In Davos this week, the World Economic Forum has once again turned into a platform for speeches by the leading players in the artificial intelligence industry: Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Dario Amodei, Satya Nadella, and other industry leaders.
The main topic was the artificial intelligence revolution: expectations about its transformative potential sat beside concerns about possible “big bubbles”. Along with global forecasts, they did not shy away from voicing their views on competitive advantages and criticizing potential partners.
In a new episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast I discussed all things Davos-related with Kirsten Korosec and Sean O’Keefe.
Kirsten noted that the conference looks different from previous years: the main program has shifted to the big brands, such as Meta and Salesforce, while important topics, notably climate change, are not drawing many people. And Sean noted that even if AI leaders do not “beg for use and more customers,” the sentiment can be similar.
“beg for use and more customers”
– Sean O’Keefe
Tensions among the giants and the geopolitical context
Antoni expressed the view that the main Davos news concerns not only technology but also global trade and politics. The most resonant moment was Dario Amodei of Anthropic’s remarks about the administration’s decision to allow Nvidia to ship chips to China – a story that is technological, trade-related and political at once.
According to him, statements around AI are often intertwined with criticism, but also with a rise in hype around this topic. He used the phrase that “the AI data center is a country full of geniuses” – a remark that became a topic of discussion.
“a country full of geniuses”
– Dario Amodei
Satya Nadella of Microsoft spoke more directly: “More people should use this, otherwise it will be a bubble that bursts.” His goal is to broaden AI adoption worldwide and ensure its fairer access, rather than concentrating it in one region.
Jensen Huang of Nvidia also stressed the need for greater investment to make the development of this technology real and scalable.
Kirsten pointed out that bringing leaders together in one hall allowed them to hear their direct remarks to one another – this week they nearly “drew knives” on each other, something that was previously quite rare.
Overall, conversations at Davos reflect growing competition among leading tech companies and a sudden interest in geopolitics in the context of AI development.