"Volatile" is the one word that describes the tech industry's new reality under the second Trump administration.

Why it matters: With AI booming, social media splintering and crypto inflating, the giant companies that drive today's economy face a huge spike in uncertainty.

The big picture: Trump's track record of sudden policy about-faces and unpredictable lurches governed by whim and self-interest puts CEOs in a defensive crouch.

• Some, like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, have enthusiastically moved into the MAGA tent, joining tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen. Others are standing outside but paying ritual tribute.
• Silicon Valley leaders won't shed tears, for the most part, as Trump's team disassembles Washington's half-constructed regulatory regime for AI and backs off from the Biden administration's full-court press on monopoly and competition.
• But Trump's priority of shutting the U.S.'s immigration door will directly harm the tech workforce. And the new president's vow to stifle trade with tariffs, if fulfilled, could disrupt tech's global supply chain in unpredictable ways.

Here are four trends that will shape tech's free-for-all world in the new Trump era.

1. Rail-free artificial intelligence

• Trump has already revoked Biden's AI executive order as part of his blizzard of day-one declarations.
• The incoming president has given no sign that he believes the government has an important role to play in regulating tech's new platform beyond assuring that conservative voices aren't limited.
• Elon Musk has long held the view that advanced AI could threaten humanity's future. But that fear does not appear to be front of mind as he tackles his mission of cutting the federal budget.

2. Unchained crypto

• Cryptocurrency investors and developers see Trump's return as the start of a new golden age: Regulators will get off their backs, and thousands of coins will bloom.
• There will likely be a burst of new experiments in blockchain-driven democracy, too.
• But the inauguration-eve floating of new meme coins for both the new president and first lady Melania Trump made clear where the biggest action will be: lots of fast money new coin issues, many of which will be soak-the-suckers pump and dump schemes.
• Even some Trump-friendly crypto insiders were uncomfortable with the brazen profiteering of the Trump-coin schemes.
• Things will get progressively crazier until another big failure on the scale of FTX causes a new bust.

3. Deals dynamo

• With regulators sidelined and vast amounts of cash sloshing around the globe, expect deal-making in tech to accelerate, even if the Federal Reserve keeps trying to hit the brakes.
• The biggest companies still face ongoing antitrust investigations and lawsuits, but they're likely to be less cautious and more opportunistic.
• Any deal that holds the possibility of enriching the president, his family or his allies will have that much extra juice.

4. Social media's "big sort"

• American internet companies and users are rapidly segregating themselves into separate "red" and "blue" environments.
• Meta's move to embrace MAGA and X's harbor for extreme right-wing voices are speeding this process, driving opponents to new rival media platforms on the other side of the political fence.
• Online, at least, this process dooms the quest for common ground and assures further estrangement of America's two parties and cultures.

The bottom line: Volatility compounds across different domains.

• What happens when autonomous AI agents, steered by blockchain-based voting, start executing deals on tribalized social-media platforms?
• Cyberpunk authors dreamed such visions as a dystopia, but team Trump sees them as blueprints.

President Trump on Tuesday announced billions in private sector investments to grow artificial intelligence in the U.S. and build massive new data centers for OpenAI.

The big picture: OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and the UAE's MGX will convene under a joint venture called Stargate, and will commit $100 billion to start, with a potential of up to $500 billion over four years.

• The new company will create more than 100,000 American jobs, Trump said.
• Stargate will open a data center project in Texas and later expand to other states.

Driving the news: "This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential under a new president," Trump said Tuesday.

• SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison appeared with Trump at the White House for the announcement.
• Son will serve as the company's chairman, according to an Oracle press release.
• Arm, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle and OpenAI are the initial technology partners, per the release.
• The first project slated involves several new data centers near Austin, Texas.

Between the lines: Trump and Altman have been in frequent touch, including speaking by phone just before the inauguration about this announcement, industry sources tell Axios.

Flashback: SoftBank's Son made a similar promise of $50 billion investment in December 2016 on the eve of Trump's first term.

Our thought bubble: Trump will take credit for these spending commitments, but the rush to build AI data centers has been building for two years, and this money would likely have flowed regardless of who occupied the White House.

Humanity is "on the verge" of having AI agents that can complete tasks for users, OpenAI product chief Kevin Weil told Axios' Ina Fried at an event in Davos Tuesday.

Why it matters: Weil's prediction comes days after Axios reported that a major AI company was close to announcing a breakthrough regarding the creation of AI super-agents capable of executing complex tasks.

What he's saying: "I think 2025 is the year that we go from ChatGPT being this super smart thing that can answer any question you ask to ChatGPT doing things in the real world for you," Weil told Axios.

• The advanced reasoning skills of new AI models, and improved ability to function multimodally and engage with humans, will be key to this ability, Weil said.
• He predicted that likely as soon as this year, AI agents will be able to do tasks like filling out forms or making restaurant reservations.

State of play: Asked about workers' anxiety about the impacts of AI, Weil encouraged people to experiment with AI tools.

• Using them will give people "a much better sense for how these things really will impact sort of your sphere — your workplace, your friends, your family," he said.
• It will also enable workers to "participate in the change" that AI will bring, he added.

• Trump granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, serving a life sentence for creating Silk Road, the illegal dark web drug marketplace. (Axios)
• Microsoft is no longer OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider, the tech giant said in a blog post, announcing it has signed a new deal with OpenAI giving it right of first refusal when OpenAI is shopping for new capacity. (Microsoft, TechCrunch)

The discussion about AI and art took on a different shape inside the main Congress Center here at Davos this year, with this robot-enabled art installation.