Good morning,
For most Fortune 500 CEOs, globalization is a given. Their challenge is figuring out how to navigate geopolitics while conducting business in a connected world. We convened two dozen members of the Fortune CEO Initiative yesterday for a candid conversation with Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer, who consults with leaders worldwide. Here are a few of his comments:
On China: “Along with neither side wanting escalating tensions, the Americans and Chinese are increasingly dominant in different and complementary technologies. The Chinese, on everything around the post-carbon transition—not just EVs and batteries and the critical mineral supply chain, but also solar and wind and nuclear at scale. The Americans, on the other hand, [are] increasingly dominant in AI, large language models and frontier models, and the funding for that.”
“If the Chinese want to regulate to ensure that their own population doesn’t have access to good AI models and the Americans want to regulate to ensure that American citizens have to drive crappy, expensive EVs, we’re both capable of doing that. But the rest of the world isn’t going to do that and that is going to be a driver of more intellectual capital and capital and goods and services moving across borders all over the world.”
On Ukraine: “Ukraine is going to be partitioned. The best-case scenario is that they lose a significant amount of their territory, but at least they can defend the rest with help from the Europeans and Americans, and they can join the EU and get security guarantees and rebuild their country. That’s the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is a lot worse than that.”
On the Middle East: “The best-case scenario on Israel/Palestine is that the war in Gaza continues for several more months, and that it doesn’t escalate significantly. The worst-case scenarios are dramatically worse than that. I am deeply concerned about where these two major wars are going. And I do think they’re going to have larger market implications over time.”
On the future: “If you talk not about your kids, but about your grandkid, they’re going to be living in a world of inexpensive, decentralized, abundant, sustainable energy. Humans have never had that before, and they’re going to be powered by artificial intelligence all over the world. That’s an incredible opportunity.
“That’s a silver lining. But the problem is that you have to get from here to there. We are in the depths of a geopolitical recession right now…The greatest potential for business growth as a result of a non-U.S. election? India is one. Mexico could be another one.”
More news below.
Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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TOP NEWS
Walmart moves away from remote work
Walmart is asking workers in some of its smaller offices to relocate to larger hubs, like its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. The retailer is also asking remote workers to return to the office most of the time, and cutting hundreds of corporate jobs. Walmart is streamlining its operations in a bid to cut costs: Last week, it shuttered all of its 51 heath clinics. The Wall Street Journal
ChatGPT gets an upgrade
OpenAI announced a faster version of its GPT large language model, which underpins the popular chatbot ChatGPT. The developer claims that “GPT-4o” will be better at handling text, audio and video in real-time, such as giving an audio response to a question delivered verbally. OpenAI’s update comes as other developers, like Anthropic and Google, push out AI models that claim to outperform the current version of GPT. Bloomberg
Melinda French Gates steps down
Melinda French Gates is stepping down as co-chair of the $63 billion philanthropic foundation she set up with her ex-husband, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will now be called the Gates Foundation. French Gates said that she will receive $12.5 billion as part of her exit, which she plans to “commit to my work on behalf of women and families.” Fortune
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Commentary: Apple says privacy is a ‘core value.’ Tim Cook shouldn’t compromise it to bridge the gap on AI by Katie Paul
Beijing narrowly escapes having to cover the debts of developer Country Garden as it scrounges up a $9 million interest payment by Nicholas Gordon
How tech lost Gen Z by Chloe Berger
London’s Canary Wharf shows the future of work is about more than just the office by Prarthana Prakash
Employee mental health requests have skyrocketed but only a fraction of leaders are making real changes by Emma Burleigh
Exclusive: GV’s youngest-ever partner launches her own firm that aims to avoid one of venture capital’s most common pitfalls by Emma Hinchliffe and Joseph Abrams
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.
