We just crossed the 15th day of the 6th month and it feels like we just started. Almost 50% of the year has gone by, and I am not sure if we lived it fully or simply managed it. 2026 has felt like a chain of reactions and I don’t recollect a proactive decision or investment. A decision somewhere created a tremor somewhere else, and by the time it reached our homes or offices, we were already learning to adjust.
This year has had anxiety and exhaustion, but not always because of nature or fate. A lot of it has been man-made. Reckon this. Who created AI for the masses? Sam AltMAN!
That name itself feels like a metaphor. Alternative man. A new man. Does Altman have an agenda? It perhaps will be the biggest conspiracy theory of our decade.
The feature rich starter pack of the GenAI platform is addictive and isn’t used as a tool anymore. It has become a reason for layoffs, restructuring, and productivity pressure. Over 1000 people lost their jobs daily across the globe in 2026. People who spent years becoming good at their work are now being told to reskill quickly, and somehow prove that they are not replaceable. Job descriptions in 2026 now look like three roles compressed into one. Reading the founder’s expectations is hilarious at times as it doesn’t connect dots. The irony is that even those JDs are written by AI.
The reverse is happening in the GCC ecosystem. Global Capability Centres have become one of India’s strongest stories. They bring jobs and global work to Indian cities. But even there, attrition is the bigger challenge than setting up operations. The average attrition rate is 22% with almost 50% mid-to-senior GCC employees actively considering new opportunities. To create an aspirational positioning GCCs have to explain what value they create and why India matters. To allow the GCC industry to scale strategic communication will be playing a role here to create the positioning and trust.
Marketing too is changing its course, if not its foundation. The old confidence of campaigns, funnels, engagement and recall is being challenged by AI search. PR is now back with a bang and part of the marketing funnel making marketers relook at their budgets. AI engines which influence decision making prioritize organic and independent content. Over 95% of sources cited by AI are non-paid and earned media. While the foundation still remains human, the operating model has changed. The marketer now has to play many roles among being a strategist, content creator, technologist and analyst.
Governance has had its own difficult half year. War anywhere now enters the common person’s monthly budget through fuel, transport, food and inflation. The 107-day U.S.-Iran war we are paying an undeclared global conflict tax driving India’s wholesale price inflation up to a sharp 9.68%. It did not happen because crops failed. It happened because military leaders chose a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, deliberately choking trade.
Then there are issues like the NEET paper leak, where a man-made failure shakes faith in merit. Around 22.05 lakh students appeared for NEET-UG 2026 that disrupted the earnings of lakhs of families. This negligence is the tax payer’s monthly money going down the drain. The national opportunity to fill the gap of medical practitioners and bring the youth to the mainstream economy is lost as well. One leak does not damage only an exam but trust.
And now, with 50% of the year remaining, I don’t want us to be reflecting or reacting but become a catalyst of evolution. None of these disruptions are new in the story of civilization. We have faced disorder before and risen even mightier as a race. That is the responsibility of this moment too.
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