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The ‘best generation’: World’s first AI minister explains why those aged 40–60 have a unique edge

UAE AI Minister Omar Sultan Al Olama on why 'broad intelligence' beats specialisation.

2 min readNew DelhiJan 11, 2026 02:52 PM IST

The world's first AI minister warned about the risks of excessive specialisation (Image source: Nikhil Kamath/YouTube)

Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE’s youngest minister and the world’s first minister of artificial intelligence, recently shared his views on how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping jobs, human cognition, and generational strengths. He was speaking with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath at the India Global Forum in Dubai.

Reflecting on generational differences, Al Olama described people aged 40 to 60 as “the best generation.” He explained that this group experienced life both before and after the rise of the internet and modern AI tools, giving them a unique cognitive balance. “We lost something called the breadth of intelligence that people had to get by and to live their daily lives in the past,” he said, adding, “We are better, maybe, because the technology came in later in our lives.”

He pointed out that younger generations often lack the practical knowledge that older generations possessed. “We don’t know a lot of things that one generation older than us knows,” Al Olama noted.

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According to him, people in the pre-Internet era had a deeper understanding of nature and the technologies relevant to their fields. “People who were uneducated could build billion-dollar companies,” he said, highlighting how broad, experiential intelligence once played a critical role in success.

Turning to the impact of AI on today’s workforce, Al Olama warned about the risks of excessive specialisation. “With this hyper-focused and specialised world that we are living in today, because of technology, unfortunately, AI is going to beat us to the target,” he said. “If we have to be hyper-specialised, AI can do better than us.”

Addressing younger generations, he offered advice. “Move from intelligence-specific to broad intelligence.” Quoting Shakespeare, he said, “A jack of all trades is a master of none,” but added that the often-overlooked second line is, “But oftentimes better than a master of one.”