Key Points
- AI was the dominant topic at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.
- The CEOs of Tesla, Nvidia, Anthropic, and Microsoft were all in attendance.
- The tech leaders were not shy about “sniping” at each other and their competitors.
- Microsoft’s Satya Nadella warned that if more people don’t start using AI, it could be a “popped bubble.”
This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos felt less like a gathering of global leaders and more like a high-powered tech conference. The main topic of conversation, both on and off the stage, was artificial intelligence, with the CEOs of Tesla, Nvidia, Anthropic, and Microsoft all in attendance.
While the tech titans were busy laying out their grand visions for the future, they also weren’t shy about taking shots at their competitors. The CEO of Anthropic, for example, publicly attacked the Trump administration’s decision to allow Nvidia to sell advanced AI chips to China. This was a particularly interesting move, given that Anthropic is a huge Nvidia customer.
“They are definitely all sort of sniping at each other,” one observer said. “We know that they’re all jockeying to be the lead and that they’re also trying to hold on to talent without overspending themselves to death.”
The CEOs were also very blunt about what they need to keep the AI boom going. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella essentially said that if more people don’t start using AI, the whole thing could be a “popped bubble.” NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang made a similar plea, arguing that we are not investing enough in the technology.
The conference also highlighted the growing influence of the tech industry on the global stage. Massive storefronts took over Davos’s main street, occupied by companies like Meta and Salesforce. At the same time, more traditional topics like climate change and poverty struggled to draw a crowd.
It was a week of big ideas, big egos, and a clear sense that the AI revolution is just getting started. But it was also a reminder that, for all the talk of a transformative future, the tech world is still a very competitive, cutthroat place.
