The first session of Davos 2025 focused on the hot topic of artificial intelligence (AI), hearing perspectives from leaders across sectors.
Amin Nasser, president and CEO of energy company Saudi Aramco, explained how it is having a tangible impact on its daily operations and pipeline of future opportunities.
“We created a system that allows us to increase margin by looking at columns and maximizing the yield of a column – you can make decisions in minutes and seconds now (to) change the yield,” he said.
“We can prioritize each use case before moving it from pilot to deployment, and see the real value. »
He said the company works with hyperscalers because the models used can be adopted without losing control.
Later in the presentation, he highlighted the importance of human talent in the technology equation.
“It’s not about buying chips, it’s about making sure you have the systems, the quality data and creating the talent that will help you,” he said. “You can’t grow without developing talent.”
Julie Sweet, CEO of global consultancy Accenture, said AI has been a catalyst for businesses to take a new look at technology.
“Data has been very expensive (to work with, therefore) and for years people didn’t want to (invest), but the companies that built their database early are now getting ahead of the curve,” she said.
“One of the biggest obstacles to scaling has been a lack of discipline or the ‘I have to be able to see it in my P&L’ mindset, but companies see the value and really want to move forward. These are major transformations. But we have to be realistic about where we are right now: over 90% of the data work that companies (need to) do is still to come.”
Ryan McInerney, CEO of payments company Visa, spoke enthusiastically about the advent of agent commerce (with autonomous AI agents). He predicted it would be an “incredible leveler” and empower small businesses around the world.
“If you think about your own user experiences, the (personalized) search window remains remarkably narrow,” he said. “Through the power of AI, users have the ability to search global inventory in real time.”
Roy Jakobs, CEO of technology company Philips, said rapid technological changes would reinvent the future of healthcare with “agents” absorbing information and interacting with patients.
“We are one of many players. We need to work closely with regulators and other companies that are innovating in this area to see how we can move forward in a more standardized way,” he said.