It’s the topic of discussion at this year’s Davos. Here’s what top CEOs say.
Artificial intelligence is a hot topic at this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum – a large gathering of political and corporate leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
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Among all the corporate buzzwords, artificial intelligence was on the lips of every major corporate leader at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
CEOs of several big-name companies and investors in the financial services-to-market industries have touted the potential of AI technology. Here’s a collection of quotes from some of the top business leaders attending the WEF Annual Meeting this week:
Mubadala CEO Khaldon Al Mubarak
Khaldon Al Mubarak, CEO of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, told CNBC that he thinks the world has not yet fully realized the extent of the changes it will make to all human lives.
“In terms of enabling that technology, the demand is going to be very high. So, technology, enabling AI, the infrastructure side – energy, transmission, energy, but also all of that. The types of technology, the energy technology that’s helping to develop this huge demand, I’m also building that data center, chip I will add to construction,” he said.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers
Larry Summers, President Emeritus and Professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth Bloomberg | Getty Images
American economist Larry Summers, who served as the 71st US Treasury secretary, told a CNBC moderator panel that “a time of incredible technological opportunity” — including emerging AI systems — is driving unprecedented innovation in fields such as medical science:
“I believe that artificial intelligence will eventually be to the Internet as the computer was to the calculator. This is a time of incredible technological opportunity. That does not mean that everything will be automatically fine… a great challenge for governments in my country and governments everywhere,” he said.
Edelman CEO Richard Edelman
Edelman boss Richard Edelman says he thinks AI has the potential to empower employees and boost productivity — but warns of the risk of AI becoming “rejected” if business leaders don’t engage their employees.
“The biggest risk is that AI is rejected … we need to get this accepted by making sure that everyone is re-skilled. I’m doing this like crazy in our company. You need to use this. You need to try it. I think AI is a great hope for optimism, because our It’s our partner, and being smarter, better, faster.
Randstad CEO Sander van Noordende
Sander Van’t Nordende, CEO of Human Resources RandstadHe warned of the risk of job cuts caused by AIA, saying he would look at jobs in the design and management fields.
“If you look at the jobs that are going to disappear, anything that has ‘writer’ in it or ‘designer’ in it, ‘executive assistants’ is under pressure. There are still a lot of jobs out there, in healthcare, technology, hospitality, all kinds of jobs that AI can’t help,” he said.
Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch
Arthur Mensch, CEO of French AI company Mistral, says there is a race among the world’s governments to be at the forefront of AI.
“This is an industrial revolution. It will shape our industries in the next 10 years. And we need – the industry needs – to accept it as soon as possible, because it is an effective competitive market … It was interesting to talk to you. We are the only ones who are looking for sovereign solutions, so I would say it is a challenge and an opportunity. You’re wrong about AI today and how it’s changing your business.
Mensch spoke about the technological advances coming to the AI industry this year, which he predicted would be the world Go from language models like OpenAI’s GPT to universal systems:
“I think the focus needs to shift to systems. Models are part of systems, but systems are connected to data, connected to tools, able to do things on your behalf, able to act in an agential way … that’s where it’s at. It’s changing and embracing it.” It means that the existing industry will spend its knowledge on those systems.
Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds.
Lloyds Banking Group Chief executive Charlie Nunn hailed the UK government’s announcement last week of bold plans to boost the national computing infrastructure to boost domestic AI development.
“AI is central to what we do. I welcome what the government has done now. Keir Starmer has talked about AI being a big part of the future. We think that’s true in financial services. It allows us to protect customers, help them find them. The exciting part of what’s coming out of their financial services is that we do It allows us to differentiate what we’re capable of, I think it allows customers to have a different experience with their banking and financial services providers. Development opportunities for us.
See: What is the World Economic Forum?
