The last of Gen Alpha have just been born, and it is a generation already making the world sit up and take notice. From brands and products, to businesses and workplaces, policies and politics, there is enough buzz about a group that is still adolescent, if not newborn. Why?
Born between 2010 and 2025, Gen Alpha are the largest generational size in history—about 24% of the world’s population as of January 2026. In the next ten years, Gen A will still account for 22% of the global population.
This over 2 billion-strong force is already dictating consumer trends and influencing buying decisions, and by the 2040s, they will be the largest consumer group, commanding obeisance across industries. For a cohort that will be the most literate, woke and conscious, as well as the largest driver of economies ever, some new rules are definitely in order.
What also distinguishes them from others is being fully digital natives, truly harnessing AI, rather than being controlled by it.
From Literacy to Entrepreneurship
“Those who learn to command AI will compound their advantage. Those who don’t, will feel displaced. Gen Alpha, instinctively, will choose the former,” says Jaspreet Bindra, co-founder & CEO of AI literacy firm AI&Beyond.
He adds that the real risk is not AI dependency, but AI illiteracy. It is because of this ease with technology that the cohort is also, aptly, known as the Gen AI.
As Bindra adds: “Every generation fears that the next one will be diminished by technology. Gen Alpha will prove the opposite. They are not just digital natives; they are AI natives. For them, intelligence will be ambient, embedded and assumed, much like electricity is today.”
Already, nearly half of the generation (46%) uses AI, 44% use it for school work and 25% chat frequently with bots. More than half also juggle over five connected devices on a daily basis, be it a smartphone, a game console, a smart TV, a PC or a laptop, multitasking with social media, streaming and gaming.
This digital mastery is being used for income generation by many, thus sowing seeds of a cohort that will be the most entrepreneurial yet. Eight in ten Gen A are already earning money through digital ventures, and three in four aspire to be their own bosses. And, most of this centres around creativity. Consumer research firm GWI’s global survey of 21,500 Gen Alphas across 18 countries reveals 57% saying they feel creative, and inclined toward work that involves creation, be it content, gaming, design or developing. Interestingly, all such work encourages fluidity of time and workplace. Thus, not only will Gen A redefine work, they will redefine workplaces as well.
“Generation Alpha is likely to reject Mr Murthy’s controversial 80-hour work ideal as outdated and exploitative. They prefer flexible, humane workplaces that allow work-life balance, and judge performance by outcomes, not hours. In short, Alpha generation prefers moonlighting or side-hustle work such as YouTube or Instagram content creation, freelance writing/design/coding, online teaching or coaching, consulting or startup projects, and selling digital products,” predicts Ashwani Kumar, political scientist and professor at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
Rewriting the Social Contract
Data from the US indicates nearly half (47%) have over $1,000 in savings, and 51% own debit cards. This purchasing power makes them consumers of reckoning even today, and promises to reshape how brands compete in a future where, as per Australian social researcher Mark McCrindle, Gen A will be the wealthiest generation ever.
“As consumers, Gen Alpha will force the tech industry to rethink everything from product design to business models. They will expect systems that learn with them, adapt in real time, and respect their agency. Innovation will shift from feature-led differentiation to outcome-led intelligence, tools that anticipate intent rather than demand attention. Marketing to them will not be about storytelling alone, but about playability, participation and purpose. Brands will be judged not by what they say, but by what they enable,” says Bindra of AI&Beyond.
The generation is already making significant economic impact, having influenced or directly purchased goods worth $1 trillion, which constitutes about 1.5% of the global consumer economy. Data indicates by 2029, direct spending by Gen A will have exceeded $1.7 trillion.
However, this economic might does not come sans values or ethics. For a generation that is entirely post-Covid and surviving under a shadow of environment disasters, informed choices will be a natural course. And, brands that win trust via ethical sourcing and transparent storytelling will earn lasting Gen A loyalty. Given that this generation is easily influenced by the internet, brands that fit in the ecosystem of values will be preferred. This impels brands also to engineer their marketing and product strategies accordingly—to factor in adaptive, on-demand and personalised offerings.
“For them, social work is instinctive—care, activism, and empathy woven naturally into everyday life. Gen Alpha is likely to accumulate high levels of digital cultural capital, alongside uneven and fragile social capital shaped by platform stratification, algorithmic sorting, and unequal access to institutional buffers,” feels Kumar of TISS.
He adds that as citizens, too, they are likely to practice low-trust, high-agency engagement—sceptical of representative democracy yet adept at tactical mobilisation. “The recent Nepal uprising illustrates this shift, where young citizens mobilised rapidly through horizontal networks, bypassing parties and traditional leadership, driven by shared grievances rather than ideology. This signals not disengagement but a reconfiguration of civic participation toward episodic, networked repertoires of contention.” He advocates that lowering the voting age to 16 would recognise Generation Alpha as present civic actors, helping bridge generational power gaps by aligning political voice with early political socialisation and digital competence.
