WEF ties AI scaling closely to data foundations and governance

The World Economic Forum published a report on January 19, 2026. It shows measurable AI gains in over 30 countries and 20 industries. The report highlights MINDS awards for large-scale, real-world deployments. It also documents 2025 MINDS organizations and outcomes. WEF lists five levers for scaling AI. These are enterprise strategy, work redesign for human–AI collaboration, strong data foundations, modern platforms, and governance for safe, accountable deployments. The report cites MINDS winners in energy, healthcare, and infrastructure where those levers produced measurable impact. It names private-sector practitioners, including Tech Mahindra, that moved from pilots to production. For technical leaders, recommended actions are concrete. Prioritize data quality, metadata, and access policies. Invest in platform modernization and observability. Align governance with workforce redesign to capture value at scale. The WEF framing and MINDS examples provide a cross-industry playbook to turn experiments into measurable outcomes.

Why It Matters

• Prioritize data foundations (quality, metadata, access controls) to enable reliable, reusable AI across products and domains.
• Modernize platforms and add observability to measure AI performance and risk before broad rollout.
• Redesign roles and workflows for human–AI collaboration to capture measurable productivity gains.
• Implement governance guardrails alongside deployments and workforce changes to reduce operational and reputational risk.