- Technology and business leaders are in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
- They discussed Donald Trump’s inauguration and AI while waiting for the event to begin in earnest.
- That’s what Business Insider hears and sees at the convention of the rich and powerful.
THE World Economic Forum in Davos doesn’t begin in earnest until later Monday, but business and tech leaders have already descended on the Swiss mountain resort.
AI and what Donald Trump’s presidency will mean are hot topics.
Business Insider is on the ground talking to people. This is what we hear.
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Discussions about AI and AI agents are already in full swing here, but Mihir Shukla, CEO of Automation Anywhere, believes that this year the conversation is shifting from hype to questions about practical realities. “As the CEOs here are looking for AI, they think it’s cool, but the job is to find value,” he told BI in an interview. “I know it’s cool, but what can I do with it? I think this conversation will happen this year.”
Can AI still do its job? Not completely, but he admitted it might do something. A fun example: His company built a boardroom AI agent and trained it on years of company financial information and presentations. “He was able to reproduce patterns that more experienced people couldn’t do,” he said. It was so good that they even gave the AI agent an empty seat at the boardroom table for dramatic effect. — Hugh Langley
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One hurdle with AI agents: How do companies get paid for their work and who gets the credit, and more importantly, the revenue, internally? Raj Sharma, EY global managing partner for growth and innovation, told BI that the power of AI agents was forcing the professional services giant to reconsider its business model. Instead of simply charging clients based on the hours and resources EY could spend on a project, Sharma said that with AI agents, it can take a “service as software” approach in which clients pay based on results.
The problem is not only external. You need to think about who owns the agents and who is responsible for the revenue they generate. “Even though we spend a lot of time on the technology side of these things, the whole business model, the risk models associated with it, there’s an equal amount of energy, at least companies like ours spend, to ask “What is the right business model?” “, Sharma said. — Dan DeFrancesco
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It’s a little warmer than usual in the mountain town this week, with daily highs reaching 30°C. At night, it is only expected to drop to between 20 and 25 degrees. (The city’s average daily temperature is typically in the 20s.) And the famous “suits and boots” look the conference has become known for won’t be as necessary this week with no snow forecast.
All of this stands in stark contrast to the situation in the United States, where the East Coast is facing extremely cold weather and a rare snow and ice storm threatens the South. — Dan DeFrancesco
The Davos Promenade is full of emerging economies displaying their stalls. Spriha Srivastava/Business Insider
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Walking along the Davos Promenade on Sunday evening, I couldn’t help but notice something different: emerging economies are showing up more strongly this year. Last year, India and Saudi Arabia made a splash by staking out prime real estate along this iconic stretch where you’re just as likely to bump into a government leader as you are a tech billionaire.
But this year? The guest list has expanded. Brazil, Indonesia, Mongolia and Korea have all joined the Davos stage, creating their own hubs and signaling that they are ready to make their voices heard. I have meetings planned with officials from these countries and I’m curious to know what they’re most concerned about. A recurring theme? The re-election of Donald Trump and its consequences for the developing world. As global capital continues to come largely from the United States, the stakes are high. Policies made in Washington have repercussions from Jakarta to São Paulo. The mood here suggests that leaders don’t just observe: they strategize. — Spriha Srivastava