Agenda

Led by Dr Victor (Vik) Perez (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China), the session explores how human-centred AI requires greater attention to the cognitive conditions that enable learners and entrepreneurs to think, learn and make effective decisions in increasingly AI-mediated environments.

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded across education, entrepreneurship and the digital economy, global discussions have largely focused on technological capabilities. The session presents an emerging conceptual perspective that argues successful human-centred AI depends not only on technological capabilities, but also on the cognitive conditions that enable people to think, learn, decide and act effectively in AI-rich environments. It proposes that the cognitive conditions created by AI systems will increasingly shape how effectively individuals, organisations and societies benefit from digital transformation. Cognitive readiness is presented as a key operational dimension of this broader framework.

At the core of the programme is the presentation, Human-Centred AI and Cognitive Readiness: Preparing Learners and Entrepreneurs for the Next Digital Economy, which introduces an emerging conceptual framework connecting AI, human cognition and digital capacity building. The framework is illustrated through applied initiatives demonstrating how cognitive conditions can be intentionally designed to strengthen human agency in AI-rich environments. The discussion concludes by examining implications for education, entrepreneurship and public policy, encouraging dialogue on how future AI strategies can strengthen human capabilities alongside technological innovation.

Aligned with the WSIS vision of fostering people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented information societies, the session encourages collaboration among educators, policymakers, researchers and industry to advance more resilient, human-centred digital futures.

Continuing the Dialogue
Building on the discussions initiated during the WSIS Forum, the dialogue is being extended through a set of complementary international initiatives designed to advance discussion on Cognitive Conditions and Human-Centred AI.

An invited collection of International Perspectives on Cognitive Conditions brings together reflections from leading voices across different fields and institutional contexts. The perspectives explore, through different disciplinary lenses, the human capacities and conditions that may require greater attention as AI and other intelligent technologies become increasingly embedded in learning, work and society.

Taken together, the perspectives highlight distinct but interconnected dimensions of this emerging conversation: motivation and academic self-efficacy; problem formulation; human capability and technological coexistence; imagination, creativity and integrative ability; neural self-regulation and autonomous thinking; and metacognition, cognitive flexibility, attention and critical thinking.

Emerging from different disciplinary and professional perspectives, these contributions raise a broader question for human-centred AI: as technological capabilities advance, what cognitive conditions will enable people to continue developing and exercising the human capacities upon which learning, judgement, agency and meaningful participation depend?

International Perspectives on Cognitive Conditions

International Perspectives on Cognitive Conditions

Learning, Motivation & Self-Efficacy

Professor Robert M. Klassen
Department of Education, University of Oxford

“Achievement motivation is a key driver of learning in education settings. I observe with interest how the increasing reliance on AI influences students' motivation in the classroom. From a social cognitive perspective, academic self-efficacy is affected when students experience fewer opportunities for mastery experiences; that is, when they do not have to wrestle with difficult tasks and experience success (or failure). Further exploration of the relationship between AI use and academic self-efficacy and other forms of motivation is urgently needed.”

Problem Formulation & AI

Alexandra Dragomirescu
OECD Education 2040, FG2A Co-Chair

“One emerging cognitive condition deserves closer international attention: the weakening of problem formulation—the capacity to identify a real problem and state it precisely in writing. As AI turns vague, poorly written prompts into polished, coherent answers, people lose practice in both. The loss is structural, not merely grammatical: writing makes intentions and requirements explicit, and no ‘mind-reading’ AI assists us when we negotiate or ask for help. International frameworks fold this into critical thinking, which measures the evaluation of answers, not the construction of questions. Problem formulation should be treated as a distinct competence—taught, practised, assessed, and compared across systems.”

Human Capability & Human–Robot Coexistence

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro
Department of Systems Innovation, Osaka University

“Humans have long expanded the capabilities through technology; indeed, this is one of the most defining characteristics of humanity. In the short term, the key lies in how we use AI and robots to enhance our abilities. In the long term, the priority shifts to designing a society where humans coexist with AI and robots.”

Future Education, Human Wisdom & Digital Intelligence

Professor Youmin Xi
Executive President, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Liverpool

"Facing digital-intelligence era challenges, university education demands three urgent shifts: first, transitioning from knowledge transmission to competency-oriented education; second, fostering global perspective, imagination, creativity and integrative ability; third, reorienting from ignorance prevention to equipping learners to navigate uncertain, complex and volatile worlds. In response, we leverage our Syntegrative Education and AI‑enabled cross‑boundary industry‑university‑research‑government‑society ecosystem to forge a globally impactful XJTLU Approach to the development of education worldwide".

Self-Regulation & Autonomous Thinking

Thomas Feiner
Director, Institute for EEG-Neurofeedback (IFEN)

“In an age in which technology increasingly knows how humans think, how do we ensure that humans themselves still learn how to think? In my view, cognitive readiness begins with the brain’s capacity for self-regulation: to direct attention, shift perspectives, recognize biases, tolerate ambiguity, contradiction and cognitive dissonance, and critically question information rather than retreating into expert, ideological or algorithmically reinforced bubbles.”

Metacognition, Cognitive Flexibility, Attention & Critical Thinking

Barak Cerff
Vice-Chair, QS Reimagine Education Awards

“Across educational innovation globally, we are seeing increasing attention given to metacognition, cognitive flexibility, attention, and critical thinking. These capacities will remain essential as technology becomes more embedded in learning, particularly the ability to question information, make connections and apply knowledge in unfamiliar contexts. The challenge is to ensure that technology continues to strengthen these human capabilities rather than diminishing the need to exercise them.”

Global Questions for the Future of Human-Centred AI

Global Questions for the Future of Human-Centred AI will progressively bring together forward-looking questions proposed by international contributors, identifying areas requiring further research, policy attention and interdisciplinary dialogue around human cognition, capability and agency amid technological change.

The dialogue continues through the Human Cognition Observatory, which provides a continuing platform for international perspectives, emerging cognitive signals and interdisciplinary synthesis on Cognitive Conditions, human capability and technological change.

The initiative welcomes ongoing contributions from researchers, educators, policymakers and industry leaders interested in advancing Human-Centred AI and Cognitive Conditions.