Artificial intelligence is the main topic of this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum — a large gathering of political and corporate leaders — in Davos, Switzerland.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP/Getty Images
Of all the corporate buzzwords, artificial intelligence is by far the one that was on the lips of every major corporate leader at this year’s World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
A number of CEOs and investors in industries ranging from financial services to marketing have spoken about the potential of AI technology. Here’s a compilation of quotes from some of the top corporate leaders who attended the WEF Annual Meeting this week:
Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, told CNBC that he thinks the world has yet to fully recognize the extent of the changes artificial intelligence will bring to every aspect of human life:
“Demand is going to be very high in terms of enabling that technology. So technology, enabling artificial intelligence, which is the infrastructure side of it — whether it’s energy, whether it’s transmission, energy, but also all forms of technology, energy technology that will help drive this huge demand , I would add to that the construction of the data center, the construction of chips,” 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, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Larry Summers, an American economist who served as the 71st U.S. Treasury Secretary, told a panel moderated by CNBC that a “moment of astonishing technological opportunity” — including emerging artificial intelligence systems — is driving unprecedented innovation in fields like medical science:
“I believe that artificial intelligence will ultimately be to the Internet, as the computer was to the calculator. It’s a moment of astonishing technological possibility. That doesn’t mean everything will automatically be fine… It’s a moment of epic challenge for governments in my country and governments everywhere,” he said.
Edelman CEO Richard Edelman
Edelman boss Richard Edelman said he thinks AI has the potential to improve workers and boost productivity — but warned of the risk of AI being “discarded” if business leaders don’t train staff:
“The biggest risk is that artificial intelligence is discarded… We have to embrace this by making sure that everyone is re-skilled. I’m doing this in our company like crazy. You have to use this. You have to try it. I think artificial intelligence is a great hope for optimism, because will improve our ability to work, and this allows you to be smarter, better, faster.
CEO of Randstad Sander van’t Noordende
Sander van’t Noordende, CEO of the HR company Randstadwarned of the job disruption risks posed by artificial intelligence, saying he sees jobs in design and administration as the most at risk:
“If you look at the jobs that are going to disappear in a way, anything that has ‘officers’ or ‘designers’, ‘executive assistants’ in it, it’s kind of under a lot of pressure. [There are] a lot of new jobs in technology, in security, in artificial intelligence…. There will be new jobs, and there are many jobs that still need to be done, in healthcare, in technology, in hospitality, all kinds of jobs where artificial intelligence does not really help “, he said.
Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch
Arthur Mensch, CEO of French artificial intelligence company Mistral, said there is a competitive race among the world’s governments to lead in AI:
“This is an industrial revolution. It will reshape our industries in the next 10 years. And we must – the industry must – adopt it as quickly as possible because it is actually a competitive market… It was interesting to talk to the administration that is also looking for a sovereign solutions that we’re the only ones able to provide, so it’s both a challenge and an opportunity, I’d say, but what it shows is that if you’re not thinking about AI today and how it’s going to change your business, you’re doing it wrong.”
Mensch also talked about the technological advancements coming to the AI industry this year, predicting that the world will move away from language models such as OpenAI GPT more comprehensive systems:
“I think the focus should shift to systems. Models are part of systems, but systems are connected to data, connected to tools, able to actually do things on your behalf, able to act in an agentic way… That’s where this changes . It also means that the industry that adopts it will distill its expertise into these systems,” he added.
Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn
Lloyds Banking Group CEO Charlie Nunn welcomed the UK government announcement last week’s bold plan to boost the nation’s computing infrastructure to spur domestic AI development:
“AI is at the heart of what we do. I really welcome what the government has just done. Keir Starmer talked about artificial intelligence being a big part of the future. We definitely think that’s true in financial services. It allows us to protect customers, help them to get more from their financial services. I think the exciting part that will allow us to really differentiate what we can do is enable customers to get different experiences from banking and from their financial service providers. That’s a big growth opportunity for us,” he said is.
