2026 Data for Inclusive Growth Forum

The question is no longer whether AI will transform our economy, but how we will prepare people to succeed alongside it. In this conversation, Governor Eric Holcomb, Co-Chair of RAISE US, and Greg Ulrich, Chief AI and Data Officer at Mastercard, will discuss the role of cross-sector leadership in equipping workers, entrepreneurs, and communities for the opportunities and challenges that come with its adoption. They will explore how public-private collaboration can help ensure that AI serves as a catalyst for economic mobility and human flourishing.

For too long, AI developers have focused on making machines more human. The greater opportunity is the reverse – how to use machines to expand the human capacity to be human: to judge, to create, to empathize, and to build trust. As technology becomes increasingly woven into every moment of our day, will the true measure of success be the intelligence of our systems, or the human potential they unlock? This session will discuss the tools we have now to build an AI future that expands human agency.

Tools, fellowships, training programs, educational resources, and partnerships are all critical components of how we build capacity in the social sector. Together, they help organizations prepare for and adopt advances in data and technology that can accelerate their missions. Through both an academic and social sector lens, this panel will explore the foundational work that is the bedrock empowering the social impact sector to transform their deep knowledge of the communities they serve into long-lasting impact.

As AI transforms economies and societies around the world, billions of people remain invisible to the systems that power it, not because they lack data, but because the ways they live, work, and communicate aren’t seen as valuable. This conversation explores how innovators across the Global South are challenging those assumptions. From building datasets in underrepresented languages to capturing local knowledge and recognizing informal economic activity, these leaders are expanding the data foundations so that more people can participate and benefit.

Can artificial intelligence help us understand the health of our planet at a scale never before possible? In this session, the World Resources Institute will explore how cutting-edge AI, satellite imagery, and remote sensing technologies are transforming the way we monitor and verify ecosystem restoration around the world. Drawing on new practices supporting the Priceless Planet Coalition, the session will showcase how AI can make environmental monitoring faster, more cost-effective, and more transparent. Beyond measuring trees and landscapes, trusted data can help channel greater investment into restoration efforts that support local livelihoods, strengthen community resilience, and create economic opportunity.

The future of AI will be shaped not just by what systems can do, but by whether people trust them to do it. As autonomous systems gain access to more data, more decisions, and greater influence over our lives, what standards, frameworks, and mechanisms are needed to ensure AI remains transparent and worthy of public confidence?

As workers, civic leaders, and the public push back against unchecked automation, the narrative around AI has shifted from adoption to urgent scrutiny. Between industry calls for safety pauses and a growing public skepticism around algorithmic decision-making, the core debate is not what AI can do, but what it should be allowed to control. How do we keep humans at the center?

NPR TED Radio Hour host Manoush Zomorodi (Body Electric) and Atlantic staff writer Josh Tyrangiel (AI for Good) will examine the real-world friction between technological deployment and public acceptance and explore how digital saturation affects human biology and autonomy, cuts through Silicon Valley hyperbole to evaluate where AI actually serves the public good and confronts whether businesses and institutions can maintain public trust without hitting the brakes.

Historically, only a subset of small businesses has had access to vetted, affordable capital. CDFIs (or community development financial institutions) have expanded access to underserved small businesses but, with limited resources, need technology and innovation to scale their impact. This panel spotlights how CFIG partners in the US are using AI and other new technologies in the small business lending cycle – from capital readiness training to loan portfolio analysis and management – and the impact these changes have had on the small businesses they serve.

AI is unlocking a new era of innovation at the intersection of healthcare, insurance, and financial services. From personalized financial solutions and AI-powered underwriting to embedded finance and new models of healthcare funding, organizations are using data and AI to expand access, improve outcomes, and unlock entirely new sources of capital. This conversation will explore how AI is enabling faster and smarter decision-making, helping providers and small businesses access funding, broadening participation in financial systems, and creating the next generation of healthcare financing.

Estimates suggest AI could reshape the global jobs landscape, while driving a major wave of productivity and growth. Handled well, this transition could create enormous opportunity; handled poorly, it risks leaving people – and the demand they generate – behind. This session moves past the headlines to a practical question for business leaders: as work, income, and opportunity evolve, what happens to the consumer? We’ll explore how leaders are preparing for the future consumer, from shifts in buying power to the reskilling and workforce investments that determine the results of the transition to an AI economy.

As capital and influence from the AI boom pour into the social impact sector, how should these resources be allocated to create opportunity for all? Similarly, how can philanthropy, as a steward of public interest, play a role in helping turn AI’s promise into meaningful, sustainable impact? In this session, we’ll hear from funders and influencers with deep experience advancing equitable outcomes on the opportunities and tensions between AI and philanthropy — and how this new wave of capital, talent, and technology can be directed toward expanding opportunity, strengthening communities, and ensuring the benefits of AI are broadly shared.

We are living through a moment of extraordinary technological change, one of immense promise and significant consequence for our world. How can we foster innovation that strengthens trust, expands economic opportunity and ensures its benefits reach people and communities everywhere? Drawing on her leadership of the UN’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa reflects on the choices we face today that will shape whether this transformation serves humanity’s collective progress.