CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa reports on OpenAI's growth and artificial intelligence adoption in focus at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Davos

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

At the Davos summit, the focus has shifted from AI hype to concerns about the sustainability of rapid AI investment, particularly regarding OpenAI's ambitious growth targets. OpenAI reported significant revenue growth, but faces increasing pressure from competitors like Google's Gemini and Anthropic, whose adoption rates are rising quickly.

Industry experts highlighted that OpenAI's projected infrastructure commitments and lack of diversification make it vulnerable if broad-based demand does not materialize. The conversation at Davos emphasized that widespread adoption, both in enterprises and among consumers, is essential for AI investments to pay off and avoid a potential bubble.

AI adoption in focus at Davos

Open AI out with some new numbers over the weekend. Try to put some AI bubble concerns to rest. Deidre Bosa has more in today's Tech Check. Dee. Hey, good morning, David. So Open AI's blog post over the weekend, it was supposed to quiet those bubble fears, but instead it exposed the bet. CFO Sarah Fryer laid out a simple premise. Revenue scales with compute, and so far that math has worked. Compute grew roughly 10 times from 2023 to 2025. Revenue did the same, topping $20 billion in annual recurring revenue last year. But it also sets a trap for the future. Sam Altman has said he expects Open AI to grow to hundreds of billions in revenue by 2030 against $1.4 trillion in infrastructure commitments over the next eight years. Now, that would require multiple doublings from an already large base, each doubling harder than the last. Now, you could look at Amazon Web Services as precedent. AWS had a nearly decade head start in cloud computing. It built a category. It scaled faster than any enterprise business ever had. Today, AWS, it is still the market leader, but its growth rate is slower than both Microsoft and Google, the other hyperscalers. This is just the law of large numbers. The bigger the base, the harder it is to keep growing at the same rate. AWS is now a hugely profitable, successful business, but that path is less clear for Open AI. It is chasing the same outcome, only faster, more expensive, and with far less room for error. It doesn't have other businesses that it's diversified into. And this is where bubble fears come in. When infrastructure is built ahead of proven broad-based demand, the math has to keep working or it unravels fast. Those pressures now showing up in the broader conversation. Just at Davos, David, last year it was a lot of the AI hype. This year, the focus has shifted to those bubble risks with warnings that AI investment needs much broader adoption to pay off. And that's really been a buzzword of this year, adoption. Yeah, adoption. Of course, adoption in the enterprise and by consumers, the competition from Anthropic in the enterprise, Gemini certainly, I don't know if it's in the lead, Dee, but you've been focused a lot on that as well and what it means for Open AI, which, by the way, has started to introduce the idea of an ad-supported business. Exactly, this goes right back to that point that I brought up, the law of large numbers. We looked at third-party data from similar web and Gemini's growth rate in November and December, what is it? It was nearly 30%, whereas Open AI has declined 6%. Open AI is still the leader, but that kind of growth that we're seeing from Gemini makes it really hard to believe that that sort of trajectory, that ratio that Sarah Fryer laid out over the weekend is possible to continue to achieve. So you mentioned Anthropic as well. We've been playing around with Cloud Code. It's been making just huge strides in enterprise. This is all sort of making it more difficult for an Open AI to get to these kinds of growth rates, and I make that AWS comparison because it had the lead for like seven years or something, and now you see that growth slowed. Open AI doesn't have that kind of lead. No, and it's a key, of course, as you well know, Dee. Thank you.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said the European Union should not bend to 'the law of the strongest.' He told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that it was staggering that the EU was having to contemplate using its 'anti-coercion instrument' against the U.S. (Macron is wearing dark glasses because of an eye condition.)

Paris

France's Macron says EU shouldn't bend to 'law of the strongest'

France's Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Donald Trump have long exchanged firm handshakes, but their relationship is showing cracks. In a striking break from diplomatic norms, Trump publicly shared what he called a private message from Macron – proposing a G7 meeting in Paris and discussing Syria, Iran, and Greenland.

Washington

Trump publishes Macron's message, threatens French wine tariffs

The death toll from Sunday's high-speed train collision in Spain has risen to 41 as recovery crews use cranes to lift up the train cars and look for victims underneath. Chris Livesay reports on the search for a cause of the crash.

Adamuz

Investigators search for cause of deadly Spain train crash

Valentino, the renowned Italian fashion designer who proudly boasted he "knows what women want" has died in Rome. His sumptuous creations saw him crowned the king of the red carpet for major celebrities needing to be dressed to impress.

Rome

Valentino, 'The Last Emperor' of Italian fashion dies aged 93

The "Board of Peace" was an idea initially proposed by Trump last September as part of his plan to end the war in Gaza, although the initiative now seems to be aimed at mediating global conflicts more broadly.

Global Tariffs

Trump threatens 200% tariffs on French wine over ‘Board of Peace’

People who joined antigovernment protests in Iran are given a three-day deadline to turn themselves in and face a more lenient sentence.

