Good morning from Riyadh, where I’m attending the eighth annual conference of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute. This is a nonprofit foundation backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) that’s popular with global leaders in tech and finance, many of whom have partnered with the kingdom in some way.
Some highlights include a conversation with TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi, whose platform has been so vilified in the U.S. that I feel we never get to hear about his actual business. (Zhang Yiming, cofounder of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, is now the richest person in China.) Ditto for Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, whose bold bets and business philosophy have made him one of the most enigmatic investors of our time. Son believes Nvidia is undervalued and humans are entering a golden era where robots will do the work—he’s about to open a factory with the Saudis to build them. Will that propel us towards delight or disaster? Watch the interview here.
And Elon Musk joined by video to chat with Xprize founder Peter Diamandis, predicting $20,000 humanoids will outnumber humans by 2040 and he’ll send humans to Mars within four years. This is the visionary who’s transforming industries, the CEO who treats shareholders as fans, and the influencer who says we need a “maximally truth-seeking” AI that loves humanity while embracing trolls and dangerous lies on X. While I would have liked more debate, it was good to hear a conversation. Musk is a role model whose brand is under threat. My son’s passion for chess as a kid diminished when he read about Bobby Fischer's descent into conspiracy theories. He and his Gen Z friends used to love Musk; now, he says they don’t know what to make of him.
As I listened to Jeffrey Sachs lay out simplistic solutions to end tensions with Russia, China, and the Middle East, I was reminded that nuance matters. Saudi Arabia is a fossil-fuel power that’s a leader in the energy transition. Inflation is not fully captured in the numbers. The U.S. dollar is strong but diminishing as a reserve currency. The “global south” will drive significant GDP growth, with or without the “north.” It’s refreshing to hear new voices in the conversation.
Plenty to come, here and in New York next month at the Fortune Global Forum.
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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