At ‘Davos in the Desert,’ It’s ‘AI or Die’

Few conferences are able to gather a more powerful group of finance and tech moguls than Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which sponsors the annual Future Investment Initiative, also known as “Davos in the Desert.” 

This year’s conference, held this week in Riyadh, has so far featured Elon Musk, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, Ben Horowitz, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick and a host of CEOs from major firms including Blackstone, Citadel, Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management. 

It should come as no surprise that many of the event’s conversations have centered on the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. “It’s going to be powering a tremendous investment boom,” said BlackRock CEO Larry Fink in one interview, which was recorded.

Jack Hidary, CEO of an Alphabet AI spinout, SandboxAQ, summed up the theme most efficiently: “The mantra of AI or die is real.” Keep reading for highlights from Musk’s, Horowitz’s and Son’s sessions, which I watched from New York.