topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

pittsburgh

atlanta

san-diego

charlotte

boulder

washington-dc

kansas-city

dallas

denver

detroit

des-moines

austin

boston

chicago

cleveland

columbus

houston

indianapolis

miami

nashville

new-orleans

nw-arkansas

philadelphia

phoenix

portland

richmond

salt-lake-city

san-antonio

san-francisco

seattle

tampa-bay

twin-cities

raleigh

huntsville

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

National

DAVOS, Switzerland – Many companies are getting stuck in the AI experimentation phase and have yet to see a substantial return on their investments, experts in the technology say.

Why it matters: Companies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars into AI at rapid speed as the business world increasingly signals that doing so is an economic imperative.

Axios' Ina Fried moderated conversations with Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI professor and senior fellow Erik Brynjolfsson and Credo AI founder and CEO Navrina Singh. The Jan. 23 conversations were sponsored by C3 AI.

What they're saying: "There's an amazing hype here and billions of dollars are being wasted," Brynjolfsson said.

Ultimately, the investments "only matter if they turn into business value, and we're not seeing that right now," Brynjolfsson said.

Brynjolfsson, an economist specializing in productivity, said the impact of AI on productivity has been minimal.

"There's always this difficulty of translating even the most amazing, or maybe especially the most amazing, technologies, into productivity and business value," he said. "I call it the 'productivity J-curve,' because it sometimes even gets worse before it gets better."

"We saw it with electricity, the steam engine, early computers, we're seeing it now. … The real challenge, the bottleneck, is figuring out how to identify business value."

Having rules in place for AI governance can help companies maximize the benefits of AI and minimize risk, Singh said.

Singh's Credo AI helps companies quantify and manage AI pitfalls and rein in bias through defined rules.

"[G]overnance is the way that most of these businesses, especially in generative AI, are getting the competitive advantage," Singh said.

"The companies that we work with … understand it's not about just bringing in AI. It's about how they bring in AI by building trust not only with their customers but with their internal stakeholders, their employees."

What's next: The time for just experimenting with AI has passed, Brynjolfsson said. Now, companies "have to really connect it to a specific business goal."

"I can bet on it.  … All the companies who started to adopt the AI governance from the design phase, they are more competitive going into the future of especially agentic AI," Singh said.

In a View From the Top sponsored segment, C3 AI chairman and CEO Tom Siebel said most companies are still in the very early stages of adopting AI to its full potential.

"As it relates to the application of AI to business and social processes, it is the first half of the first inning and the first batter is on his way to the plate," Siebel said. "We're just getting started."

Billions of dollars are being wasted on AI, Stanford expert says

Many companies are getting stuck in the AI experimentation phase and have yet to see a substantial return on their investments, experts in the technology say.

Axios' Ina Fried in conversation with Stanford's Erik Brynjolfsson. Photo: Dani Ammann on behalf of Axios

Axios' Ina Fried (left) sitting on stage in conversation with Stanford's Erik Brynjolfsson.

Axios House

Davos 2025

Axios Events

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

Future of AI & Healthcare

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."

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."

Embracing AI is necessary for legacy industries, leaders say

A commitment to embracing AI and the changing digital world are key to success in legacy industries, leaders said.

Takeda Pharmaceutical CEO Christophe Weber sitting down on stage speaking in an Axios interview.

Cutting Through AI Hype

DAVOS, Switzerland – General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford is optimistic about AI's potential in investing, telling Axios' Dan Primack that the company has added a non-voting AI member to augment its intimate investment committee.

Why it matters: AI is becoming more integrated into business, with AI agents offering advice to help some leaders make high-stakes decisions.

Primack moderated conversations with Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins and Ford in Davos. The Jan. 22 conversations were sponsored by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

What they're saying: "This is the fifth big tech cycle of my career," Ford said. "Now we have AI, which might be the biggest of all."

Ford said that significant amounts of capital have been invested in AI because the long-term potential is "very, very real."

Ford said General Atlantic now has a non-voting AI member on their five person investment committee. "She's the sixth member, we call her Ada."

