Arab Forum for Sustainable Development

I was excited and honored to speak on May 21st, 2026 on a panel at the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development on the topic of the anticipated future impacts of AI on jobs and employment in the Middle East and North Africa.

The session, “Shaping the Future of Work in the Arab Region: Artificial Intelligence and Employment Pathways,” was conducted online from 8:30am to 10:00am US Eastern time and was open to the public as well as to invited guests.

A recording of the entire session is available at this link. My remarks begin at approximately the 28:00 minute mark, preceded by Aya Jafar and followed by Mounir Tabet and subsequently a moderated panel discussion.

This was the first public discussion of some of the key findings and the alternative future scenarios, set in the year 2035, in the recently released joint report “Artificial Intelligence and Employment Futures for the Arab Region” from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

I’ll post the report in a separate blog here on the Foresight Vector website.

I had the honor and privilege of being the lead author of this report and crafting its scenarios.

Joining me in this session were Tarik Alami, Mohammad Nawar Alawa, and Mounir Tabet (ESCWA); Ruba Jaradat, Aya Jaafar, and Sher Verick (ILO); Prof. Mariette Awad (American University of Beirut); and Shayma Al Awadhi (UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation).

My thanks to ESCWA and ILO for the kind invitation and for sponsoring this important strategic foresight work.