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AI will be an 'enabling technology': Vista Equity CEO on DEI

2023 saw a boom in job market growth, creating 2.7 million jobs that year coming off of pandemic trends. With so many concerns around employment — from AI workplace adoption to inflation stressors on the labor market — coming off of such highs, many are wondering what kind of complications and opportunities lie in store for workers in 2024. Vista Equity Partners Founder, Chairman, and CEO Robert Smith sits down with Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to examine DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives executed for educational institutions and companies, particularly in tech. "We are teaching and training, and we are having these large super-scaler large tech companies, saying how do we participate?" Smith explains. "How do we ensure that these students have a chance to actually contribute to the fabric of this artificial intelligence so that we actually have the ability to ensure that bias does not exist and we're taking into account all of the elements of our society so that we can actually make this a highly productive tool, and not one that's going to disadvantage certain communities." Smith goes on to characterize generative AI as an "enabling technology," commenting on how this new wave of tech adoption may be fueling valuations in Big Tech. It's all part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where our team will speak to top decision-makers as well as preeminent leaders in business, finance, and politics about the world’s most pressing issues and priorities for the coming year. Watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here. Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.


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Salesforce CEO on how AI is shaping the future

Reporting from the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi holds a wide-ranging discussion on artificial intelligence with Salesforce (CRM) CEO Marc Benioff, who says AI “can make people a lot better”. Benioff outlines an Italian Gucci call center case showing AI systems boosting worker productivity and revenue by 30%. By handling routine requests, the technology enabled employees to become more versatile “Gucci everything agents” - demonstrating the potential to spawn "digital people" rather than prompt replacement. However, Benioff warns of rising threats like misinformation and data theft rendering AI “a creator of inequality” - saying access to transparent, accountable AI should constitute “a human right”. With minimal governmental AI oversight currently, he presses regulators to “take this really seriously” in 2024 given deployment is accelerating rapidly. On healthcare, Benioff shares a personal example of AI analyzing his cardiac CT - making world-class diagnostics accessible to general practitioners globally. While he notes the tech "is not perfect," he says its democratization promises wider care gains just by implementing artificial intelligence. Benioff also discusses climate change efforts, stressing his belief that businesses can simultaneously chase profits and purpose through sustainability. He argues that by innovating around problems like emissions and biodiversity, “business can be the greatest platform for change” stating, "business doesn't have to be just business, it can be about improving the world." It's all part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where our team will speak to top decision-makers as well as preeminent leaders in business, finance, and politics about the world’s most pressing issues and priorities for the coming year. Watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here. Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith


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Anthony Scaramucci on Trump, crypto: Yahoo Finance at Davos

The US 2024 presidential election and the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval of a spot bitcoin ETF are just two events causing quite a stir in corporate and political circles. SkyBridge Founder and Managing Partner Anthony Scaramucci joins Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to gauge the temperature on crypto regulation by federal regulators and the likelihood of another US presidency under Donald Trump. "Anytime you get people that think like Mr. Trump, you get a lot of cronyism at the top," Scaramucci says, who had a brief tenure as the White House Director of Communications under the Trump administration in 2017. "So, short-term that is the perception, he would help business. But, long-term, if he destabilizes the predictability of our legal system, the cost of capital in the United States and globally is going to go up a lot." In the crypto arena, Scaramucci believes regulation has been "overly politicized" by select US lawmakers and officials, including SEC Chair Gary Gensler: "The point is, if they calmed down and really studied the technology, they'd be running toward the technology and not away from it." It's all part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where our team will speak to top decision-makers as well as preeminent leaders in business, finance, and politics about the world’s most pressing issues and priorities for the coming year. Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.


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