"What she's done is look at 45 years of investment history, investment memos, deals we did, how they turned out, financial models incorporating all that information. Think of it as a private LLM," Ford said.

Ada has disagreed with the human voters before, Ford added.

Many enterprise customers are not yet sure what to do with AI and may feel rushed to do so, Robbins said.

"13% of the customers feel like they know what they need to do with AI. 85% say 'I've got 18 months or less to figure it out,'" Robbins said, noting the results of a recent survey.

"So there's a big gap. If you look at that, that tells you in the next 18 months there's going to be a lot of activity," Robbins added.

Separately, Ford, who's a board member of Bytedance, said he expects a deal on TikTok as soon as this week.

"[W]e'll get on with it, maybe even as early as the end of the week, in terms of negotiating what might work," Ford said.

When asked whether he believes a deal will get done, Ford swiftly answered "Yes."

In a View From the Top sponsored segment, Guru Chahal, partner in Lightspeed Venture Partners, said the amount of investment and revenue growth is something he has never seen before.

"The size of this wave supersedes the size of the internet, mobile and cloud waves combined," Chahal said.

AI "might be the biggest" tech cycle of his career, General Atlantic CEO says

General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford is optimistic about AI's potential in investing, telling Axios' Dan Primack that the company has added a non-voting AI member to its investment committee.

General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford on the Axios stage in conversation with Axios' Dan Primack.

Global AI Investment

DAVOS, Switzerland – SAP is launching two AI agents this year – a sales AI agent and a supply chain AI agent, CEO Christian Klein said.

Why it matters: SAP's move to use these two AI agents underscores just how close agentic AI is to being deployed in the real world at scale.

Axios' Ina Fried moderated the conversation with Klein in Davos. The Jan. 23 discussion was sponsored by Mubadala and MGX.

How it works: Sales AI agents will recommend the best price and how to bundle products to "hit the consumer at the right point in time" while communicating with a supply chain AI agent to determine if the product is in stock and if it will be delivered on time, Klein said.

The two AI agents will communicate "so that the sales agent is not making any kind of promises, which the supply chain can't fulfill," Klein said.

What they're saying: An important part to make agentic AI successful is being able to contextualize data, Klein said.

"SAP is investing in a knowledge graph … to contextualize the data. Now that you can set it in context, that is very, very important. And then we need to bring it to adoption."

Caveat: About 80% of SAP's customers don't have the infrastructure, team or investment to do the work to implement AI agents – but that is where SAP plans to fill the gap, Klein said.

"We have all the predictions, all the automation, it's coming with the software because oftentimes customers just don't have the team, also the investments to take a piece of AI and bring it into the context of the business," Klein added.

Mubadala Investment Company deputy chief strategy and risk officer Marc Antaki spoke in a View from the Top sponsored segment, along with MGX chief investment officer of technology Ali Osman, who said he believes the application of AI will "become very material in 2025."

Antaki said Davos reinforced his belief that partnership will be "critical" for AI's complex world "because it's very clear that nobody can do it alone."

Agentic AI is a "big next step" in AI's evolution, SAP CEO says

SAP is launching two AI agents this year – a sales AI agent and a supply chain AI agent, CEO Christian Klein said.

Artificial Intelligence

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

The New CEO Agenda

DAVOS, Switzerland – Communication leaders should look at new media platforms – like podcasts, influencers and social media – when considering how to get their message out, DoorDash chief corporate affairs officer Liz Jarvis-Shean said.

Why it matters: New media has a "connection to their audience" and is a "source they can trust," Jarvis-Shean said.

Axios' Eleanor Hawkins moderated conversations with Jarvis-Shean and Pfizer EVP and chief corporate affairs officer Sally Susman in Davos. The Jan. 23 discussion was sponsored by Weber Shandwick North America.

What they're saying: "Fundamentally, it is about respect for the audiences that you're trying to reach. And … they trust different things today," Jarvis-Shean said.

