Bill Gates, will.i.am, top execs on AI: Davos best moments
Advancements in artificial intelligence have been one of the biggest stories of 2023 and remain a trending topic for 2024. As part of part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi spoke to preeminent leaders and top executives across the industry about advancements in AI and expectations for the coming year.
The advancements in artificial intelligence, generative AI in particular, have had a major impact on the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "I found it's a real productivity increase," former Microsoft (MSFT) President and CEO Bill Gates explained. "Likewise, for coders, you're seeing 40, 50% productivity improvement, which means you can get programs sooner. You can make them higher quality, make them better."
Nasdaq (NDAQ) CEO and President Adena Friedman broke down the impact of AI on new companies entering the market. Friedman said, "Very exciting time, I have to say, because every company can benefit from this next generation of technology. I think you can look at every industry and gen AI has applicability. So companies that help unlock that potential are going to be, I think, companies that a lot of investors are looking at."
Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan provided his thoughts on AI applications. Moynihan said, "We completely believe that this will have a big impact ... you have to have the ability to convert processes to technique through language models and learning models. The trick in that is that we have to have accountability."
The popularity of generative AI will impact companies like Verizon Communications (VZ), which controls the wireless networks which will transmit so much of this data. Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg said, "I think at the edge of the network it's going to be very important to have AI to take quick decisions very close to the end views of the customer or the enterprise. And of course that's how we build our network."
Novartis (NVS) recently announced a partnership with Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and also has an existing partnership with Microsoft, which leverages its AI platform. Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan explained, "We developed an approach called generative chemistry to try to speed up how fast we can bring new medicines into the clinic ... it's really opening up new horizons."
Cisco (CSCO) CEO Chuck Robbins discussed the trajectory of AI and the impact it will have across the industry. Robbins said, "I think the ones that are going to win are the ones that figure out how do I create value based capabilities that help end users take advantage of the data they have."
Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff believes that we will one day have AI employees, but we are not there yet. Benioff said, "There's no question that where AI is going is digital employees ... in today's world that's not where AI is. We know that AI has got a lot of problems still."
Qualcomm (QCOM) CEO Cristiano Amon broke down the state of the semiconductor sector given the surge in AI demand. Amon explained, "It's so exciting we did something that is very unique. We can run those large language models on your phone, and you can do them very fast."
Microsoft has plans to expand its AI capabilities. Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said, "I think this is one technology that will live up to the impact that people expect ... it is quite possibly the defining technology of our lifetime, certainly this decade I think without question."
C3.ai (AI) Founder, Chairman, and CEO Tom Siebel discussed his expectations for AI products as more companies pivot into the space. Siebel said, "Generative AI changes everything. It fundamentally changes the nature of the human-computer interface as it relates to enterprise application software, and this is big."
Williams-Sonoma (WSM) is utilizing AI in its email marketing as well as its supply chain optimization. Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber explained, "We're seeing great benefit on the supply chain side being optimized. And we can optimize it for time, or we can optimize it for cost."
Grammy Award-winning musician and entrepreneur will.i.am announced a new radio show he will be co-hosting with an AI co-host. Will.i.am explained, "It's trained on the world's information ... and I think that's the way to really educate people on where we are."
Video highlights:
00:00:03 - Bill Gates
00:00:22 - Nasdaq CEO and President Adena Friedman
00:00:38 - Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
00:00:58 - Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg
00:01:11 - Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan
00:01:32 - Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins
00:01:48 - Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
00:02:02 - Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon
00:02:26 - Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith
00:02:47 - C3.ai Founder, Chairman, and CEO Tom Siebel
00:03:02 - Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber
00:03:19 - will.i.am
