The World Economic Forum in Davos began in earnest on Tuesday. President Trump’s return to the White House and AI are dominating the headlines. This is what BI reporters saw and heard on the scene.
As the rich and powerful gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Business Insider journalists chair panels, interview agenda-setters, and speak to people from the wings and at parties.
This is what’s happening there on Tuesday.
The topic at the party was about who was flying in from Washington DC.
Monday was officially the first day of Davos, but action intensified on Tuesday. One of the questions people were asking at the party was which of the CEOs who showed up at President Trump’s inauguration would travel to snowy Switzerland.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is scheduled to appear on Thursday, but will Sam Altman also return? If Sergey Brin makes it in time for President Trump’s inauguration, could he visit by private jet?
Separately, I witnessed Microsoft President Brad Smith holding court with a large group of people outside the Microsoft home. We also saw Amazon CEO Andy Jassy examining the conference center’s security scanner. The heads of technology departments are just like us. — Hugh Langley
Two CEOs told BI they expect the Trump administration to have a positive impact on business.
Elon Musk’s DOGE may be in the reduction business, but dollar signs are also visible at several tech companies we spoke to. President Trump signed an executive order creating Doge on Monday, saying its goal is to “modernize federal technology and software.”
Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri said the new administration wants to do “more business, not less” from a technology perspective. “I think of government as a big business,” he told BI. Meanwhile, Eric Clark, CEO of NTT Data Americas, said, “We will see opportunities for expansion very quickly.”
He said NTT is working with the federal government and did well under Trump 1.0, and said he expects the new administration to be “pro-technology and pro-business.” — Hugh Langley and Jamie Heller
BI moderated a panel discussion featuring celebrities on the future of cryptocurrencies
Former President Trump aide and financier Anthony Scaramucci was participating in a Davos panel discussion hosted by BI’s Spriha Srivastava. WEF
The day after Bitcoin hit an all-time high, I moderated a star-studded panel discussion on all things crypto, including the outlook, the regulatory framework, and the launch of Trump and Melania’s meme coin. Served.
Joining me were Lesetja Kganyago (Governor of the South African Reserve Bank), Brian Armstrong (CEO of Coinbase), Denelle Dixon (CEO of Stellar Development Foundation), Jennifer Johnson (CEO of Franklin Templeton), and Anthony Scaramucci. (Founder of Skybridge Capital). .
“If you vote for Donald Trump, you know everything,” Scaramucci said during the panel discussion. Scaramucci said President Trump’s policies, which are now worth billions of dollars, will “hurt the industry” by bothering older politicians and lawmakers and likely “slowing down” the regulatory process. My colleague Theron Mohammed has even more.
The panel discussion provided interesting insight into where everyone stands on regulation.
Regulatory uncertainty continues to be one of the biggest challenges for the cryptocurrency industry, with different governments around the world taking different approaches. The committee agrees that a clearer understanding is needed and expects it to emerge from President Trump’s second term. — Spriha Srivastava
People are feeling upbeat about Trump and his economic impact
Mr. Trump’s return brought mixed emotions to Davos, but some of the conversations I’m having with people, some on the record and some behind closed doors, are about the economic and growth issues. There is a growing sense of optimism about the possibilities.
“CEOs and management teams seem to be getting a lot more optimistic about the macro environment,” said Neil Dahl, global managing partner at IBM Consulting. “I think part of it is probably that the world has gone through a major election cycle and people know the direction.” — Hugh Langley
David: Expects AI startups to emerge in AI field, technology leader says
Tech Mahindra Managing Director Abhishek Shankar told BI’s Spriha Srivastava. business insider
AI, especially agent AI, is dominating the conversation. One technology industry leader summed up the current trend as “small is the new big.” During a discussion on Big Tech and AI, Abhishek Shankar, Managing Director, Tech Mahindra, emphasized the importance of keeping an eye on the smaller players in this space.
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“I’m always reminded of the story of David and Goliath. There are so many Davids in the world today. Of course, OpenAI is one of the famous Davids. But if you look closely, you’ll find Anthropic, Mistral, etc.”
Shankar said it will become clear in the next few years who the next “David” will be. “The next few years are going to be about these new era players. They’re going to scale up and the speed is going to be different than in the past. I’m sure there’s going to be a new David. ”That space is open. ” — Spriha Srivastava
Have you ever struggled to get a chatbot to help you when your flight is cancelled? Your travel agent may have the answer.
