This administration, in particular, is attuned to engaging directly with business leaders. The president enjoys interacting with our C.E.O.s, so they have to play a strong role in Washington in managing these political relationships and engaging in the political process, much more so than they have historically. — Stephen J. Ubl, chief executive of the PhRMA, a trade association
When you have an inflection point of disruptions like A.I., the government needs help. Their job is to regulate and to incentivize in the right way, but they don’t have the understanding of this technology. So we need to educate not just the decision maker but one or two levels down so that they can be better informed and better prepared as they develop policies or incentive programs. A lot of my job is making sure I spend time with government officials. — Antonio Neri, chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a business software and services company
The Promises and Perils of A.I.
I’ve heard some suggest that we will know whether businesses will generally earn a positive return on investment on A.I. I don’t think that question gets answered in 2026. But I think by the end of the year, we should be closer to that answer. Our priorities are how to better deploy these tools, build adoption in our work force and then find ways to grow from A.I.-driven tools. — John Q. Doyle, chief executive of Marsh, an insurance broker and risk advisory firm
Everyone’s just trying to figure out how A.I. is going to positively impact their business. Same can be said for us. I think it’s definitely going to make a huge incremental benefit and difference, but we’re first and foremost in the people business. What I think about most is retaining and growing the culture of our team. So I’m more focused on people than I am on a specific technology. — Zak Brown, chief executive of McLaren Racing, a Formula 1 team
What we tell founders is: “Look, you’re going to use A.I., and you’re going to create productivity. It’s going to come at the expense of work force reductions.” We help the companies take the work force they already have and get more out of them. But as A.I. scales more, it will lead to, “Hey, you don’t need as many people.” If that’s going to happen, don’t leave that problem to society. Be part of the solution as well. — Hemant Taneja, chief executive of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm
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