On one horizon: super intelligent partners helping us cure disease and rebuild the planet. On the other: a future where only the ultra-rich hold the keys to intelligence itself. Ahead of World Summit AI 2025 (October 08–09, Amsterdam), Michael van Lier is asking which world we’ll choose—and how soon that choice will matter.
What’s your most compelling dream scenario for AI — a breakthrough that would fundamentally improve life on a global scale?
My dream scenario is reaching artificial general intelligence and eventually superintelligence, not as an endpoint but as a catalyst. Imagine science and robotics advancing at an ultra level — curing diseases, reversing climate damage, exploring space — because we’ve created minds that can collaborate with us at the edge of the unknown. It’s about unlocking discoveries that humanity alone might take centuries to reach.
What’s a recent project or breakthrough you're especially proud of — and what kind of impact do you hope it will have in the real world?
What excites me most right now is applying AI intelligence at the venture studio level. We’re experimenting with how to encode our systems, frameworks, and knowledge so that millions of entrepreneurs could eventually access them — not just the few we work with directly. If we succeed, we’ll democratise company-building at scale, giving founders everywhere the ability to validate, design, and launch ventures with the same sophistication as a top-tier studio.
What’s a use case for AI that you think more people should know about — something positive that’s flying under the radar?
One underappreciated use case is AI as institutional memory — not just storing documents, but preserving reasoning, decisions, and intent. Studios, startups, and enterprises lose enormous value when this disappears. AI can ensure knowledge compounds rather than evaporates, creating organisational “second brains” that make every decision more informed.
If you had to choose one nightmare scenario that keeps you up at night — whether realistic or speculative — what would it be, and what warning signs should we be watching for today?
The nightmare for me is AI knowledge and capability being concentrated in the hands of the ultra-rich and a few mega-players. If access to intelligence becomes exclusive, we risk a world where only a tiny elite can shape the future, while billions are locked out of opportunity. That breaks the promise of AI as an equaliser and instead deepens inequality at a planetary scale.
Who or what do you think has the power to prevent your nightmare scenario above?
The way to prevent this is to design for openness, distribution, and accessibility from the start. That means entrepreneurs, builders, and studios creating systems that scale knowledge broadly — not just tools for Fortune 500s or governments. It also means regulators and ecosystems making sure AI doesn’t become another closed, extractive monopoly. Democratising access is the only safeguard against concentration.
What are we not talking about enough in the AI conversation today — something you believe could be hugely important five years from now?
What we’re not talking enough about is the emergence of agent-to-agent ecosystems. We focus today on AI helping individuals, but the next leap will be autonomous agents negotiating, trading, and collaborating on our behalf. That changes not only productivity but also economics, governance, and even diplomacy — and it’s closer than most people think.
If you look ahead 10 years, what do you think will be the biggest change in our daily lives?
In 10 years, agentic AI will be standard — every role, every enterprise will already have intelligent counterparts handling a large share of work. The real waves will come from AGI breaking open frontiers we’ve struggled with for centuries. In science, collapsing decades of research into days. In robotics, creating machines that can learn and act alongside us in the physical world. In medicine and longevity, unlocking cures and extending healthy human life at scale. The biggest change in daily life won’t be just more productivity at work — it will be the sense that progress itself has accelerated, and that humanity is moving into entirely new chapters of possibility.
Do you think AGI is near? When will we have AGI?
I joined this summit because I believe the future of AI is about intentional design, not inevitability. My message is simple: if we aim AI at advancing human knowledge and empowering more builders, we’ll create an era of discovery and entrepreneurship unlike anything before.
World Summit AI global Summit series
World Summit AI
08 - 09 October 2025
Taets Art & Event Park, Amsterdam
World Summit AI Qatar
09 – 10 December 2025
Doha Exhibition & Convention Center