**The Great AI Hype: A Conversation with TechCrunch’s Kirsten Korosec and Sean O’Kane**
I just got back from the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and I’m still trying to process all the drama that went down. This year, the tech industry took center stage, with some of the biggest names in the game, like Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, and Satya Nadella, delivering high-profile speeches. Amidst all the usual discussions on climate change and poverty, AI seemed to be the star of the show. Or was it?
To get the lowdown on what really went down in Davos, I sat down with my colleagues Kirsten Korosec and Sean O’Kane from TechCrunch. Our conversation was more like a debriefing session, where we tried to make sense of all the hype and drama that unfolded at the event.
**Kirsten Korosec:**
One of the biggest differences this year was that tech companies like Meta and Salesforce really took center stage. The USA House, sponsored by McKinsey and Microsoft, was one of the most prominent displays. It was a visually different experience, and of course, Elon Musk’s appearance was notable. He’s typically avoided Davos in the past.
**Anthony:**
I think it’s interesting how AI has become such a big business story. It’s hard to separate it from other global issues, like trade and politics. One of the big headlines was CEO Dario Amodei’s remarks about the Trump administration’s decision to allow Nvidia to send chips to China.
**Sean O’Kane:**
Yeah, and the CEOs’ use of language was… interesting. Satya Nadella kept calling data centers “token factories,” which is a pretty abstract way of describing what they’re there for. And during the week, there was a lot of sniping between the CEOs, not just between Anthropic and Nvidia, but also between companies in general.
**Kirsten Korosec:**
It was definitely a more palpable stress than usual. These CEOs are jockeying to be the leader in AI, and they’re all trying to hold onto their tech advantage without overspending themselves to death. It was the first time we’ve seen them all in the same room, sniping at each other like this.
**Sean O’Kane:**
The other thing that stood out was how some of the CEOs were taking shots at each other. For example, Satya Nadella was talking about the need for more widespread AI adoption to prevent a bubble from forming, while Dario Amodei was saying that we’re already seeing a bubble. It was interesting to see them have differing opinions on the matter.
**Kirsten Korosec:**
Jensen Huang’s comments on job creation were also noteworthy. He was saying that we need to invest more in AI research to create more jobs, but nobody’s really talking about the possibility of a slowdown in the build-out of AI infrastructure.
**Sean O’Kane:**
Yeah, it was a pretty unusual experience to see all these CEOs sniping at each other like this. Usually, we see them at separate events or conferences, but this time they were all in the same room, going head-to-head.
You can watch our full conversation on AI hype and CEOs bickering in the podcast below:
We’ll have more coverage of the World Economic Forum and the latest in AI as it develops. Stay tuned!
