Davos 2024: On Day 4, the business of AI dominates

As the third day of World Economic Forum in Davos was filled with talks of the never-ending geopolitical tensions, the emergence of Sam Altman on the penultimate day of the annual jamboree put the focus back on AI. He assured artificial intelligence won't replace human care for each other, just like computers didn't kill the game of chess.

India at the summit

Indian contingent headed by Union ministers and chief ministers seen discussing with big corporates and investors selling the India story, while the Reserve Bank of India Governor rejected the talks about rate cuts as premature.

Not even discussing rate cuts

RBI won’t consider interest rate cuts unless inflation settles firmly around the 4% target, with policymakers not even discussing the topic yet, Governor Shaktikanta Das said. While price gains have moderated, “unless we see clear evidence that inflation is going to sustain at that level, it will be premature to talk about rate cuts,” Das told Bloomberg Television in an interview.

India’s fintech vibrancy

India is among the most significant operating countries for hosting a thriving cluster or fintech headquarters, a WEF study showed on Thursday. It said fintechs are increasingly expanding operations across borders, mainly in the same region as their headquarters. "The study reveals that vibrant hubs such as Singapore, the UK, the US, and India have hosted a thriving cluster of fintech corporate headquarters. "Among the countries surveyed, the most significant operating countries for fintechs include the US, the UK, Singapore, Mexico, and India," it added.

India’s cost-effective remedy

Union Minister for petroleum and natural gas, and housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri has said that India has a cost advantage in production of green energy and electrolysers. “In the Indian energy story, the thing that stands out is that in the next 20 years, 25% of the increase in global demand is going to come from India,” said Puri at the CII-Bain session on 'Green Hydrogen Opportunity in India' at Davos 2024.

A true partner

India is a partner that the lately expanded BRICS can count on, said Union Minister Smriti Irani, adding that the country never holds hostage its supply chains, like during the pandemic with PPE kits and medical essentials, for geopolitical reasons or economic interests. "We have shown (the world) what we can do as a part of the global supply chain, by not holding our supply chain hostage for geopolitical reasons, not subjugating our supply chain for any other political or economic interests," she said at a session themed 'BRICS in expansion'.

LinkedIn interest

LinkedIn is interested in continuing its investment in India, said its co-founder Allen Blue, adding that Indian professionals are a tremendously important component of its business. "India has been one of our central operation hubs for ten years...We have offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi, and one of our major development hubs is based in Bengaluru. LinkedIn is very interested in continuing investment in India. We are a global professional network," Blue told ANI in Davos.

India to track Swiss railways

Indian Railways plans to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Swiss railway to learn from some of their best practices and procedures including the hub and spoke model and tunnelling technology, Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. In an interview with PTI, the minister said, “I had a good meeting with senior officials and policy makers of Swiss railways and I also visited their control centre. They have a great experience in tunnelling technology and the world's longest 57-km Gotthard tunnel is here." 

Barclays Venkat wants to replicate success

Barclays CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan is looking to use the lender's first investor day in a decade to show shareholders it can replicate the success of its investment bank across other divisions to create a stronger, more balanced lender. "...the investment bank has been successful but it's about 60% of the bank, which is one of the things that I think dampens the valuation," Venkat said.

ChatGPT wave

US edutech platform Coursera added a new user every minute on average for its artificial intelligence courses in 2023, CEO Jeff Maggioncalda said, in a clear sign of people upskilling to tap a potential boom in generative AI. The company has more than 800 AI courses and saw more than 7.4 million enrollments last year. 

AI is the star 

In a sign of ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s skyrocketing profile, CEO Sam Altman made his Davos debut to rock star crowds, with his benefactor, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, hot on his heels. Illustrating AI’s geopolitical importance like few other technologies before it, the word was on the lips of world leaders from China to France. Altman said when IBM chess computer Deep Blue beat World Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, commentators said it would be the end of chess, and no one would bother to watch or play chess again. But chess has never been more popular than it is now, and almost no one watches two AIs play each other, we are very interested in what humans do, he said.

"Humans know what other humans want. Humans are going to have better tools. We've had better tools before, but we're still very focused on each other," Altman said.

Nature-positive future

The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), representing around 30% of the global metals market, said that its members would stay away from exploration-related activities at world heritage sites and focus on ensuring no net loss of biodiversity at any mining sites. In Davos, major mining companies, including Freeport-McMoRan, Teck, and Newmont, committed to taking urgent action to support a "nature-positive future" by 2030.

It’s 'very very tricky': IMF Chief

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said interest rates should keep falling in 2024 but cautioned that there is no room for any policy error as the last mile is "very, very tricky". She said that the central banks should not tighten prematurely because then they may lose the victory that is now in their hands.

‘Grow Up’ Democrats 

JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon’s comments in a CNBC interview praising aspects of Donald Trump’s record in office will sting in the corridors of power in Washington and might reflect Wall Street’s openness to Trump 2.0. “Just take a step back, be honest,” Dimon said. “He’s kind of right about NATO, kind of right about immigration, he grew the economy quite well.” “He wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues and that’s why they’re voting for him,” he added, calling for more respect for Trump voters and urging people to think more about why citizens support him. 

A delicate opportunity

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday at the World Economic Forum that normalising ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia are a key element of ending the war with Hamas and a gamechanger for the entire Middle East. “It's still delicate, it's fragile, and it will take a long time, but I think that it is actually an opportunity to move forward in the world and the region towards a better future,” Herzog said.

Macron for a joint Eurobonds

French President Emmanuel Macron backed the issuance of joint European debt to pay for priorities including defense and technology in order to ensure Europe remains sovereign amid increasing competition with China and the US. “We need more public investment in Europe, so we should open a second phase of reinvestment as we did during the covid crisis, and maybe daring again to have Eurobonds for priorities,” Macron said, addressing the WEF in Davos. 

Pakistan’s plight

Pakistan Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar has cut short his Davos visit in view of recent developments following Iran-Pakistan retaliatory strikes. Pakistan said that it has launched missile strikes into Iran and that "a number of terrorists were killed during the intelligence-based operation," codenamed "Marg Bar Sarmachar".