RIYADH: Businesses waiting to integrate artificial intelligence into their models are already falling behind, a professor of scenario planning has warned during a special event in Saudi Arabia focusing on the technology.
Joachim De Vos, who is also founder of innovation and strategy consultancy firm TomorrowLab, told Arab News that organizations should already be looking at which roles should be handled exclusively by AI.
De Vos made the comments at the first Al-Eqtisadiah Forum, which brought together business leaders, decision-makers, and local and international experts and specialists in AI to discuss new discoveries and rising challenges.
With Saudi Arabia declaring 2026 the “Year of Artificial Intelligence,” the forum comes at a time when AI technologies are playing an increasingly prominent role in the economy and business sectors, with the discussion shifting from the technology’s capabilities to how it can be deployed within organizations.
“The main mistake we can do is think we still have enough time to start developing ourselves and start reforming our organizations,” De Vos said.
As AI moves beyond individual workplace tools and into the foundations of how companies create value, the Ghent University professor argued that businesses may need to rethink not just how they operate, but whether their existing business models remain viable at all.
“We all overestimate what's going to happen in five years. We think everything will be robots and everything will be autonomous. No, it won't in 5 years. But we incredibly underestimate what's going to happen in 15 ... We should prepare for it today. We should train our people. We should train our leadership to start asking the right questions. And of course, start piloting with AI, because if we have to do it in 5 to 10 years from now, it's way too late,” he explained.
He believes every company should already be redesigning their models to adapt to these changing times. “That means that we have to unbundle the jobs, look at what we are really doing. What are people doing in our organization? What can be done exclusively by AI? What should be done by humans and AI together and what should be done exclusively by humans?” he said.
Panel discussions at the forum, held at the King Salman Science Oasis and in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, ranged from investing in the AI economy and its growth opportunities to reshaping business models in the modern day.
Mohammed Al-Bishi, editor-in-chief of Al-Eqtisadiah and chairman of the forum, told Arab News: “I think Saudi companies deliver good attention to AI, especially how they use it in their environment and work every day.
“This is why Al-Eqtisadiyah picked this kind of subject, to make the connection between the economy and the AI industry.
“And in five years, I think you're going to see something totally different than what we have today about AI and how it is useful for the businessman and for the companies and other platforms, and even us in the media.”
Al-Bishi noted that the growing number of conferences and events addressing AI have largely focused on technology, investment, infrastructure, and related requirements, while there remains room to examine it as an enabler for the development of the Saudi business sector.
General Supervisor of the Oasis, Khalid Taher, told Arab News: “It is our duty in a science center like ours to really facilitate this communication and make it available for the general public in a very easy to understand language. The opportunities are huge, but there are also some challenges that we can always find solutions to and create opportunities out of that.”
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