Dear WAIC members,

Thanks for joining our World AI Council Annual Meeting on Dec 10. The purpose was simple: align on WAIC’s 2026 direction and turn it into an execution plan.

If you’re interested in joining a WAIC committee (verticals, chapters, or World AI Forum 2026 planning), please submit the WAIC Committee Application here. We’ll confirm committee seats and kick off operations in early January 2026.

We covered 4 core topics: legal structure, verticals & domains, chapters, and the World AI Forum 2026.

Here’s the strategic brief and the actions we need from members to move fast.

We are moving forward with a member-based association model (Swiss association as the leading path; UK as a fallback). Separately, we will adopt a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) alignment as our mission lens (not a legal affiliation) to strengthen global positioning, partnerships, and measurable reporting. Recommended SDG lens: SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure); optional secondary lens: SDG 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth) to emphasize workforce transformation.

CTA: Join the legal follow-up call (invite coming) to discuss further.

We agreed to scale WAIC through a small, demand-driven set of sector and domain verticals first (before geography). Each vertical will be led by a lean committee (4–6 experts) that will design the vertical itself and agree on a standard report structure we can publish on a recurring basis. That report structure will also be the structure of the vertical’s program material and assets.

CTA: If you want to help launch and shape a vertical, please apply through the WAIC Committee Application and select the vertical committee you want to join. Committees will be kept lean (4–6 members). The first committee task in early Jan 2026 will be to confirm and refine the standard vertical structure so every vertical produces consistent, publishable outputs.

We plan to launch 5–7 pilot chapters in 2026 as local execution engines that replicate WAIC’s vertical model in key regions. We already have early interest to launch chapters in Europe, US/Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the MENA region. Chapters are not “social groups” — they’re meant to run at least one program, produce local use cases, and activate partnerships and talent that feed back into the global vertical reports and the WAIC repository.

CTA: If you can lead or co-lead a pilot chapter, please apply through the WAIC Committee Application and select Chapters, then choose your region and what you can commit to deliver in 2026.

We are targeting October 2026 for the first World AI Forum (WAIF), designed as WAIC’s annual forcing function: every vertical shows up with standardized, publishable outputs that match what we deliver in our executive programs. The Forum is not “just an event”—it’s the moment WAIC releases its latest certified work to the market. We may start with an invite-only Member Summit first, then scale, while keeping the signal high.

Key deliverable from the Forum (per vertical):

Each vertical will publish a flagship report (working title: “State of AI in [Vertical] — 2026 Edition”). The final title and publication cadence (quarterly, bi-annual, annual, etc.) are still open and will be finalized with the vertical committee. This report becomes the official public artifact that consolidates the vertical’s learning, standards, and certified outcomes—built using the same standardized approach used across WAIC programs.

CTA: If you can help shape WAIF 2026, please apply through the WAIC Committee Application and select World AI Forum. If selected, you’ll be asked to choose one workstream (Program & Content / Speakers & VIP / Partners & Sponsors / Operations & Venue).

That’s the plan for 2026: lock the legal setup, launch a small set of verticals/domains first, pilot chapters in a few key regions, and use WAIF 2026 as the annual moment where we publish what we actually built.

If you want to be hands-on, please submit the WAIC Committee Application (it’s the fastest way for us to assign seats and start working). After the 10-day window closes, we’ll confirm committee members, share the kickoff agenda, and meet in early January 2026 to finalize the execution plan and start operations.

If you’re not joining a committee right now, no problem —just keep an eye out for the follow-up email with the confirmed committees, timelines, and the first deliverables.

Thanks,

Sam,

P.s. If you’d like to discuss anything directly, feel free to email me at [email protected] or schedule a time here.

Sam Obeidat is a senior AI strategist, venture builder, and product leader with over 15 years of global experience. He has led AI transformations across 40+ organizations in 12+ sectors, including defense, aerospace, finance, healthcare, and government. As President of World AI X Ventures, a global corporate venture studio, Sam works with top executives and domain experts to co-develop high-impact AI use cases, validate them with host partners, and pilot them with investor backing—turning bold ideas into scalable ventures. Under his leadership, World AI X has launched ventures now valued at over $100 million, spanning sectors like defense tech, hedge funds, and education.

Sam combines deep technical fluency with real-world execution. He’s built enterprise-grade AI systems from the ground up and developed proprietary frameworks that trigger KPIs, reduce costs, unlock revenue, and turn traditional organizations into AI-native leaders. He’s also the host of the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) Program, an executive training initiative empowering leaders to drive responsible AI transformation at scale.

He recently founded the World AI Council (WAIC) with 80 founding members—a network of certified CAIOs and top experts—to build the gold standard of enterprise AI transformation, turning real-world use cases into trusted, repeatable standards that organizations can adopt safely and fast.

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