The other day I watched a Waymo, a fully autonomous vehicle, glide silently through the streets of Phoenix for the first time.

There was no driver behind the wheel. No hands. No eyes scanning the road. Just cameras, sensors, algorithms, and artificial intelligence making thousands of decisions every second. For decades, humanity has poured billions of dollars into creating machines that think more like us. Every advancement in artificial intelligence represents another attempt to replicate the remarkable capabilities of the human brain. Yet as we race to build artificial intelligence, we often neglect the original intelligence that inspired it.

Many people believe AI marks the beginning of a brand new era. I see it differently.

AI did not create a new age. It revealed the one we were already moving toward: the era of Brain Capital. Brain capital is the combination of brain health and brain skills. According to the McKinsey Health Institute, prioritizing brain health and fostering brain capital has the potential to unlock $26 trillion in global economic opportunities by enhancing workforce performance, driving innovation, and reclaiming millions of years of quality life.

History tells the story:

Each era demanded different human capacities. Today, information is no longer scarce. AI can retrieve facts, summarize research, write reports, analyze data, generate images, and answer questions in seconds. For many, it is becoming a partner that saves time, improves efficiency, and accelerates scientific discovery. But if machines keep getting better at routine cognitive tasks, what should humans get better at?

I believe the answer is Brain Capital.

We are entering what I call the Brain Capital Age, where flourishing depends on developing healthy, creative, adaptable, curious, and wise human beings. Our greatest asset is no longer simply what we know. It is how well our brains imagine possibilities, recognize patterns, shift perspectives, connect seemingly unrelated ideas, collaborate across differences, and continue learning throughout life. These abilities cannot be downloaded; they must be developed.

This opportunity comes alongside a growing concern. Artificial intelligence offers tremendous productivity, but what is the neurological cost of over-relying on it without intention? Is there a hidden value of experiencing the productive struggle of creating and producing some of this work ourselves? 

Researchers are beginning to examine questions surrounding cognitive offloading, cognitive surrender, cognitive herding, intuition inhibition, and declining confidence when people consistently outsource thinking to intelligent systems. These emerging areas deserve careful attention because our brains change according to how we use them. One team out of Cambridge raised questions about the rise of generative AI (GenAI) and its impact on critical thinking skills and practices. They surveyed 319 knowledge workers to investigate shifts in critical thinking due to confidence levels when dealing with Gen AI. Specifically, higher confidence in GenAI is associated with less critical thinking, while higher self-confidence is associated with more critical thinking. Qualitatively, GenAI shifts the nature of critical thinking toward information verification, response integration, and task stewardship. 

This research demonstrates the importance of training these human centered skills as early and as continuous throughout the lifespan as possible. We need to protect our thinking. Neuroscience has taught us a simple principle: the brain strengthens what it repeatedly practices.

Education, deep learning, problem solving, and novel experiences help build cognitive reserve, one of the strongest protective factors against dementia later in life. At the very moment AI is becoming woven into our schools and workplaces, brain disorders such as anxiety, depression, stroke, and dementia continue to rise around the world. These trends may be unrelated in some cases, but together they raise an important question. How can people interact with AI while continuing to strengthen their human brain?

Though that particular question is new to me, one of the solution methods has shaped my work for more than twenty years.

I have spent more than two decades watching this happen firsthand. As an educator, I have seen students transform through music, movement, storytelling, and the visual arts. Now, as a corporate trainer, I have watched executives discover innovative business solutions through painting, storytelling, poetry and creative exercises. 

Again and again, I have seen the arts strengthen people's ability to recognize patterns, connect seemingly unrelated ideas, shift perspectives, and think through metaphor. These are not simply artistic skills. They are cognitive skills that fuel innovation in every profession.They are skills that help keep the brain fit, healthy and flexible.

The research supports my observations. In a 2022 meta analysis study, researchers analyzed 29 studies of music interventions and methods for assessing executive functions. The review of the available literature suggests a beneficial effect of music training in core executive function performance, primarily in inhibitory control, and to a lesser extent, in working memory and cognitive flexibility.

The arts do far more than create art—they train the brain. This is why I believe the arts are no longer a luxury. They are essential infrastructure for the Brain Capital Age, the era of the brain. 

Ironically, the technology industry already understands this principle. Artificial intelligence is built upon artificial neural networks modeled after the architecture of the human brain. Engineers have spent decades trying to recreate how neurons connect, adapt, strengthen, and learn from experience. We are investing billions of dollars attempting to imitate the brain's extraordinary capabilities.

Shouldn't we invest just as intentionally in optimizing the original?

This is the vision behind Brain Capital and Brain Capital Arts.

Brain Capital, which has been promoted by the European Brain Council and presented at the United Nation Brain Days Event, recognizes that brain health and brain skills are among our greatest forms of wealth. Brain Capital Arts recognizes that music, movement, theater improv, visual arts, storytelling, creativity, and other artistic experiences are powerful tools for strengthening attention, memory, executive function, empathy, creativity, and cognitive flexibility. They help build the very capacities employers increasingly identify as essential in an AI driven economy.

Some readers may disagree.

They may point out, correctly, that every major technological advance has sparked fear. People once worried that books would weaken memory, calculators would eliminate mathematical thinking, and search engines would make us intellectually lazy. Humanity adapted, and society benefited. Others will argue that AI actually enhances creativity by helping artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, and educators generate ideas more quickly. They are right. I use AI at times myself. It has become an insightful  thought partner and feedback mirror.

None of these observations weaken the case for Brain Capital.

The more capable our technologies become, the more important it is that humans intentionally develop the capacities machines cannot fully replicate, judgment, wisdom, ethical reasoning, imagination, empathy, curiosity, creativity, and resilience. The goal is not to fear AI. The goal is to ensure that human intelligence continues to evolve alongside artificial intelligence.

Every great era required a different investment.

The next great investment is the one asset that created every one of those advances: the human brain.

AI did not create the Brain Capital Age. It simply revealed, as the arts do so well,  that it had arrived.

The AI Collective is built by volunteers across 180+ chapters in 40 countries.

Thank you to the thousands of volunteers around the world who make this work possible. We truly could not do this without you.