AI CEOs transformed Davos into a tech conference
The World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos felt different this year , and not just because Meta and Salesforce took over storefronts on the main promenade. AI dominated the conversation in a way that overshadowed traditional topics like climate change and global poverty, and the CEOs weren't holding back. There was public criticism of trade policy, warnings about AI bubbles popping, and a lot of talk about what comes next for the industry. Meanwhile, back in Silicon Valley, AI startup Humans& raised a $480 million seed round with no product on the market, just a vision for "social intelligence" AI and a team of ex-Anthropic, Google, and xAI employees. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane discuss why raising hundreds of millions before building a product is apparently the new norm, which conversations took over Davos this week, and more. Listen to the full episode to hear more from the week, including: Whether Meta's 10% layoffs at Reality Labs means the end for the metaverse , and who’s defending Meta's VR investments Serve Robotics' acquisition of Diligent , a startup bringing delivery bots into hospitals OpenAI’s rumored earbuds and what we expect to see from the AI company’s first hardware product. Subscribe to Equity on YouTube , Apple Podcasts , Overcast , Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads , at @EquityPod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices