Good morning. The ambiance right here on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos is all about nervous pleasure because the Trump administration descends on the usually quaint however at the moment chaotic ski city within the Alps.
President Donald Trump will probably be making remarks only a couple hours from now, and Fortune will probably be reporting reside from USA Home on the principle promenade, with insights from authorities officers and chief executives throughout and instantly following the president’s dialog. Keep watch over our livestream, right here https://fortune.com/2026/01/21/ceos-davos-buy-into-the-agentic-ai-hype/.
Elsewhere round city, CEOs are setting their agendas for the 12 months. Right here’s what’s prime of thoughts for just a few of them:
This may truly be the 12 months of agentic AI. The primary time I heard the time period “agentic AI” was at Davos final 12 months. For all of the hype round it, does the typical CEO actually know what it’s or deploy it? And is AI adequate but for brokers to switch and even considerably help human workers? The reply seems to be sure. Google Gemini head Demis Hassabis instructed me that Gemini 3 achieved some milestones that enable agentic AI to actually proliferate when it comes to its capabilities. ServiceNow CEO Invoice McDermott can be an emphatic “sure,” and says he’s already utilizing it to do issues like automate his IT division (with out doing layoffs, he stresses; he says he has repurposed workers as an alternative). He thinks different CEOs are able to do the identical.
Prepare for Google glasses—for actual, this time. A decade in the past, Google launched its Google Glass eyewear to widespread mockery. Hassabis thinks the timing was simply off; on the time there was no tremendous app to go on the platform. AI has modified that, and Hassabis is bullish on Gemini glasses being the longer term kind for shopper AI. Meta is betting the identical factor, and OpenAI can be reportedly contemplating a super-device, but it surely doesn’t look like both can match Gemini’s capabilities any time quickly.
There’s synthetic intelligence, and now there’s additionally “power intelligence.” Schneider Electrical CEO Olivier Blum says that nailing power intelligence is his mission this 12 months. By that he means he needs to seize knowledge from varied power sources right into a single “knowledge dice,” filter it, and use agentic AI so clients can handle it multi function place to seek out alternatives to avoid wasting energy and cash. “Our job is to verify we go to the following degree of power expertise to make power extra clever,” he instructed me yesterday. If he can obtain it, he sees a 7%-10% annual development alternative forward.
Greenland: nationwide panic or nationwide safety danger? I’ve heard varied reactions to President Trump’s want for a full U.S. takeover of the massive island—from outrage to vigorous help. If he does get his want (which some right here suppose is probably going), might Europe retaliate by making life more durable and extra restrictive for giant U.S. tech corporations? That was one CEO’s consideration. Mentioned one other: “Clear-eyed folks can agree that that could be a nationwide safety concern. And having a nationwide safety concern isn’t just a U.S. concern, it’s additionally a NATO concern.” They have been optimistic that the in-person conferences this week would assist transfer the matter in a constructive route. You possibly can comply with all our Davos protection—together with Fortune reside interviews at present with Ray Dalio, Dara Khosrowshahi and extra—proper right here.—Alyson Shontell
Contact CEO Each day by way of Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
High information
The disaster CEOs can’t ignore
The annual Edelman Belief Barometer, revealed at Davos yearly, exhibits an “insular” mindset permeating the enterprise world, with 70% of respondents not desirous to discuss to, work for, and even be in the identical house with anybody with a distinct world view. Richard Edelman says CEOs should undertake a way of urgency in addressing the disaster; they should sense that “time is operating out.”
The Fortune 2026 World’s Most Admired Firms checklist
Fortune printed the 2026 World’s Most Admired Firms this week, an annual rating in collaboration with Korn Ferry that surveys executives, administrators, and analysts throughout a variety of industries. Apple made the highest of the checklist amongst leaders in all industries for the nineteenth 12 months in a row—learn who else made the minimize.
Netflix co-CEOs increase the case for the Warner Bros. deal
Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters praised the streaming firm’s deliberate acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery throughout its earnings name on Tuesday, promoting the deal as a lift to its streaming enterprise and a manufacturing increase for America. Traders, nevertheless, stay fearful that the deal will push Netflix away from its core enterprise, and the inventory dropped virtually 5% after hours.
The markets
S&P 500 futures are up 0.19% this morning. The final session closed down 2.06%. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.41% in early buying and selling. The U.Ok.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.02% in early buying and selling. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.41%. China’s CSI 300 was up o.09%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 0.49%. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 0.3%%. Bitcoin was at $89K.
Across the watercooler
What Walmart’s CEO succession reveals concerning the smartest time to exit by Ruth Umoh
People are paying almost all the tariff burden as worldwide exports die down, examine finds by Jacqueline Munis
The 9 most disruptive offers of Trump’s first 12 months again within the White Home by Geoff Colvin
Gen Z’s nostalgia for ‘2016 vibes’ reveals one thing deeper: a protest towards the world and economic system they inherited by Nick Lichtenberg and Eva Roytburg
CEO Each day is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.
