A version of this article originally appeared in Quartz’s Need to Know: Davos newsletter. To get updates on the World Economic Forum delivered straight to your inbox all week, sign up here.
The global elite are dusting off their snow boots for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland (this Monday through Friday), where “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age” isn’t just a fancy theme — it’s a loaded proposition for what might be one of the most consequential gatherings in years. This year, however, the Swiss mountains are competing with another summit altogether: Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington.
The elephant in the (virtual) room: Just days after his inauguration on Monday, Trump on Thursday will address Davos via a video link in what WEF President and CEO Borge Brende says will be a “very special moment.” But the real story might be who won’t be in Davos. Tech leaders including Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Dara Khosrowshahi are choosing the D.C. swamp over the Alps. Meanwhile, Wall Street remains committed to Davos, with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and other banking executives rumored to be sticking to their usual Swiss schedules.
While some tech leaders are heading to Washington, Davos isn’t exactly hurting for attendees. The Swiss gathering will host 60 heads of state and government, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang. For the second year in a row, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make a special address about the Russian invasion of his country.
On the business side, more than 900 CEOs will be navigating the Congress Centre’s corridors, including what WEF said will include a notable contingent of unicorn founders and tech pioneers. They’ll be tackling an agenda heavy on “frontier technologies” and quantum computing — even if some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names will be missing.
The Forum is also pushing its “Global Collaboration Village,” an extended reality platform that feels either perfectly timed for an era of virtual diplomacy or like a solution in search of a problem (we’ll be watching to see which).
The full program can be found here, with many of the sessions being streamed live. Here are some of the topics that will take center stage.
‘Agentic AI’ is having its moment
Forget last year’s theoretical AI discussions. OpenAI’s Sam Altman says 2025 is when AI agents will actually join the workforce, and the company is launching its “Operator” product this month.
The talent crisis is getting real
Japan just hit a sobering milestone with 30% of its population now elderly. Several Davos sessions focus on “talent scarcity” and “reinventing retirement” — signals that demographic shifts are no longer a future problem. Could AI agents help? You better believe they’ll be pitched.
A $30 trillion reality check
That’s the investment needed to get “hard-to-abate” sectors (think shipping, aviation, and steel) to net-zero emissions. These industries represent 40% of global emissions, and while everyone will talk about the opportunity, the funding gap remains stark. In this instance, the chance AI could be helpful actually has some decent evidence.
The big, perennial question
Can a gathering that’s often criticized as an elite talking shop actually make progress on what WEF’s founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab calls a “societal revolution”? With converging technologies “reshaping the very fabric of our world” (his words, not ours), this year’s Alpine gathering might matter more than the skeptics think.
