AI reshapes the global landscape as Rubenstein hosts Schmidt and Ucuzoglu.

At a Davos panel hosted by David Rubenstein, Eric Schmidt and Joe Ucuzoglu discussed how AI is changing the global landscape. Schmidt said AI currently contributes more than 1% of U.S. GDP and predicted a near-term period focused on building agentic AI.

The world looks different than it did a few years ago, and a major reason is the rapid rise of AI. Business leaders, policy officials and academics are debating how that change will play out. At the Imagination in Action event at Davos, David Rubenstein spoke with Eric Schmidt and Joe Ucuzoglu about how AI is "rewiring" the economy and everyday life. The discussion drew on examples ranging from private companies involved in AI hardware to international institutions considering economic effects. Key points: - The Davos panel featured David Rubenstein, Eric Schmidt and Joe Ucuzoglu discussing AI's broad effects on business and society. - Schmidt said Google first used AI to improve its ad system and later expanded AI work; he also stated AI now contributes more than 1% to U.S. GDP, citing data center buildouts and hyperscaler demand. - Schmidt described the current phase as an "agentic" period, saying many groups will build agents over the next year or two and that better agents could lead to major companies. - Ucuzoglu acknowledged likely displacement in some job functions but emphasized that domain expertise and collaboration with technologists remain important, and that prior technology waves have tended to create more jobs than they destroy. - The panel referenced views from researchers such as Yann LeCun about teaching AI to understand the physical world, and noted that real-world context is more complex than text alone. Summary: The conversation framed AI as both an active economic force and a technology that will increasingly meet people in real-world settings. Participants pointed to measurable economic effects from data center demand and anticipated a near-term rush to develop agentic AI, while workforce impacts were described as shifting and dependent on how people and organizations adapt. Undetermined at this time.