Yes, but: New media doesn't replace traditional media entirely, Jarvis-Shean added.

"So much of the content that comes out [of new media] is built off of something that is talked about in traditional media. So it is a 'yes, and' you need to continue to have relationships with all kinds of traditional media."

Caveat: New media can be transactional since "for many of those people, it is their business, Jarvis-Shean said.

She added that new media platforms are not "effective if it also isn't authentic to the story that you're trying to tell."

As the media landscape evolves, so does technology. With AI's rapid advancements, communications leaders must adapt their workflows or they could risk feeling "FOBO," or the fear of being obsolete, Susman said.

"I have, really, to think about what is going to be [the] upskilling that I need to do, that my team needs to do to live in that world," Susman added.

In a View From the Top sponsored segment, Weber Shandwick North America CEO Jim O'Leary said despite CEOs having renewed economic optimism, company leaders are concerned about the increased volatility in the world and many are less confident that their communications teams can navigate it.

"Certainly there's an opportunity for communications, public affairs, corporate affairs [and] government relations teams, to help CEOs [and] other leaders, kind of predictively or proactively navigate all of that volatility," O'Leary said.

Navigating new and traditional media as AI advances

Communication leaders should look at new media platforms – like podcasts, influencers and social media – when considering how to get their message out, DoorDash chief corporate affairs officer Liz Jarvis-Shean said.

Pfizer chief corporate affairs officer Sally Susman in conversation with Eleanor Hawkins

The Future of VC

DAVOS, Switzerland – Today's CEOs will be the last to lead an all-human workforce as businesses look to integrate AI agents, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff predicted.

Why it matters: The use of AI agents, also known as the digital labor force, has slowly been on the rise as companies look for ways to increase productivity and solve issues, like labor shortages.

Axios' Ina Fried and Dan Primack moderated conversations with Benioff, IBM vice chairman Gary Cohn, The Carlyle Group co-founder & co-chairman David Rubenstein and Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy in Davos. The Jan. 22 discussions were sponsored by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

What they're saying: "We are really moving into a world now of managing humans and [AI] agents together," Benioff said.

Salesforce gets 36,000 support inquiries every week, Benioff said. By implementing AI agents – or what he calls "Agent Force" – they were able to resolve 5,000 more inquiries than normal.  "I just have that much more productivity."

Ramaswamy said separately that no one knows what agentic AI's capabilities will be over the next 12 months, calling this a "time of a lot of change."

Private equity will also be impacted by AI by helping investors make "core decisions" that are "quicker" and "hopefully better," Rubenstein said

Regulating AI and all its capabilities have been a focal point of many governments and critics, but Cohn warns against overregulation that could harm competitiveness.

Cohn hopes President Trump's AI czar, David Sacks, continues "to allow the U.S. to be the dominant creative force in AI."

"Our competitive and comparative advantages in the United States is we've got capital and we've got creativity, and we've got entrepreneurial spirit. We want to continue to thrive with that. … We want to continue to have all of our smart minds contribute to the AI world. We don't want to let someone else win," Cohn added.

Yes, but: Industries or activities that are regulated should also have their AI regulated too, Cohn said.

"If you used a mapping program to get here today … and the map took me five steps out of my way, I don't think that needs to be regulated," Cohn said.

Hybrid human and AI workforce is coming, CEO says

Today's CEOs will be the last to lead an all-human workforce as businesses look to integrate AI agents, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff predicted.

Axios

Watch

Read

Billions of dollars are being wasted on AI, Stanford expert says

Embracing AI is necessary for legacy industries, leaders say

AI "might be the biggest" tech cycle of his career, General Atlantic CEO says

Agentic AI is a "big next step" in AI's evolution, SAP CEO says

Navigating new and traditional media as AI advances

Hybrid human and AI workforce is coming, CEO says

Social media threatens teen mental health, expert says

ProRata AI plans to pay creators despite era of AI "shoplifting content," founder says

AI agents can successfully advise executive leaders, Accenture CEO says

The Davos Big Picture

Presented by