Embracing AI is necessary for legacy industries, leaders say

DAVOS, Switzerland – A commitment to embracing AI and the changing digital world are key to success in legacy industries, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and Takeda Pharmaceutical CEO Christophe Weber said.

Why it matters: While companies in traditional sectors have at times been slow to adopt the latest advancements and respond to shifting consumer needs, they must now to keep up and meet the moment.

Axios' Mike Allen, Courtenay Brown and Dan Primack moderated conversations with Moynihan and Weber. The Jan. 23 conversations were sponsored by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

What they're saying: Becoming a digital biopharma company "means that we are really being able to harness big data, different technology combined with AI and change the way we operate across our entire value chain," Weber said.

• "We are a pure brick-and-mortar, legacy-type company" and embracing technology "is actually a big shift," Weber said.
• For example, he said Takeda is using AI to develop its molecule design and clinical trial processes faster.

Using the latest technology tailored to customer needs is at the core of Bank of America's digital strategy, Moynihan said.

• "You can't forget, it's real customers. All the science projects in the world mean nothing if the customer doesn't understand what you're doing," Moynihan said.
• "Those technologies will change, our job is to be just at the right place with the customer technology interface and make it work."

Technology and AI aren't the only major change agents at work, as U.S. companies also face a new administration with big plans on regulation, tariffs and growth, Moynihan points out.

He said bank customers and clients' waning concerns about inflation and interest rates in 2024 had been "overwhelmed in the last six months by the regulatory burden."

• With talk of President Trump doing away with many regulations, "[t]hat's the optimism, because the question is how much does that uncork in the United States and how much was being held back?" Moynihan said.
• Moynihan also said the benefits of a looser regulatory environment could outweigh potential burdens from tariffs "as long as they're in the 10% to 15% range."

Sponsored content:

In a View From the Top sponsored segment, BetterUp co-founder and CEO Alexi Robichaux explained how companies can guide their workers to make use of the more effective but lesser-known functions of AI.

• "Health care workers in particular, compared to the rest of the population, are more likely to use AI for administrative tasks and more hesitant to use AI to make judgment or critical-thinking decisions compared to the average knowledge worker," Robichaux said.
• "The two things that are important to get people out of the copy-and-paste behavior to actually unlock productivity gains are one … you as an organization to tell people that they're not cheating at their jobs if they actually use AI. … The second thing is to actually guide them through role modeling into what are creative, productive use cases of AI."