Introduction<\/p>\n
Good morning from Davos<\/a>, where the final day of the World Economic Forum is underway.<\/p>\n After a week dominated by issues such as the world order, geopolitical tensions, tariffs and artificial intelligence, the health of the global economy will be in focus today.<\/p>\n ECB president Christine Lagarde, IMF head Kristalina Georgieva and WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will give their views on the Global Economic Outlook.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an outlook that has darkened this week, with warnings from the leaders of Germany and Canada about the rise of great powers, and anxiety over whether AI will create an unemployment crisis.<\/p>\n Speaking here earlier this week, Lagarde warned that President Trump\u2019s escalating threats have undermined trust.<\/p>\n She told CNN, before Trump TACO\u2019d out and dropped his latest tariff threat:<\/p>\n \u201cI think the trust is undermined. When you keep repeating the same pattern of undermining the rule of law, undermining the contracts, undermining what has been agreed between parties, then parties begin questioning, is that for real? Is that going to change again? And that\u2019s when uncertainty looms large.\u201d<\/p>\n She also warned Europe needs to look at its economic strength, and weaknesses., just in case the normal relationship is not restored.<\/p>\n S&P Global Ratings\u2019 global chief economist, Paul Gruenwald, reports that talk about tariffs, and macro-economics has been less prevalent in Davos this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI put this down to the fact that 2025 turned out to be a decent year for the global economy. Part of this was tariff climbdowns combined with resilient consumer spending and labor markets.<\/p>\n And part of this was the offsetting demand from the Al and data center investment boom and its spillovers through the trade channel.\u201d<\/p>\n Actually, it\u2019s more of a half-day, with events due to wrap up by lunchtime. And it feels like many delegates have already fled Davos, perhaps to fight or inflame (YMMV) the world\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n The agenda<\/p>\n 8.45am Davos \/ 7.45am GMT: Session on Next Generation Social Movements<\/p>\n 9am Davos \/ 8.45am GMT: Session on Geopolitical Risks Outlook for 2026<\/p>\n 10.15am Davos \/ 9.15am GMT: Session on the Meaning of Politics<\/p>\n 11am Davos \/ 10am GMT: Session on the Global Economic Outlook<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Closing post<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence will be a \u201ctsunami hitting the labour market\u201d, with young people worst affected, the head of the International Monetary Fund warned the World Economic Forum on Friday.<\/p>\n Kristalina Georgieva told delegates in Davos that the IMF\u2019s own research suggested there would be a big transformation of demand for skills, as the technology becomes increasingly widespread.<\/p>\n \u201cWe expect over the next years, in advanced economies, 60% of jobs to be affected by AI, either enhanced or eliminated or transformed \u2013 40% globally,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is like a tsunami hitting the labour market.\u201d<\/p>\n She suggested that in advanced economies, one in 10 jobs had already been \u201cenhanced\u201d by AI, tending to boost these workers\u2019 pay, with knock-on benefits for the local economy.<\/p>\n By contrast, Georgieva warned that AI would wipe out many roles traditionally taken up by younger workers. \u201cTasks that are eliminated are usually what entry-level jobs do at present, so young people searching for jobs find it harder to get to a good placement.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile people whose jobs were not directly changed by artificial intelligence risked being squeezed, she said, with their pay potentially falling without a productivity boost from AI.<\/p>\n \u201cSo the middle class, inevitably, is going to be affected,\u201d Georgieva predicted.<\/p>\n More here<\/p>\n And that\u2019s all from us for this year at Davos<\/a>, as we rattle down the mountain towards home.<\/p>\n Thanks for reading on a quite dramatic week, where there was more tension, disagreement, and geopolitical angst than before.<\/p>\n I can’t remember who said it, but Davos is a talking shop for rich, powerful people, which means it can be boring when rich, powerful people largely agree with one another, and it’s magnetic when they’re actually at one another’s throats.<\/p>\n \u2014 Mike Bird (@Birdyword) January 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Goodbye. GW<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Hassabis: More breakthroughs needed to reach AGI<\/p>\n AI was certainy a hot topic, again, at Davos<\/a> this week \u2013 even though Kristina Georgieva is regretful there wasn\u2019t more discussion on issues such as guardrails.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, at a Google event, Demis Hassabis of Deepmind said he supports the idea that one or two more big breakthroughs may be needed before we get to artificial general intelligence (AGI), such as \u2018continual learning\u2019, and better memory.<\/p>\n Dismissing the suggestion that the industry had \u2018whooshed by\u2019 AGI and was now working on super-intelligence, Hassabis argued that AGI was five to 10 years away.<\/p>\n His definition of AGI is a system that can exhibit all the cognitive capabilities humans can, including the highest levels of human creativity achieved by scientists and artists.<\/p>\n That means not simply solving physics or chemistry problems, or the cracking protein-folding which won Hassabis the Nobel prize<\/a>, but actually coming up with a new theory of physics.