- Thursday is the last full day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
- The rich and powerful have been discussing what 2025 will bring for the economy, tech, and business.
- This is what BI is seeing and hearing on the ground.
Thursday is the last full day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the rich and powerful have been discussing the year ahead in economics, business, and tech.
This is what Business Insider is hearing and seeing on the ground.
A softer start to day four
You can tell the parties in Davos have been running late when the security lines at the Congress Center are shorter. That was the scene on the morning of day four.
Last night, the Business Insider crew was out mingling with the rich and powerful, trying to gauge their biggest takeaways from the week.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told me he loves coming to Davos—not just for the events but also for the sheer number of connections he’s able to make. Connections were certainly the theme of the night.
From Uber, we made our way to one of the most sought-after gatherings: J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon‘s annual drinks reception. Hosted at the iconic Kirchner Museum, this event is a Davos staple, bringing together the biggest names in business and politics. It’s not just about the cocktails — it’s a chance to meet Dimon, his top leadership, and an exclusive circle of global power players.
And yes, we managed to sneak in a photo with Dimon himself, alongside Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and none other than former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Just another night in Davos. — Spriha Srivastava
Who will manage your AI colleagues?
The AI agents are coming, but who will manage them? It’s a very real concern among some business leaders I’ve met with.
HR software maker Lattice got some backlash last year when it announced it would start giving AI workers official employment records. The idea might not seem so ridiculous now as business leaders think about how to govern a new class of AI capable of carrying out certain tasks without human input. “We were ahead, but by months,” Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin told BI at Davos.
ManpowerGroup chief commercial officer Becky Frankiewicz also told BI she’d been hearing from business leaders who are thinking about ways to govern AI agents. Tech companies will likely be the first to jump in, she said, but she already knows of one consulting firm grappling with this challenge of the new AI era. “They’ve done the agents already,” she said. “The next question they were asking was: do we need to have managers for the agents?” — Hugh Langley
Uber wants to ‘out Amazon’ Amazon
“Never underestimate the power of human laziness,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told a small gathering on Wednesday in a Q&A. He was talking about Uber’s plans for growing its same-day delivery network with merchants spanning from Apple to Walmart. “Ultimately what we want to do is empower every single local merchant to out-Amazon Amazon,” he said.
Khosrowshahi traveled to Switzerland after attending festivities in DC for Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he described seeing a reinvigorated sense of optimism among business leaders.
“You see it, whether you agree with the executive orders or not, there’s a sense that there’s a window, there’s a permission to move quickly,” he said. — Hugh Langley
Davos is already prepping for 2026
The conference doesn’t technically wrap until midday Friday, but things are already winding down. Some people leave Thursday, while a good chunk of the delegates head out early Friday.
But an end is just a new beginning, and that’s the case for Davos … 2026.
Planning for next year’s event has already begun. Plenty of companies will lock down their spaces along the Promenade — the main street that runs through town where retail shops are transformed into a “haus” for the business renting it — by the end of the week if they haven’t already done so. When I first arrived on Sunday afternoon, I saw one shop with a large display advertising itself as a potential 2026 home base.
Reservations at restaurants for big dinners also start filling up fast, although one person involved in event planning told me some establishments opt to wait a bit in hopes they can just rent out the entire space in one go.
The entire week is a boon for local businesses and homeowners, who make many multiples above what they see selling things or renting out their space any other week of the year.
Of course, some shops choose to stay open, like the town’s luxury watch shop. (Its Rolex signage fits in quite well with the vibes, to be honest.)
And then there’s the one souvenir shop in the middle of town, which might secretly do the best business. A simple cotton T-shirt with some Davos branding can run you close to $40. — Dan DeFrancesco
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