AI Isn’t just a technological challenge; It is a human transformation
The next energy revolution will not be powered by technology alone. It will depend on people who are willing to adapt, reskill, and rethink the way they work. That was the core message from the ADIPEC 2025 panel, titled ‘The Talent Transformation Behind Energy 5.0,’ where leaders from ADNOC, TotalEnergies, Cisco, and Caltech explored how human capital will define the next phase of energy evolution.
“Energy 5.0 is a historical turning point,” said Tayba Al Hashmi, CEO of ADNOC Offshore. “It’s the moment where technology, sustainability, and human progress come together. At ADNOC, we’re not just preparing for this era, we’re leading it.”
She outlined ADNOC’s ambition to become an AI-native energy company, with more than 200 AI solutions already deployed across its value chain: from drilling and logistics, to maintenance and energy efficiency.
“AI brings huge value, but also challenges such as cybersecurity, data, cost, and most importantly, skill,” she said. “To lead the future, we must recruit and develop the right talent, and strengthen partnerships with technology developers and subject-matter experts.”
“If we’re not skilling at the speed of innovation, we’ll always be laggards.”
The Rise of The ‘Micro Age’
For Dr. Guy Diedrich, Chief Innovation Officer at Cisco, the pace of technological change has entered an entirely new dimension. “The Industrial Age lasted 200 years; the Information Age, 40. The Digital Age lasted 15. Now we’re in an AI micro age, it’s here and gone in just a few years,” he said. “Those who embrace and seize this disruption, like the UAE, will be the winners.”
But every revolution brings dislocation. Diedrich warned that while 92 million jobs could be displaced by technology in the next three years, around 170 million new ones will emerge. “It’s our collective responsibility to retrain the 92 million, and skill up the 80 million new jobseekers,” he said. “AI isn’t just a technology challenge; it’s a human transformation.”
Cisco’s latest AI Readiness Index, which is a survey of 8,000 AI and IT leaders worldwide, found that only 14% of organisations are ready to scale AI responsibly. “The best companies are transforming the way they look at jobs. They’re no longer focusing on job descriptions; they’re focusing on workflows,” he said. “When you look at workflows, everything finds its place. What’s done by humans, what’s done by AI, by robots, humanoids, or even quantum systems.”
Cisco’s free Networking Academy, launched nearly 30 years ago, has already trained 26 million people. “If we’re not skilling at the speed of innovation, we’ll always be laggards,” Diedrich said. “We must be willing to practise creative destruction; to let go of the old and make room for the new.”
Physics-Informed AI
From the academic frontier, Professor Anima Anandkumar of Caltech, formerly at Nvidia, offered a glimpse of what’s next. “Humans aren’t used to exponentials,” she said. “ChatGPT may have gone mainstream overnight, but AI has been evolving for decades.”
Her focus now lies beyond language models, applying AI to the physical world. “We need AI that understands equations and experimental data: what I call physics-informed AI. That’s how we’ll unlock discoveries in energy, materials, and climate.”
Her work in weather forecasting has already shown promise. “What once required a supercomputer can now run on a gaming PC,” she said. “Accurate forecasts of extreme weather save lives and reduce economic costs. This is AI for energy, and energy for AI, a circular relationship that will define the next decade.”
From Pilots to Performance
At TotalEnergies, Michael Lutz, Chief Data Officer, said the company is moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide transformation. “Until recently, AI solved local pain points,” he said. “Now it’s re-engineering business processes; AI and data by design.”
The company’s AI 2025 strategy centres on three flagship programmes: using AI to optimise industrial operations, deploying digital tools for safety and sustainability, and developing integrated models for power generation. “We’re moving beyond pilots, into scalable solutions,” Lutz said. “But success depends on data quality, AI democratisation, and embedding company knowledge within systems.”
Human insight remains critical. “The best decisions come when human expertise meets AI capability,” he added. “You can’t replace deep field knowledge; you have to encode it, fine-tune it, and ensure humans remain in the loop.”
“We must be willing to practise creative destruction; to let go of the old and make room for the new.”
Culture at the Core
For ADNOC, human focus remains the anchor, said Al Hashmi. The company has trained more than 20,000 employees in AI tools, and continues to prioritise cultural change. “AI cannot transform by itself, it must be driven by skilled people who understand its value,” she said.
“Technological transformation must be a human transformation. Educate people about how AI supports them to work faster, smarter, and better. Bring together experts, developers, and operators in one room to solve problems collectively. If we move together, we move faster.”
Energy 5.0, the panel agreed, will not just redefine technology, it will redefine work itself. “AI isn’t a tool to be solved. It’s a human transformation to be led,” Diedrich concluded.