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething like Einstein did with general relativity. Can a system come up with that?<\/p>\n Because, of course, we can do that. The smartest humans with our human brain architectures have been able to do that in history and the same on the art side. Not just create a pastiche of what\u2019s known, but actually be Picasso or Mozart and create a completely new genre of art that we\u2019ve never seen before.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s systems are nowhere near that, Hassabis insists.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also physical intelligence; an AGI robot would have to play sports or control itself to \u201camazing levels\u201d to reach the level achieved by the human brain architecture.<\/p>\n He added that super intelligence is another concept worth talking about, but that is about going beyond what human intelligence can do.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t think in 14 dimensions, or plug in weather satellites into our brains. Not yet, anyway.<\/p>\n Those are truly beyond human, or superhuman, and that\u2019s a whole other debate to have, once we get to AGI.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Photos: it’s overPeople leaving on the final day of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. Photograph: Markus Schreiber\/APChairs being removed from the main hall at Davos. Photograph: Markus Schreiber\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n The WEF annual meeting has now wrapped up. Top level delegates are leaving in chauffeur-driven cars, while others schlep to the railway station with their luggage (that’s us).<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Kristalina Georgieva also told WEF that the IMF\u2019s research into AI has found that in advanced economies, one in 10 jobs is already enhanced.<\/p>\n People in these jobs are paid better, she explains, meaning they spend more money in the local economy. That can lead to an increase in demand for restaurant jobs, for example.<\/p>\n But there are also two very serious problems.<\/p>\n The first one is that tasks that are eliminated are usually what entry level jobs present so young people searching for jobs find it harder to get to a good placement.<\/p>\n And two, which Georgieva is very worried about, is the squeeze on jobs that are not touched by AI.<\/p>\n They will be paid less, so the \u201cmiddle class, inevitably, is going to be affected\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.25 EST<\/p>\n IMF chief sees AI ‘tsunami’ heading towards jobs market<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence is going to be a \u201ctsunami hitting the labour market\u201d, the head of the International Monetary Fund has told Davos<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kristalina Georgieva has told the World Economic Forum that IMF research suggests 60% of jobs in advanced economies will be affected by AI, either \u201cenhanced, eliminated or transformed\u201d in the coming years, and 40% globally.<\/p>\n People whose jobs are enhanced are paid more, and spend more money in their local economy.<\/p>\n But, the jobs eliminated are often entry-level, hurting young people.<\/p>\n Georgieva says her appeal is:<\/p>\n Wake up, AI is for real, and it is transforming our world faster than we are getting ahead of it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.22 EST<\/p>\n Lagarde: Need to be careful about wealth distribution<\/p>\n The head of the European Central Bank then sounds the alarm over wealth inequality.<\/p>\n Christine Lagarde tells Davos<\/a> that \u201cwe have to be careful about the distribution of wealth\u201d and the \u201cdisparity that is getting deeper and bigger\u2019.<\/p>\n If we don\u2019t pay attention to that we are heading for real touble.<\/p>\n She\u2019s not alone; earlier this week, nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires from 24 countries called for higher taxes on the super-rich.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n ECB chief Christine Lagarde<\/a> warns that the artificial intelligence boom could falter if the world becomes less co-operative.<\/p>\n Lagarde says we\u2019ve heard a lot of European bashing in the last few days \u2013 and she says \u201cthank you to the bashers\u201d as it has shown Europe must be more focused.<\/p>\n She adds that \u201cwe are dependent on each other”, poiting out that AI is capital intensive, energy intensive and data intensive.<\/p>\n It will prospers if there is plenty of all that, Lagarde expains, but if we do not work cooperatively and \u201cdefine the new rules of the game\u201d there will be less capital and less data.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a bind, lets face it.\u201d<\/p>\n And in what she calls an \u201cemotional\u201d aside, Lagarde says she has huge trust and affection for the American people.<\/p>\n I know that at the end of the day, the deeply-rooted values will prevail.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), predicts that the disruption caused in recent years by tariffs and trade tensions will not be fully reversed.<\/p>\n Asked whether president Trump\u2019s aggressive approach around tariffs and allies have created a \u2018forever situation\u2019 that will outlast his time in the White House, Okonjo-Iweala says:<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll go back to where we were.<\/p>\n She adds that business and policy leaders need to plan for a world with \u201cbuilt-in uncertainties in it\u201d.<\/p>\n If I was running a country I\u2019d be trying to strengten myself and my region, and building resilience.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, then tells Davos that we are now in a more \u2018shock-prone\u2019 world.<\/p>\n This is leading to surprises within geopolitics, technology, and climate.<\/p>\n