AI’s the hot topic at Davos this year. Here’s what top CEOs are saying

Of all the corporate buzzwords, artificial intelligence is by far the one that’s been on every major corporate leader’s lips at this year’s World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

Numerous big-name company CEOs and investors in industries spanning financial services to marketing talked up the potential of AI technology. Here’s a compilation of quotes from some of the top corporate leaders attending the WEF annual meeting this week:

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, told CNBC he thinks the world hasn’t yet fully recognized the extent of change that AI will bring to every aspect of human life:

“The demand is going to be profoundly high in terms of the enablement of that technology. So, the technology, the AI enablement, which is the infrastructure side of it — be it energy, be it transmission, be it energy, but also all forms of technology, of energy technology that’s going to help fuel this huge demand, I would also add to that data center build-out, chip build-out,” he said.

Larry Summers, an American economist who served as the 71st U.S. Treasury secretary, said in a CNBC-moderated panel that “a moment of stunning technological possibility” — including emerging AI systems — is driving unprecedented innovation in fields like medical science:

“I believe artificial intelligence will ultimately be to the internet, as to the computer was to the calculator. It is a moment of stunning technological possibility. That does not mean that it’s all automatically going to be OK … It is a moment of epic challenge for governments in my country and governments everywhere,” he said.

Edelman boss Richard Edelman said he thinks AI has the potential to enhance workers and accelerate productivity — but cautioned about the risk of AI being “rejected” if business leaders don’t upskill staff:

“The biggest risk is that AI is rejected … We need to get this accepted by making sure everybody is re-skilled. I’m doing this at our company like crazy. You have to use this. You need to try it. I think AI is the great hope for optimism. I think it’s the great chance, because it’s going to improve our workability. It’s your partner, and it’s your enabler to be smarter, better, faster,” he said.

Sander van’t Noordende, CEO of human resources firm Randstad, warned of the job disruption risks posed by AI, saying he sees jobs in the realms of design and admin being most at risk:

“If you look at the jobs that will sort of disappear, anything that has ‘clerk’ in it, or ‘designer,’ ‘executive assistants,’ that is sort of very much under pressure. [There are] lots of new jobs in technology, in security, in AI …. There will be new jobs, and there are plenty of jobs that still need to be done, in healthcare, in technology, in hospitality all kinds of jobs where AI doesn’t really help,” he said.

Arthur Mensch, CEO of French AI firm Mistral, said there’s a competitive race underway among world governments to lead the way in AI:

“This is an industrial revolution. It’s going to reshape our industries in the coming 10 years. And we do need — the industry needs — to adopt it as fast as possible because it’s effectively a competitive market … It’s been interesting to talk to administrations that are also looking for sovereign solutions that we are the only one able to provide. So it’s both a challenge and an opportunity, I would say. But effectively, 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 up the technological advances coming to the AI industry this year, predicting the world will move away from language models like OpenAI’s GPT to more all-encompassing systems:

“I think the focus should shift to systems. Models are a 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 is shifting. It also means that the industry that is adopting it is going to distill its expertise into those systems,” he added.

Lloyds Banking Group CEO Charlie Nunn applauded the U.K. government’s announcement last week of a bold plan to scale up national computing infrastructure to boost domestic AI development:

“AI is core to what we do. I really welcome what the government’s just done. Keir Starmer talked about AI being a bigger part of the future. We definitely think that’s true in financial services. It enables us to protect customers, help them get more out of their financial services. And I think the exciting part that’s coming is it’s going to enable us to really differentiate what we can do, enable customers to get different experiences from banking and from their financial services provider. It’s a huge growth opportunity for us,” he said.

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