Tehran

Iran police give protesters three days to surrender for leniency

Some 3,000 federal agents are still in the Twin Cities area as President Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act over continued protests against immigration operations there. Ian Lee reports.

Minnesota

ICE operations, protests continue in Twin Cities as Trump threatens

President Trump continued his push for the U.S. to take over Greenland, telling the prime minister of Norway his perceived snub for the Nobel Peace Prize meant he no longer feels obligated to "think only of peace." The prize is awarded by the private Nobel Institute, not the Norwegian government. Ed O'Keefe has more, and then Holly Williams joins with analysis.

Greenland Stand-Off

Trump ties Greenland threat to perceived Nobel Peace Prize snub

Valentino Garavani, founder and namesake of the luxury fashion empire Valentino, has died at 93. Garavani was known for a trademarked shade of red, a staple at his fashion shows for nearly half a century.

Iconic fashion designer Valentino Garavani dead at 93

Experts studying the cause of the derailment of a high-speed train in Spain - which killed dozens of people - found a broken joint on the rails, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Investigators find broken joint on track at Spanish rail crash site

Prince Harry is back in a London court, along with a slew of other high-profile figures, fighting the publisher of the Daily Mail over invasion of privacy and illegal information gathering tactics.

London

Prince Harry back in London court fighting British tabloids

U.S. President Donald Trump has told Norway's prime minister in a letter that he no longer feels obligated "to think purely of Peace" because he had not been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and he repeated his demand for control of Greenland.

Trump tells Norway he no longer feels obligated to think only of peace

Billionaire wealth surged at three times ‍its recent pace ​last year to reach its highest level on record, deepening economic and political divides that threaten democratic ⁠stability, anti-poverty group Oxfam said.

World billionaire wealth hits new peak amid rising poverty, Oxfam says

A high-speed train collision that caused a derailment in southern Spain has killed at least 39 people, officials say. Investigators are working to determine the cause of the crash.

High-speed train crash in Spain kills dozens

Prime Minister Mark Carney is considering sending Canadian Forces personnel to Greenland for military exercises with NATO allies in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats on European nations who block his efforts to acquire the island, two senior Canadian officials told CBC News.

Ottawa

Carney considering sending troops to Greenland for NATO exercises

The deal followed hours after the Syrian army seized oil and gas fields and two major northeastern towns in clashes with the SDF. Fighting earlier this month has displaced tens of thousands.

Aleppo

Syrian government agrees to ceasefire with Kurdish-led SDF

European countries held an emergency meeting in Brussels Sunday in response to President Trump's post threatening tariffs against countries that have sent military forces into Greenland amid his push to annex the Arctic island.

Brussels

European leaders denounce Trump's tariff threat over Greenland

After 25 years of talks, the EU signed the EU-Mercosur trade deal on Saturday, creating a 700 million-person free-trade area. Ratification is still pending, however, with the European Parliament set for a heated debate.

Asunción

EU seals contentious trade deal with Mercosur countries

European governments blasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that eight countries will face 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland beginning next month.

Nuuk

European governments condemn Trump's tariff threats over Greenland

Palestinians in Gaza expressed both concern and hope after the White House announced some members of a so-called "Board of Peace" that will supervise the temporary governance of the war-torn enclave, which has been under a fragile ceasefire since October.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Gazans wary as U.S. names 'Board of Peace' under Trump's plan

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on eight European countries until they allow the U.S. to buy the autonomous Danish territory.

Trump escalates pressure on Europe over Greenland control

Protesters who support the surge of federal immigration officers in Minneapolis have clashed with counter-protesters, while state officials announced that the Minnesota National Guard had been mobilized. Adding to the mayhem was the freezing January weather.

Minneapolis

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Iran's supreme leader blamed the U.S. for the protests against his regime that resulted in a violent crackdown. Willie James Inman has President Trump's response.

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President Trump announced that he would institute 10% tariffs on eight European countries who oppose his plan to put Greenland under U.S. control. The announcement came after a bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers flew to Denmark to express support for keeping Greenland under Danish control.

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Large crowds of demonstrators marched through Copenhagen and other Danish cities on Saturday in support of Greenland's sovereignty amid tensions with the US.

Copenhagen

Thousands take part in 'Hands off Greenland' protests in Denmark

The United States will impose increasing tariffs on several European countries until the U.S. is able to purchase Greenland, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff.

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni won his seventh term with 71.65% of votes, according to official results Saturday, defeating the youthful challenger who campaigned for change after four decades of the same government.

Kampala

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term

There will be no territorial concessions in Ukraine, the Ukrainian president said, answering Euronews' question on whether Kyiv is now being pressured into territorial concessions.

Ukraine Invasion

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The United States on Thursday said Iran halted 800 executions of protesters under pressure from President Donald Trump, after Gulf allies appeared to pull him back from military action over Tehran's deadly crackdown on demonstrations.

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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado met with President Donald Trump on Thursday at the White House. She presented Trump with her Nobel Peace Prize medal, which was seen as a peace offering to win his support.

AI adoption in focus at Davos

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