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20 Feb 2026

The tech reckoning: who shapes the next economy?

In this episode of What Next? Leadership Conversations for a Better Future, Thomas Lingard discusses the power shifts created by AI and digital systems and asks where real agency still lies. Lingard previously founded Unilever’s Global Advocacy team to influence international public policy on sustainable development and who now heads the Centre for Future Generations, to explore where the real opportunity and agency exist to ensure that emerging technologies are used in the best interest of humanity. 

 

Key takeaways

  • AI’s trajectory is not inevitable: The future of AI isn’t fixed - and treating it as inevitable is itself dangerous. Leaders need the mindset and imagination to challenge “it’s just going to happen” narratives. 
  • Governance capacity is not the critical gap: AI is advancing faster than our institutions, policies and public understanding. Leaders must invest in the skills, insight and oversight needed to make informed decisions in an environment of rapid technological change. 
  • Concentration of power is the real near-term risk: Before any long-term speculation, AI is already deepening inequality, reinforcing information disorder and centralising control in a small number of companies.
  • Europe can lead by aligning innovation with values: Europe’s advantage lies in combining innovation with strong public-purpose governance. Europe can shape a model that protects democratic agency while enabling technological capability - but only if it chooses to design for that future 
Listen to the podcast

This episode looks at the power shifts created by AI and digital systems and asks where real agency still lies.

Thomas Lingard, CEO of Centre for Future Generations
Thomas Lingard , Centre for Future Generations, CEO

Leadership in this space needs to include a capacity for imagination. The humility to accept we don’t know what the future will be, and the courage not to give in to deterministic narratives.

Learn more about Thomas Lingard
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What next? Leadership conversations for a better future

What next? Leadership conversations for a better future is a podcast series hosted by Marc Kahn, our Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, and Lindsay Hooper, CEO at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). Along with critical thinkers, innovators and leaders from across the globe, they discuss how markets can truly serve people and the planet, asking tough questions, challenging old assumptions, and opening space for new perspectives and solutions.

Chapter notes | Scroll to the areas that interest you

  • 00:00 — From Sustainability to Tech Governance: Thomas’s strategic shift:

    How a background in IT,  climate policy and corporate advocacy led Thomas to the realisation that misinformation, platform power and AI governance now shape society as profoundly as climate change.

  • 04:30 — Governing Technology at Exponential Speed:

    The acceleration gap, policy lag, and how siloed conversations across tech, sustainability and geopolitics create systemic vulnerability.

  • 09:20 — Four Futures for AI: Concentration, Slowdowns, Arms Race and Diplomacy:

    A walk-through of plausible AI trajectories - from big-tech concentration to global cooperation - and what each means for societal agency.

  • 14:40 — The Near Term Risks: Inequality, Information Disorder , and Power Asymmetry:

    Why the biggest near-term risks sit in economic structures, information disorder and the reinforcement of global power asymmetries.

  • 20:10 — Leadership Mindsets: Agency, Imagination and the “One-Way Door” Problem:

    How can leaders resist tech-determinism, recognise irreversible choices, and build the necessary institutional imagination and organisational capacity.

  • 26:30 — Europe’s Choice and the Path to a Positive Tech Future:

    Europe’s chance to combine values, safety and innovation - with lessons from Taiwan and other governance experiments that show alternative futures are possible.

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