Disrupt or Be Disrupted: is this the Real AI and are we ready?

A few days ago, a friend sat with me over coffee and asked me, “Lately, we’ve been hearing about new types of artificial intelligence emerging one after another, from Generative AI not long ago to Agentic AI today. What’s the story behind this rapid and remarkable evolution?”

I know if I want to give him a full, detailed answer, then I’ll have to write a book, but he wanted the real and simple answer because he is an executive with no technical background, and I know you need to be to the point unless they ask you to elaborate more. So I told him, “AI isn’t new. It’s been around since the 1950s, starting with simple ‘if-then’ rules like a big tree of yes/no decisions. We called that rule-based AI.” But still, that wasn’t enough. Later, neural networks were developed to mimic the brain. But they were hard to manage as tasks got more complex. Then, around the 2000s, we stopped coding rules and started feeding machines data. That’s when Machine Learning was born, which wasn’t thinking independently. We’ve entered the age of Generative AI and Agentic AI, which can write, solve problems, and even create content. They sound human, but they’re still far from thinking like one.

But “The dawn of Artificial Intelligence has just begun. Things will change faster, and the day AI can self-develop and self-grow is the day it will mature and shine.” That’s what I believe. True AI will be the kind that can redesign its logic, generate new ideas without human prompts, and adapt like a child who learns from life. That’s when we’ll meet real intelligence. And if this intelligence is paired with a physical form — a robot — then its evolution becomes limitless. Not just a fast analyser and doer, but a thoughtful mind. Recently, Apple published a research paper that supports this idea. Even the best GenAI tools today don’t truly understand. They don’t think; they predict by mimicking patterns in data, and when things get truly complex, they fail to help you. It’s like watching a parrot give a TED Talk: it sounds brilliant, but it has no idea what it just said.

This is the new race, and every country wants to achieve this level of AI and be the first. Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in AI: from infrastructure and data centres to building human capabilities with the new one million AI expert initiative. The recent announcement that Humane is joining the Saudi ecosystem is a powerful signal, too. Our aim is not to be just users of AI, but we’re building the future of it. This is about more than just technology. It’s about leadership and a unified vision, and here comes our role to follow: our leadership. As leaders in our organisations, we need to start thinking about how to use GenAI. Don’t wait for perfect AI. Use what’s available today to solve real problems. If we don’t start now, someone else will, and we’ll be disrupted. For any technology, the biggest mistake is waiting until it’s flawless. Adapt early and move fast, or fall behind. Let me make it simple for non-technical leaders. Here’s my secret recipe for getting started: GenAI adoption isn’t just a simple tech project.  Implementing such technology must align with your vision and business strategy, like any emerging technology. Change starts at the leadership level. Adopting this technology is critical, and employees should be aware that AI will not replace humans, but it will reshape their roles. Empower your teams, upskill them, and help them become AI-native professionals. Don’t try to do everything at once. Focus on these three use cases or areas: internal productivity, customer engagement and sales, and bold innovation. Don’t be afraid to fail; try to experiment, learn, and stay agile. Ultimately, you are not wasting resources but investing in the future and ensuring your organisation stays relevant and sustainable. Let’s learn from other mistakes, organisations that doubted the digital disruption and ended up leaving the marketplace.

The choice is simple: disrupt your industry or be disrupted by someone else’s AI.