Davos 2026: The US-China AI Race, GPU Diplomacy, and Robots Walking the Streets | #225

Peter Diamandis (0:00)

A lot happening at Davos, a lot of conversations that are important for us to recount here.

Dave Blundin (0:06)

In past years, it was dominated by politicians and economic policy, then it moved to Internet a little bit. This year, all AI.

Dario Amodei (0:13)

We are knocking on the door of these incredible capabilities, right? The ability to build basically machines out of sand.

Demis Hassabis (0:22)

Maybe it would be good to have a bit of slightly slower pace than we're currently predicting, even my timelines, so that we can get this right.

Peter Diamandis (0:28)

Should we slow down? What's the path humanity should take?

Dave Blundin (0:31)

I think what's likely to happen post-AGI is...

Mark Benioff (0:36)

Where do you see the US and China right now in the AI race?

David Sacks (0:38)

I still think that the US is in the lead. I think that our models are better, our chips are better, but they do have other advantages. They are spinning up power generation faster than we are. That's one area.

Salim Ismail (0:48)

If you believe that energy is at the heart of it and is the core of the inner loop, China is going to go way ahead anyway. But I think the real differentiator in the race is going to be application layer dominance, not frontier benchmarks.

Peter Diamandis (1:01)

The problem is that you always need a bad guy in a movie.

Jeremy Allaire (1:08)

Now that's the Moonshot, ladies and gentlemen.

Peter Diamandis (1:13)

Welcome everybody to Moonshots, another episode of WTF here with DB2, AWG and Salim. Salim, I guess I have to use a second or what's your middle initial, Salim?

Salim Ismail (1:23)

I don't have one.

Peter Diamandis (1:24)

Ah, all right. You're killing. SI. We're going to have to adopt one for you. Anyway, welcome to probably one of the most important podcasts around today, the podcast that helps you get ready for the future, ready for the supersonic tsunami. And we spend 20 hours a week summarizing what's going on so that you can get it in a good 90-minute session. Dave and AWG, you're just back from Davos, and that's the theme of our show today. A lot happening at Davos. A lot of conversations that are important for us to recount here. So tell us, what was it like?

Dave Blundin (2:03)

It's a lot of time zones away.

Peter Diamandis (2:05)

Yeah.

Dave Blundin (2:07)

Actually, Larry Fink, who is the organizer this year, said he dropped, you know, we should do this in Detroit next year.

Peter Diamandis (2:13)

How so?

Dave Blundin (2:14)

That did not go over well across Europe. We want to include, you know, more views from around the world. This exclusive resort town is just too swank. Let's go to Detroit.

Peter Diamandis (2:25)

Well, here's some fun photos of you guys. It was cold and sunny.

Salim Ismail (2:29)

Is that Sandy Pentland?

Dave Blundin (2:31)

Yeah, that's Sandy Pentland with his brass rat. Yeah. Yeah. It's great to see him. He's a long timer. He's been there for God since the dawn of Davos.

Alexander Wissner-Gross (2:40)

Yeah, I would say there were robots on the streets. There were billionaires eating out of food trucks and there were anti-aircraft guns on the ice pond.

Peter Diamandis (2:50)

Nice, but Trump coming up the town.

Dave Blundin (2:51)

There were actually 3000, much more security than the past six years. 3000 armed people in fatigues with machine guns going all the way halfway to Zurich. Actually, I was surprised.

Donald Trump was there this year. I guess they ratcheted up. He attracts a crowd.

Peter Diamandis (3:07)

So Dave and Alex, what was the vibe like? What did it feel like there? I mean, you've been there numerous times. I was there once as a speaker and it was just overwhelming beyond belief in terms of trying to find people there. It's a zoo, isn't it?

Dave Blundin (3:22)

Yeah, it's a zoo. If I were to characterize what was different this year, it's kind of like the quintessential example is Alex was there.

In past years, it was dominated by politicians and economic policy. Then it kind of moved to internet a little bit. This year, all AI, completely dominated by AI, which is encouraging. No one had anything intelligent to say other than the usual suspects, Dario and Dennis and the people we see all the time. But at least they were listening. Global leaders, presidents of pretty much every country, listening to pretty much all AI dialogue. That gives you some hope that people are beginning to get ready. The fact that Alex was there is kind of a bellwether of where it's likely to go. So, Alex, I know you want to...