UNLEASH Paris 2026

To fuel an AI transformation, leaders must balance not only how technology shifts but how people, processes, and culture adapt. In this fireside chat, we will map macro world trends directly to the messy reality of how Google is navigating this shift. We will explore how the role of the leader must evolve from an expert who holds all the answers to an explorer who fosters rapid experimentation. We will share practical lessons on embedding AI fluency, rethinking organizational workflows, and building a culture that rewards courageous failure.

• World and work trends: Understanding the geopolitical, demographic, and environmental forces accelerating the AI shift
• Google's unique POV: How one of the world's largest tech organizations serves as customer zero
• The human side of transformation: Why continuous reinvention is required to keep pace with technology
• Evolving leadership mindsets: How to shed the 'expert' label, reward the attempt, and redesign the system
• Co-intelligent teams: Integrating AI workflows to augment durable human skills like empathy, judgment, and collaboration
• Actionable takeaways: Practical moves you can make to accelerate adoption across your workforce

When Vineet Nayar inverted the corporate pyramid at HCL Technologies putting employees above customers, transparency above hierarchy and trust above control it challenged how organisations think about value creation. Today, as AI reshapes work that question becomes more urgent where does value actually sit and what is HR responsible for building. Vineet is the author of the forthcoming book 'Humans First, Machines Second: 30 Sparks to Reimagine Winning in the Age of AI' (released mid-2026). The book is anchored in the idea that "AI will not transform organizations until leaders are willing to redesign how humans create value." His previous book, Employees First, Customers Second, published by Harvard Business Press, was a global bestseller with over 100,000 copies sold.

This keynote will draw on large scale transformation experiences across both enterprise and education. The session focuses on what it takes to design organizations where people do the work AI cannot and where HR plays a central role in shaping that system.

• Clarify where value sits in your organization and decide what HR must own versus influence as AI reshapes decision making
• Redesign work beyond roles and tasks shifting towards capability systems that prioritize judgment, problem solving and adaptability
• Define what human advantage means in your business and where to invest in skills that AI cannot replicate at scale
• Rethink frontline leadership and transparency enabling managers to act as decision makers not just executors of central strategy
• Make the shift from reskilling to capability strategy deciding what to stop, start and fundamentally redesign to stay competitive

In this keynote, CEO Eddie Wilson shares how Ryanair has moved beyond experimentation to implementing optimization and machine learning solutions along with the deployment of AI agents across the business, which is driving greater efficiency, productivity, and faster decision-making. This is a story of execution at scale, and the continuous development for next level productivity which is critical as the business continues to grow.

For HR leaders, it raises critical questions: Is your organization AI ready and enabled? How do roles and operating models evolve? And what does leadership look like when humans and AI work side by side? This session cuts through the hype to explore what's working in practice and what type of organization it takes to embed AI at scale in a fast-moving, operational business.

• An AI journey which has only just started: Building a 'second workforce' of AI agents that complements, rather than replaces, human capability
• Making AI investments deliver measurable business value in a tighter economic and highly competitive environment
• Balancing shareholder expectations, operational efficiency and customer experience throughout AI transformation
• Controlling the narrative and leading organizational change so AI becomes part of the business, not a standalone technology project
• Redesigning roles, decision-making and operating models for a workforce of people and AI
• The Key Lessons to enable success: beyond experimentation to enterprise-wide execution