Artificial intelligence is the focus of this year's annual meeting of the World Economic Forum – a major gathering of political and corporate leaders – in Davos, Switzerland.
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Of all the corporate buzzwords, artificial intelligence is definitely the one that was on the lips of all major corporate leaders at this year's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Many CEOs of well-known companies and investors in industries ranging from financial services to marketing have discussed the potential of artificial intelligence technology. Here's a roundup of quotes from some of the top corporate leaders attending this week's WEF Annual Meeting:
Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak
Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, told CNBC that he believes the world has not fully recognized the scope of the changes AI will bring to every aspect of human life:
“The demand for this technology will be extremely high. So the technology, the AI capabilities, the infrastructure – whether it's energy, whether it's transmission, whether it's energy, but also all the other forms of technology, energy technology, that will help meet this huge demand, I would also add to that the construction of the data center and 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, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
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Larry Summers, an American economist who was the 71st U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, said on a panel moderated by CNBC that “a moment of stunning technological opportunity” – including emerging artificial intelligence systems – is driving unprecedented innovation in fields such as health sciences:
“I believe that artificial intelligence will eventually be available on the Internet, just as the computer was in the calculator. This is a moment of stunning technological possibilities. This does not mean that everything will automatically be fine… This is a moment of great challenge for governments in my country and around the world,” he said.
Edelman CEO Richard Edelman
Edelman CEO Richard Edelman said he believes AI has the potential to enhance workers and increase productivity, but warned of the risk of AI being “dumped” if business leaders don't upskill staff:
“The biggest risk is that AI will be rejected… We have to accept that by making sure everyone is retrained. I do it like crazy in our company. You have to use this. You have to try it. I think artificial intelligence is a great hope for optimism. I think this is a great opportunity because it will improve our performance. It's your partner who makes you smarter, better and faster,” he said.
Randstad CEO, Sander van't Noordende
Sander van't Noordende, CEO of a human resources company Randstadwarned of the risk of disruption to work caused by artificial intelligence, saying he believed jobs in design and administration were most at risk:
“If you look at the professions that will kind of disappear, anything that includes the word 'clerk' or 'designer' or 'executive assistants' is going to be under a lot of pressure. (There are) a lot of new jobs in technology, security, artificial intelligence… There will be new jobs and there are tons of jobs that still need to be done, in healthcare, technology, hospitality – all kinds of jobs where AI doesn't really help , “he said.
Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch
Arthur Mensch, CEO of French artificial intelligence company Mistral, said there is a competitive race among world governments to lead the field of artificial intelligence:
“It's an industrial revolution. It will reshape our industry over the next 10 years. And we really need – the industry needs – to adopt it as quickly as possible, because it is a truly competitive market… The conversation with us was interesting for administrations who are also looking for sovereign solutions that we are the only ones able to provide. So it's both a challenge and an opportunity, but I would say it actually shows that if you're not thinking about artificial intelligence today and how that's going to change your business, you're doing it wrong.”
Mensch also talked about the technological advancements that will occur in the artificial intelligence industry this year, predicting that this will be the case globally move away from language models such as OpenAI's GPT for more comprehensive systems:
“I think the focus should be on systems. Models are part of systems, but systems are connected to data, connected to tools, and can actually do things on your behalf, can act in an agentic way… That's where it changes. It also means that the industry that adopts it will transfer its expertise to these systems,” he added.
Lloyds CEO, Charlie Nunn
Lloyds Banking Group Chief Executive Charlie Nunn praised the UK Government announcement the final week of a bold plan to expand national computing infrastructure to boost national artificial intelligence development:
“Artificial intelligence is at the core of what we do. I'm really happy with what the government has just done. Keir Starmer said that artificial intelligence is a major part of the future. We definitely think this is true in financial services. It enables us to protect customers, helping them get more from their financial services. I think the exciting part coming will be allowing us to really differentiate what we can do, enable customers to have a different experience with banking and financial services providers. This is a huge opportunity for us to develop ourselves,” he said.
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