AI CEOs transformed Davos into a tech conference

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos felt different this year (techcrunch.com/2026/01/20/anthropics-ceo-stuns…), and not just because Meta and Salesforce took over storefronts on the main promenade. AI dominated the conversation in a way that overshadowed traditional topics like climate change and global poverty, and the CEOs weren't holding back. There was public criticism of trade policy, warnings about AI bubbles popping, and a lot of talk about what comes next for the industry.

Meanwhile, back in Silicon Valley, AI startup Humans& raised a $480 million seed round (techcrunch.com/2026/01/22/humans-thinks-coordi…) with no product on the market, just a vision for "social intelligence" AI and a team of ex-Anthropic, Google, and xAI employees.

Today on TechCrunch’s Equity (techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity) podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O'Kane discuss why raising hundreds of millions before building a product is apparently the new norm, which conversations took over Davos this week, and more.

Listen to the full episode to hear more from the week, including:

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Whether Meta's 10% layoffs at Reality Labs means the end for the metaverse (techcrunch.com/2026/01/19/well-there-goes-the-…), and who’s defending Meta's VR investments

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Serve Robotics' acquisition of Diligent (techcrunch.com/2026/01/20/why-serve-robotics-i…), a startup bringing delivery bots into hospitals

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OpenAI’s rumored earbuds (techcrunch.com/2026/01/21/openai-aims-to-ship-…) and what we expect to see from the AI company’s first hardware product.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube (youtube.com/@TechCrunch),Apple Podcasts (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780),Overcast (overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity),Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?s…) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity onX (twitter.com/EquityPod) andThreads (threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.

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