#BTDavos2026 | Ananya Birla On AI, Emotional Intelligence And The Future Of Human Capital

On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, at BT Davos 2026, Ananya Birla, Director, Aditya Birla Group, speaks with Business Today on the pivotal moment that reshaped her thinking on artificial intelligence. She says while automation is accelerating, emotional intelligence remains humanity’s biggest advantage over AI. Citing data that shows most institutions are experimenting with AI but few are seeing real impact, Birla flags a global execution bottleneck. She stresses that the real challenge lies in preparing human capital—through workforce mobilisation, reskilling, and rethinking incentives—to adapt to rapid change. Birla argues AI should be used to enhance productivity and strengthen people, not disrupt labour markets.