AI fever takes over Davos pushing crypto aside as the new cool kid on the block

DAVOS, Switzerland — For the last few years at the World Economic Forum cryptocurrency firms dominated the main strip in Davos, promoting their wares.

But in 2024, artificial intelligence has taken over. Some of the world's biggest companies are pushing their AI products and services with one declaring: "The future is AI."

This shift underscores the rapid rise in AI investments and interest last year, sparked by the explosion of popularity of ChatGPT, the AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, and launched at the end of 2022.

Global technology companies are jostling to take a lead position in AI and are they are likely hoping their big statements on the Davos Promenade will serve to show their prowess in the field.

Companies from U.S. semiconductor firm Intel to Salesforce had AI slogans on the properties they took over. And then there was the "AI House", an events space hosted by companies including Swiss telecommunications firm Swisscom.

AI dominated the Promenade far more than crypto firms, reversing a trend from the past few years.

For example, at the World Economic Forum in January 2022, even after the price of cryptocurrencies had collapsed, firms were touting "Bitcoin Pizza Day" and so-called non-fungible tokens. In January 2023, as the crypto winter had set in, firms pulled back on splashing the cash at Davos, but there was still a heavy presence from the industry, inclduing a mysterious orange bitcoin car.

The AI dominance makes sense.

PitchBook's Emerging Tech Indicator, which tracks angel, seed, and early stage investments at the world's 15 most successful venture firms, found that AI and machine learning startups gained far more investment in the third quarter. The buzzy tech pulled in around $600 million over the three