CEOs are making the business case for AI—and dispelling talk of a bubble

With that in mind, a few themes emerged for me:

Acceptance of a new normal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed his earlier concerns about President Trump’s “maximalist” approach to trade wars, saying his thinking on tariffs “had evolved.” Watching Bessent talk about inflation in blue states evoked memories of former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson praising the idea of a meet-and-greet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while serving as Secretary of State in the first Trump Administration. Opinions may change when the company shirt comes off. But hearing Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong talk about a “golden age” in one of the worst weeks for crypto or GM CEO Mary Barra shrug off 180-degree policy shifts makes you realize that we’ve gotten used to it.

Indeed, with the notable exception of California Governor Gavin Newsom, nobody had a negative word to say about Trump, tariffs or much of what’s happening on the federal policy front. “It’s amazing what feels normalized,” one foreign business leader told me. 

The need for leaders to build trust. PR guru Richard Edelman told me to stay tuned for some daunting data on the mass-class divide in the upcoming Edelman Trust Barometer. A finance CEO pointed to a row of bodyguards, reminding me that Dec. 4 is the anniversary of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson being shot to death a few blocks away, with his alleged murderer in a downtown courthouse as we spoke. 

On stage, Alex Karp of Palantir said leaders are losing credibility because they fail to give real opinions or face consequences for “completely stupid decisions.” He added that dyslexia made him learn to think freely, he creates friction by blowing things up, and believes being authentically transparent to the point of rude has paid dividends with employees who know he’s going to tell the truth about products and the rest of the business, too. Not speaking up means you’re “underestimating your audience,” he said, and likely to lose access to smart people who’ll work elsewhere. 

Stop talking about AI bubbles. Asset prices may be high and some investment dollars may be dumb, but the business case for AI is compelling. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink talked about revenue rising much faster than headcount. At my table conversation led by AOL cofounder and startup investor Steve Case, we talked about the opportunities to scale innovation and even spawn one-person unicorns.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made a compelling case that policymakers and leaders have to contend with the job loss and societal shift. But the benefits are clear. As attendee and noted CEO coach Marc Feigen told me: “The only bubble may be all this talk about AI bubbles.”

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

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IBM CEO’s AI doubts

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Companies turn to soup wars for AI talent

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The markets

S&P 500 futures are flat this morning. The last session closed up 0.3%. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.3% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.14% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.33%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.34%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 0.19%. India’s NIFTY 50 is up 0.18%. Bitcoin was flat at $93K.

Around the watercooler

The wealthy 1% are turning to new status symbols that can’t be bought—and it’s hurting Dior, Versace, and Burberry by Emma Burleigh

Alex Karp credits his dyslexia for Palantir’s $415 billion success: ‘There is no playbook a dyslexic can master … therefore we learn to think freely’ by Lily Mae Lazarus

Scott Bessent calls the Giving Pledge well-intentioned but ‘very amorphous,’ growing from ‘a panic among the billionaire class’ by Nick Lichtenberg

Scott Galloway got mostly B’s and C’s in high school, never studied for the SAT, and had to try twice to get into UCLA. Now he’s worth $150 million by Sydney Lake

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.