Davos day 2 live updates: BYD, Microsoft, and Uber CEOs speak

Davos attracts a real cross-section of the world's rich and powerful, ranging from investors and politicians to sporting legends. Soccer great and longtime UNICEF ambassador David Beckham was spotted recording a podcast this morning.

At last year's Davos, Beckham was awarded the Crystal Award, which recognized his contributions to "advocating for children's rights, education and well-being."

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who spoke in a morning panel led by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, shared how he has always prepared for Davos meetings — and how that's changed with AI.

He said his field team used to prep him for 50 or so meetings, according to a "particular workflow."

"Nothing had really changed since I joined in '92 to essentially even a few years back," he said about the year he joined the tech giant as an engineer. "Whereas now, I just go to Copilot and say, "Hey, I'm meeting Larry. Please give me a brief."

He added that the briefs generated by Microsoft's AI assistant give him a comprehensive overview of the relationship between his firm and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's team.

AI tools are also changing the traditional bottom-to-top flow of information, he said.

"In fact, what I do is I take that and immediately share that back with all my colleagues across all the functions," he said. "Think about it. It's a complete inversion of how information is flowing in the organization."

Robot drivers will ultimately outperform humans on safety, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday in Davos.

"If you think about the world 20 years from now, your Uber is going to be driven largely not by a human being, but by a robot driver — a piece of software on top of a car," Khosrowshahi said, adding that vehicles are becoming increasingly sophisticated and more like "computers on wheels."

Khosrowshahi said autonomous systems have clear advantages over human drivers. "There's no doubt in my mind that the robot driver can be safer than a human driver," he said. Robot drivers don't get tired or distracted, don't text while driving, and can operate continuously while improving over time, he added.

The key question, Khosrowshahi said, is what level of safety is "enough" for robot drivers — whether matching human performance is sufficient or whether autonomous vehicles should be held to a higher standard.

In the longer term, he said, human driving could resemble horseback riding today, becoming a niche activity done for enjoyment.

"There's no doubt that 10 years from now, there will be questions as to whether humans are safe enough," he said.

Trump is expected to arrive in Davos on Wednesday. While Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants business leaders to take a breath and chill out about Greenland, that may not be in the cards.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday that he had "a very good telephone call with Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO, concerning Greenland."

"I agreed to a meeting of the various parties in Davos, Switzerland. As I expressed to everyone, very plainly, Greenland is imperative for National and World Security," Trump wrote.

Trump on Sunday had sent messages to Norway's leader, saying the US requires "Complete and Total Control of Greenland." Greenland is a semi-autonomous Danish territory.

Governments keep changing their rules on EVs, says BYD executive vice president Stella Li, and that sets carmakers back.

Li said in a panel at Davos that when countries go "back and forth" on their EV policy, it creates a pattern that "will confuse manufacturers." In contrast, when governments give a "very clear line," automakers can focus on execution, Li said.

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Bessent, speaking to the press on Tuesday morning, urged calm amid President Donald Trump's latest slate of trade tariffs on Greenland.

"You say: 'If there is a protracted trade war.' Why are we jumping there? Why are you taking it to the worst case? Calm down the hysteria, take a deep breath, this is where we were last year," Bessentt said. "I'm sure you would have asked me the same question if we were here on April 2nd. And you know what? It all worked out."

When asked about what European business leaders should do, Bessent's take was to "sit back" and "relax."

"What I am urging everyone here to do is sit back, take a deep breath, and let things play out," Bessent said.

"I am confident that the leaders will not escalate and that this will work out in a manner that ends up in a very good place for all, for national security, for the US, and for Europe," he said.

Anything you do within your company's digital ecosystem is likely being tracked, from the data you touch to the software programs you use.

But AI agents, not so much.

That's a real concern as we rely on them more and more, Raj Sharma, EY's global managing partner of growth and innovation, told me.

"We have to build industrial-level security for AI agents in that particular area," he said. "That keeps me up at night," Sharma added.

For Tim Walsh, the chair and CEO of KPMG US, it's the threat of quantum computing. While still a few years out, its power is undeniable.

"Quantum breaks everything," Walsh said. "I mean, all encryption."

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"M&A is high on the agenda," said Sharon Marcil, North America chair at BCG. "We're hearing it from so many CEOs." She pointed to a strong stock market and an overall tilt in Washington toward deregulation and robust business activity.

Winston Weinberg, CEO and cofounder of the legal AI startup Harvey, echoes the sentiment, saying he is hearing that 2026 will be an "insane" year for dealmaking. (Good for lawyers!)

Similar predictions predominated this time last year. The tariff tumult put a pause on M&A early on, but then dealmaking got its mojo back.

Fink took the stage at Davos to welcome more than a thousand chief executives to the World Economic Forum. In his opening remarks, he questioned whether anyone outside the room would care about this meeting of global leaders.

"Because if we're being honest, for many people this meeting feels out of step with the moment: elites in an age of populism, an established institution in an era of deep institutional distrust," the BlackRock CEO said.

"And there's truth in that critique," he added. "I've believed in this forum for a long time. I certainly wouldn't be leading it if I didn't. But it's also obvious that the world now places far less trust in us to help shape what comes next."

Fink said the capitalism now faces a big test: Whether it can "evolve to turn more people into owners of growth, instead of spectators watching it happen."

"And that kind of change is hard. Especially in a world of competing ideologies and assumptions about how the system should work," he said.

Fink's remarks ground what is expected to be a monumental week, in which deals are made and new alliances are forged amid turmoil in the wider political sphere.