Dr Kate Barker advises the office of the UAE Prime Minister on artificial intelligence. She is a global executive advisor and the world’s first Chief Futurist, one of two roles she holds at NEOM alongside Strategic Board Advisor, has delivered keynotes at the World Government Summit, and works with government entities, sovereign institutions and boards across the Emirates on AI governance, human judgement and who owns the decisions machines now shape. She is a TIME100 AI Impact Award honouree and the author of Hidden Power.
Most speakers describe AI transformation. Dr Kate has built it inside a state.
Her work is anchored in the Executive Cognitive Advantage Index, her diagnostic for the human capabilities that become more valuable as AI scales: judgement and discernment, cognitive agency, relationship capital, executive alignment, and human + AI decision performance. It exists because of what her research across six thousand executive leaders found. Eighty-two per cent of leaders say AI has made their decisions faster. Only 54% believe it has made them better.
That gap is the subject. Dubai is deploying agentic systems into live government and enterprise decisions faster than almost anywhere on earth. The question that follows is not whether the technology works. It is whether the people accountable for the decision are still exercising judgement over it.
Dr Barker’s counsel is sought where the consequence is national rather than commercial — capability, readiness and the pace at which a population can absorb change. She is direct, she brings evidence, and she is entirely free of the theatre that surrounds this subject. That is why she is in the room.
World Government Summit, Dubai · UAE sovereign advisory · Board retreats and executive sessions across DIFC and Downtown Dubai
What every board and executive team must decide as intelligent systems move from advice to action.
How judgement, influence and performance shift when machines enter the decision room.
How leaders turn human and AI capability into measurable organisational value.
Delivered as mainstage keynotes, closed-door board briefings or full board retreats.
A short FAQ. For longer conversations, please write directly.
Dr Kate Barker is the world’s first Chief Futurist, advises the office of the UAE Prime Minister, has keynoted the World Government Summit, holds a TIME100 AI Impact Award, and built the Board AI Index used to assess board AI readiness. She is Chief Futurist at NEOM and author of Hidden Power, publishing November 2026 with Amplify in association with Thinkers50.
Four questions. Who owns the decisions this system now makes. What information does the board receive about them. At what altitude is the board governing, and where does it slip into the operational. And whose judgement is quietly eroding while the system performs. Dr Kate’s board sessions work through all four using the Board AI Index.
Yes, for keynotes, board retreats and executive sessions across Dubai and the UAE. Eighty engagements are accepted each year, with a twelve-week minimum lead time. Fees and availability on request.
Twelve weeks minimum lead time. Eighty bookings a year. Every enquiry is read personally.