Heather Landy

If you received this from a friend, click here to sign up! Welcome back to our annual Need to Know: Davos newsletter! We’ll be reporting to you all next week from World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Alps, where thousands of well-heeled members of the global citizenry will gather to discuss all kinds of problems they will then be pilloried for not doing more to solve. This year, Davos will draw roughly 1,600 business leaders (including 800 CEOs, with JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, Mi…

The 2024 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is nearly upon us. Or rather, it is nearly upon the charming Alpine ski village of Davos, Switzerland, which every year turns itself over to thousands of well-heeled members of the global citizenry to discuss all kinds of problems they will then be pilloried for not doing more to solve. It is a testament to both the human spirit and the allure of rubbing shoulders with a who’s who in the world of business that CEOs, government leaders, academ…

Hi, Quartz members! This weekend, we’re off to the Alps to rub shoulders with global financiers, world leaders, and Will.i.am, who at this point is giving even Bono a run for his money as the music industry’s most dependable regular at the World Economic Forum in Davos. We’ll check back here with you next Sunday, but for Davos dispatches in between, sign up for Quartz’s Need to Know: Davos 2024 newsletter. It will be fueled by Swiss chocolates, Nespresso, and champagne cocktails, naturally,…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation approved its largest annual budget ever, committing $8.6 billion to help plug gaps in overall aid for health programs in the world’s poorest countries. The spending increase in 2024 will support a range of goals including the eradication of polio, development of new tuberculosis drugs, and delivery of supplies to stem child and maternal mortality. The 2024 budget builds on the organization’s $7 billion spent in 2022 and its $8.3 billion allocation for 2023.…

Greetings, Davos delegates and WEF watchers! The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is packed with programming following yesterday’s preliminary meetings, an official welcome reception with a delectable display of Swiss chocolates, an evening dusting of snow, and the annual Crystal Awards ceremony. (Congratulations to actress Michelle Yeoh, musician Nile Rodgers, and architect Diébédo Francis Kéré.) I’m Quartz executive editor Heather Landy, your faithful Davos correspondent for the w…

At the 2024 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, we’re sitting down with business leaders to ask what’s on their minds. For Paul Knopp, the CEO of KPMG US, that includes the business potential of artificial intelligence, the risks of wider geopolitical conflicts, and continuing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts despite the political backlash. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Quartz: What issue did you come to Davos fe…

Generating the past Picture your earliest memory—the who, what, and where of it. How do you feel when you remember it? Do you have any archival evidence of it? A photograph, a home movie, or, if you’re young enough, a social media post about it? What if you didn’t? How would you describe the scene? Which details would you be sure to include? And how would you feel if an image-generating bot making use of artificial intelligence was able to visualize your memory for you? Welcome to the conce…

On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, two very different visions of the future unfolded, courtesy of OpenAI chief Sam Altman and musician-turned-activist-turned-Davos-regular Will.i.am. As the surprise guest at a Salesforce lunch emceed by Marc Benioff, the Salesforce co-founder asked Altman to describe the implications of silicon-based intelligence. Altman’s detailed answer to the question is worth pondering. I think one of the most important ques…

Hi, Quartz members! This week we were in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. Artificial intelligence dominated the discourse, as well as signage on the Promenade, the central artery through town where companies, governments, and interest groups set up shop for the week and host hours of meetings and cocktail receptions on the sidelines of the official conference grounds. One of the nice things about AI is its versatility as a topic. It was easily woven into…

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, brought together 3,000 participants from around the globe. That included 1,600 business leaders, 350 heads of state and government ministers, and hundreds of academics, civil society leaders, and entrepreneurs. It was an elite affair as always, with sky-high lodging fees, champagne nightcaps, and chances to see and be seen by people holding some of the most influential jobs on the planet. Quartz was on the ground all week, a…