Technology is often discussed as though it has a will of its own. AI is transforming industries. Automation is changing how we work. Digital innovation is redefining what businesses can do. The language makes technology sound like the protagonist of the story, with people left to adapt to whatever comes next.
After spending time at this year’s LEAP, walking the crowded halls and overhearing conversations and deals being made between actual humans, I found myself questioning that narrative. How did conversations about technology become so focused on the tech itself? As writers and communicators, we have played a role in shaping that narrative and we also have a responsibility to help correct it.
Today, what we write about technology and what we see in the real world are often two very different things. The headlines tend to focus on the technology itself: what it can do, how advanced it is and what it might change. But the more important question is often what the people behind it are trying to achieve.
The technology is rarely the starting point. The human need is.
Why do we need artificial intelligence? Why do we need quantum computing? Not because we are fascinated by powerful chips or complex systems, but because these technologies can help give people back their time, accelerate scientific discovery and support breakthroughs in areas such as healthcare. If we do not talk about technology in a way people can relate to and understand, we risk losing sight of why it matters in the first place.
Consider Mobily. At LEAP, its technology was brought to life through a supercar. It was a striking way to showcase innovation, but the point was not simply to demonstrate what the technology could do. It was to make something that can otherwise feel abstract, technical or distant tangible and accessible. Technology became something people could see, experience and connect with.
HUMAIN offered a different perspective. Its interactive HUMAIN Voice experience invited visitors to speak naturally, in their own language, accent and dialect and experience how AI could understand and respond to them. It was a simple demonstration of something bigger: behind every technological advancement is a human outcome, and behind that outcome are people making decisions about how to use technology to create value.
These experiences made me think about how we often communicate innovation more broadly. We tend to start with the machine, the platform, the network or the algorithm. Our press releases end up full of jargon about megawatts, chips, features and buttons. We describe what a technology can do, and sometimes spend less time explaining why anyone should care.
But technology does not decide what matters. People do.
Customers, investors, employees and policymakers all want to understand how technology will change their world. Yet the organizations most likely to build lasting relevance will be those that can connect technological progress to something people actually care about.
That requires a different approach to communicating about technology.
- Start with the human problem. Before explaining what a new system can do, organizations should be clear about whose experience it is improving, what challenge it addresses and why that matters. A technological capability is not, in itself, a compelling story. Its value becomes clearer when it is connected to a person, a community, a customer or a wider societal need.
- Make innovation tangible. The most effective experiences at LEAP did not rely on technical language alone. They gave people something to see, interact with and remember. When the subject is complex, the job is not simply to explain more. Sometimes it is to find a better way for people to experience the value.
- Put the people doing the work back into the story. Behind every deployment are engineers, researchers, operators, designers, leaders and customers. Their decisions, expertise and judgment determine whether technology delivers on its promise. These are not supporting characters. They are part of the evidence of how innovation happens.
- Remember that adoption is human. A company can have an impressive technology strategy and still struggle to create value if people do not understand it, trust it or see a reason to use it. Communication is therefore not an afterthought to technological progress. It is part of how progress becomes understood, adopted and ultimately useful.
This is not an argument against talking about technology. It is an argument for talking about it more meaningfully.
One of my biggest takeaways from LEAP was that the future of technology is not happening to something happening to humanity from the outside. It is being designed, built, operated and experienced by people every day.
The people behind the technology are not just part of the story.
They are the reason the story matters.