Mohammad Al Gergawi: Governments must be ready to serve a new mankind

World governments must fundamentally rethink how they operate to respond to a new global reality and a new kind of humanity, according to Mohammad Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the World Governments Summit. He was delivering the keynote address on the opening day of the World Governments Summit 2026 in Dubai on Tuesday.

Speaking to a packed audience at Madinat Jumeirah, Al Gergawi said the world is being reshaped by four powerful forces: artificial intelligence, advanced medicine, brain sciences and digital environments. Together, he argued, these forces are not merely driving technological change but accelerating a profound shift in human evolution itself.

He warned that governments are increasingly confronted by Generation Z, a cohort raised in an era of instant access, constant connectivity and rapidly evolving expectations. By 2040, he noted, Gen Z is expected to comprise 40 per cent of the global workforce.

“After every major revolution, there has been a redefinition of government,” Al Gergawi said. “The question today is whether governments are designed for the human of tomorrow or the human of yesterday.”

Urging leaders to move beyond rigid bureaucracy, he stressed that history shows governments either adapt and lead or risk being left behind. “This new era represents a historic opportunity for governments to redefine themselves,” he said. “Their first and true role is to serve mankind.”

Al Gergawi opened his speech by tracing humanity’s major leaps across history, from the agricultural revolution 12,000 years ago to the emergence of writing and the development of legal systems. Each breakthrough, he said, was initially met with fear pointing out that Socrates once warned writing would weaken human memory. “Humanity has never regressed because of fear,” he said. “It has evolved when it gained audacity.”

He explained that artificial intelligence is the first force reshaping the world, enhancing human cognitive capacity and becoming a partner in decision-making. AI already supports medical diagnosis, he said, and could soon perform diagnoses independently. Its computing power, he added, is expected to increase exponentially over the next decade.

Advanced medicine, particularly genomics and early disease detection, is the second force. Falling costs and predictive health technologies could allow diseases to be identified before birth, extending both lifespan and quality of life, with major implications for labour markets, pension systems and social policy.

The third force is brain science. Technologies such as neural implants are already enabling participants in clinical trials to control devices using brain signals. Al Gergawi cited the US company Neuralink, which has been developing implantable brain–computer interfaces since 2024.

Finally, he highlighted the rise of digital environments, noting that more than 5.5 billion people are now connected online. This transformation, he said, has reshaped identity, attention and social behaviour, as individuals increasingly inhabit multiple digital personas. “These environments are creating a different mentality,” he said, raising questions about how governments should respond to citizens whose lives are increasingly shaped by virtual spaces.