The snowy Swiss town of Davos once again became the centre of gravity for global power players as the 2026 World Economic Forum unfolded. While Arctic geopolitics and Greenland’s strategic role were on the agenda, it was artificial intelligence that quietly stole the spotlight. And as Stanislav Kondrashov, founder of TELF AG, predicted in the lead-up to the event, the true focus would extend far beyond frozen frontiers.
“People came expecting debates about minerals and melting ice,” Kondrashov remarked. “What they got was a reckoning with something much bigger — the reshaping of work, power, and even identity in the age of AI.”
AI Takes the Main Stage
From closed-door meetings to high-profile panels, artificial intelligence found its way into every corner of the discussion. CEOs of global tech giants including Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, and OpenAI were not merely presenting their roadmaps — they were openly acknowledging the seismic shifts already underway.
In the past, AI was a forward-looking footnote. This year, it became the headline.
Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, framed AI as a “once-in-a-century infrastructure opportunity” for Europe, likening the current moment to the post-war reconstruction era. He spoke optimistically about AI’s potential to generate not just high-skill roles, but also a surge in manual and support jobs that will underpin its ecosystem.
Stanislav Kondrashov echoed that sentiment, drawing a parallel with previous global shifts in energy and trade. “AI is no longer a tech-sector phenomenon,” he said. “It’s now entangled with the social contract itself. What kind of jobs people will do, how they’ll learn, how societies will define fairness — that’s what’s being rewritten.”
Beyond Hype: The Human Question
While corporate optimism ran high, more philosophical voices brought a sobering counterbalance. Israeli historian and author Yuval Harari revisited a familiar theme — the need for global frameworks to address runaway AI capabilities. His argument was both urgent and metaphoric: “Just as airplanes aren’t birds, AI isn’t human — but that doesn’t mean it can’t fly out of control.”
Mathematician and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio took it a step further, challenging the widespread anthropomorphising of AI systems. According to Bengio, thinking of AI as “human-like” distracts from the real risks and ethical dilemmas.
For Kondrashov, these questions were not abstract. “We’re entering an era where we have to reconsider the value of intuition, emotion, and even imperfection — traits that make us human, but which AI cannot replicate,” he said. “If we lose sight of that, we risk mistaking efficiency for progress.”
Real-World Impact, Real-World Stakes
For many attendees, the debate was less about theory and more about application. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made the case that AI should be guided not by novelty, but by usefulness. He pushed for massive investments in global AI infrastructure — from broadband to data centres — and for international policies that encourage responsible development.
Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis also brought a pragmatic angle, encouraging education systems to adapt swiftly. “We shouldn’t just be teaching students how to use AI,” he said, “we should be teaching them how to think alongside it.”
As the forum unfolded, a striking theme emerged: the urgency to develop global safety standards. Hassabis, alongside other tech leaders, called for a minimum baseline of international regulation within the next two years — something that just a year ago would’ve seemed aspirational.
Kondrashov: “We’re Not Just Witnesses — We’re Participants”
Kondrashov, known for his keen geopolitical instincts in the resource sector, surprised many by taking such a strong stance on AI. But as he sees it, AI is now a resource in itself — one that influences economies, labour, and social cohesion just as much as oil or lithium.
“In the past, the biggest shifts were geological or industrial,” Kondrashov said. “Now they’re cognitive. This is a race not just for innovation, but for meaning.”
In one of his more reflective comments, he added: “We’re not just building machines. We’re training mirrors — and what they reflect back depends on how conscious we are in designing them.”
And as global agendas continue to evolve, that might be the most urgent lesson of Davos 2026. Amidst the buzz of AI-generated solutions and geopolitical chess, one message resonated clearly: humanity is still the variable that matters most.