AI currently has a problem with being forgetful. If you’ve interacted with a chatbot for any length of time, you may have noticed that the chatbot sometimes has trouble remembering information from previous chats.
Travel booking company Navan may not be the company you’d expect to solve this problem, but its CTO Ilan Twig says they’ve created a new framework for AI that more closely mimics the human brain.BI told.
Think of it like experts in different subjects talking to each other and passing information back and forth. One person knows airline seats, another knows everything about loyalty programs. But to the user, it’s as if they’re chatting with one person. This could be a plus for anyone who’s ever felt frustrated dealing with chatbots when their flight was delayed or passed through countless service agents.
Twig says its travel agents already handle 7,000 chats per day, and nearly 60% of inbound requests are resolved without human interaction. — Hugh Langley, Dan Defrancesco
When asked how AI will negatively impact business, a software CEO has an interesting answer.
Nacho De Marco made an interesting statement when asked if AI would hurt his business, BairesDev, which provides software engineering support to companies on an outsourcing/augmentation basis.
“I’ve heard some people say that about journalists,” he said. touchpicture! That said, he predicted that over the next five to 10 years, new technologies will “make software even better.” “We won’t know in 20 years.” — Jamie Heller
David Beckham also appears
David Beckham attended this year’s Davos. Spriha Srivastava/Business Insider
Amidst the whirlwind of meetings, dinners, and cocktails, there have also been some celebrity sightings. Have you ever heard of someone named David Beckham? Well, I met him. The former footballer and UNICEF goodwill ambassador was awarded the Crystal Award for his philanthropic work.
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That’s the magic of Davos. One minute you’re refilling your coffee in the central lounge of the Congress Center, and the next you’re rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s most interesting people. — Spriha Srivastava
JPMorgan’s Troy Rohrbaugh said private credit is not a zero-sum game between banks and private lenders.
For Troy Rohrbaugh, co-CEO of JPMorgan’s commercial and investment banking, the larger conversation about the rise of private credit is not a zero-sum game.
Despite the recognition that banks and private lenders must compete for business, Rohrbaugh said he believes the key is cooperation between both parties.
“People are very focused on how banks and non-banks are going to square off and compete with each other in this space.The real game is how do they partner with each other? It’s going to be people,’” Rohrbaugh told me.
This is not to say that banks and private leaders never compete for deals. But he thinks there will be more opportunities to work together. After all, while private credit has become a hot new corner of Wall Street, it is essentially just a lending business, literally the foundation on which banks are built.
That’s why banks are a key part of the lending puzzle, Rohrbaugh added.
“Assets are certainly important, but the differentiator is their creation,” he added. — Dan Defrancesco
KPMG talks about legal business
When a law firm of KPMG’s size attempts to enter a new business, it tends to attract attention, but the Big Four’s efforts to create a major law firm are aimed at upending the industry. Not so, says one law firm. leaders. Paul Knopf, chairman and CEO of KPMG US, told me that this strategy rounds out the type of services they already do. He mentioned dealing with legal issues associated with contract management and conducting due diligence on transactions.
“We don’t see this as a threat to the traditional law firms that exist today,” Knopp said. “We are looking for more complimentary or ancillary services that can add value to the specific services we already offer, that fit well with what we already do.”
As for how KPMG plans to staff the new group, Knopf said the company will rely on existing relationships to hire directly from universities. It will also create what Knopf calls “direct entry talent.” In other words, the company will hire people who are currently working in the market.
Knopf doesn’t think this poses a big threat to mid-sized and large law firms because their focus isn’t on the kind of litigation or regulatory work that these firms specialize in.
“That’s exactly why we’re entering that space. We think there’s a bit of an unmet need where we can play a role, where we already know other services and There are some legal services that we can perform more efficiently because of our presence,” Knopp added. — Dan Defrancesco
Shrinkflation is a prize at Davos
Davos’ signature blue bobble hat is getting smaller. Dan Defrechesco/Business Insider
Shrinkflation appears to have occurred in Davos prizes. Davos’ popular blue bobble hat, a longtime conference staple, is back in a slightly different form.
This year’s bobble is noticeably smaller than previous years. Even though this is an event for the world’s elite, there are signs of economic change. — Dan Defrancesco
