being in an age of rapid technological change.
During a panel titled AI vs. EI – The Savior of Business, leading Kuwaiti experts discussed how organizations can balance technological advancement with human-centered leadership. Moderated by Sundus Abbas, the panel featured Hadeel Almehri, Co-Founder and CEO of LOCALS; Dr Norah Abokhodair, Head of Upskilling and AI Transformation at Scale AI; Ali Al-Sahaf, Infrastructure Department Manager at Zain; Abdulrahman Al-Munaifi, Director of Digital Transformation at Warba Bank; and Ahmad Almulaifi, Manager of Information Technology at Kuwait Petroleum. The panelists examined how businesses can align innovation strategies with the human skills needed to sustain growth in an AI-driven future.
