AI Davos: Four Reflections From The World’s Most Exclusive Tech Conference
Bubble debate and AI devices dominate the World Economic Forum at Davos. Here's what happened during an eventful week.
Regards from the train leaving Davos, a beautiful ride flanked by sharp mountains, small villages, and lots of snow. The past week’s World Economic Forum here brought leaders in politics, finance, and technology together for conversations about the future of business and the world. The entire event took place along one main street in the compact Swiss town, so as you made your way through you’d have a decent chance of bumping into attendees like Matt Damon, Jensen Huang, or the coupled-up Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry.
World leaders including Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, and (the much memed) Emmanuel Macron showed up at the summit, but the week’s theme was artificial intelligence. AI and Big Tech houses lined the street, and AI lab leaders including Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made headlines throughout. In seemingly every corner of Davos, the rapidly advancing technology sparked discussions about how it would impact people’s jobs, wallets, and futures.
Through the event, I spoke with attendees and watched the proceedings. Here are my main takeaways:
The Bubble Debate Is In Full Swing
The week’s major debate was whether there’s an AI bubble or we’re simply living through a strong tech investment cycle. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang gave perhaps the best argument for the latter scenario, telling the Forum that the spot price for renting Nvidia GPUs is going up, including chips that are two generations old. (This tracks with Big Technology’s reporting in a recent interview with CoreWeave’s leadership.)
That said, even those at the top of the movement are warning of bubble-like behavior. “Are we in a bubble? Not in a bubble? I think parts of the AI industry probably are, and other parts, I think it remains to be seen,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told me during a live recording of Big Technology Podcast this week.
Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s board chair and CEO of Sierra, was blunter. “It probably is a bubble,” he told CNBC. “I think over the next few years, you’ll see a correction, you’ll also see consolidation, but I don’t think you can get innovation without that messy competition.”
One thing that struck me in my conversations: There’s still no certainty around who will get the most value out of the AI moment, whether it’s chipmakers, model builders, or the application layer. That uncertainty will likely lead to major volatility in the years to come.
You can listen to my conversation with Hassabis on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your app of choice.
The AI device market could be very big
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told me the market opportunity for AI devices could be larger than the smartphone market. Amon is anticipating 10 billion AI devices. “If agents are going to be useful to you, they’re going to be with you all the time,” he said. These devices could be glasses, rings, bracelets, watches, or something that sits on your desk, so it might make sense to own a few as you go through your life, he said. That’s a major market opportunity.
To catch on, AI devices will have to prove more useful than an app on a smartphone. And given the energy in the space — with Apple, Google, Meta and OpenAI all working on AI wearables — we’ll likely get clarity on their true potential soon.
You can listen to my conversation with Amon on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your app of choice.
Google is about to make a major AI glasses push
Speaking of AI devices, Hassabis indicated Google is about to make a major play in the glasses space. Past attempts at smart glasses struggled, he told me, because they lacked a killer app. But that might be changing. “I think the killer app is a universal digital assistant that’s with you, helping you in your everyday life,” he said. “I feel we finally got AI that is maybe powerful enough to make that a reality. And it’s one of the most exciting projects we’re working on.”
Hassabis said Google’s AI glasses might start rolling out by this summer. He’s personally involved in the project, he said, signaling its importance.
Where’s Sam Altman?
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was noticeably absent from the proceedings. While OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar and chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane held court through the week, Altman didn’t attend.
The OpenAI leader has been in the Middle East recently seeking funding for a reported $50 billion financing round, and perhaps that’s drawn his focus. Still, OpenAI made big headlines through the week, with Lehane saying the company’s first AI device is on track to ship in the second half of this year, and Friar publishing detailed information about OpenAI’s spending, showing that the company’s revenue is scaling with its compute.
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What Else I’m Reading, Etc.
Bosses say they get lots of use from AI, frontline workers not so much [WSJ]
Inside the drama at Thinking Machines Lab [WSJ]
Did the Thinking Game documentary get its 300 million views organically? [Michael Todasco]
An tech entrepreneur went to Davos jail [Semafor]
A coyote swam to Alcatraz [SF Gate]
Rubrik’s on-demand Data Recovery Summit shows you how to protect your data and stop attacks [Rubrik] (sponsor)
I spoke with Cloudera CEO Charles Sandsbury about data’s critical role in AI projects [YouTube] (sponsor)
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