Our experiences at AI House Davos

Davos has the unique ability to compress time. In just a few days, discussions that would otherwise take months unfold in crowded rooms, in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening, marked by urgency, uncertainty, and a shared awareness that something fundamental is changing.

At AI House Davos, we didn't want to talk about AI in theory. We wanted to listen to those who are already in the midst of transformation, with responsibility for scaling, regulation, people, and real-world consequences. Across one panel and two roundtables, we heard not just optimism or fear, but something real—a mixture of ambition, pressure, learning, and determination.

What follows is not a pure report, but our personal reflection on what really moved us.

The Panel: When AI Becomes Structural

The Great Rewiring: AI, Industry, and the Architecture of Global Resilience brought together Pravina Ladva from Swiss Re and Mallik Rao from Telefónica Deutschland, moderated by Nicole Büttner. It became clear from the very first exchange that this was no longer a conversation about experiments.

It was impressive how calmly both panelists spoke about AI as a structural force. Not as a tool for process optimization, but as something that changes how risks are understood, decisions are made, and trust is built on a large scale. In industries where mistakes have real consequences, AI is already deeply integrated into operating models.

Pravina spoke about resilience not as stability, but as adaptability, the ability to recognize change early on and respond intelligently. This perspective made a lasting impression on us. Resilience today does not mean staying the course, but moving forward without losing confidence. Mallik described from a digital infrastructure perspective how telecommunications companies are evolving from pure connectivity providers to intelligence platforms and what completely new operating models, capabilities, and responsibilities this requires.

The speed of change has become particularly apparent. Decision-making cycles that used to take quarters now happen in weeks or days. The gap between organizations that can adapt and those that cannot is growing quietly but inexorably.

Roundtable I: Health, Humanity, and Honest Insights

The first roundtable, entitled The Intelligent Health System: Pharma and Healthcare for the Next Decade, was hosted by Bertram Weiss and Thomas Wollmann from Merantix Momentum. This roundtable was one of the most open discussions we have ever experienced.

In healthcare, strong opinions meet with great responsibility. As participants shared their experiences from the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals, politics, and technology, a clear tension became apparent. AI offers unprecedented opportunities, but progress is slowed by trust, incentives, and human behavior.

We talked a lot about prevention, not as a buzzword, but as a behavioral challenge. AI can coach, remind, personalize, and predict, but it cannot force change. The realization that most health outcomes fail not because of a lack of technology, but because of a lack of adherence, understanding, and access, was sobering.

The repeated emphasis on pragmatic use cases was particularly impressive. Automating discharge letters, reducing administrative work, saving doctors five minutes a day. These stories may not make headlines, but they create credibility, trust, and momentum in institutions that cannot afford to make hype-driven mistakes.

The handling of data was also a key issue. The fear of sharing medical data exists alongside a willingness to share almost everything else online. Progress will only be possible if patients truly understand the value of their data and have control over it.

We left this roundtable with the realization that transformation in healthcare does not happen through smarter algorithms. It happens when incentives are aligned, behavior is changed, and systems that were never built for learning are rethought.

Roundtable II: AI as a driver of organizational change

The second roundtable, entitled AI as a Change Engine: Redesigning How Industries Work, was hosted by Andreas Imthurn, Senior Account Manager & Lead Switzerland, and Paul Rupprecht, CCO of Merantix Momentum.

Across sectors ranging from banking to manufacturing, aviation, luxury goods, and consulting, the same theme kept coming up. AI is forcing organizations to rethink their structure, decision-making, and accountability.

What particularly struck us was that the challenges were rarely technological. The real bottleneck lies in leadership alignment, operating models, budget processes, and cultural readiness. Many have moved beyond pilot projects but are still struggling with scaling because their organizations are not built for continuous learning.

A recurring theme was the need for clear narratives, not just rules. People need to understand why AI is being introduced, not just what they are allowed to use. Too many restrictions lead to shadow IT, too few destroy trust.

One comment sticks in the mind. Hierarchies lose their significance when AI makes success and failure visible in real time. The role of leadership shifts from controlling to orchestrating. Creating conditions in which teams can act, learn, and quickly readjust.

In the end, it became clear that everyone is implementing AI, but hardly anyone believes they have already found the right operating model. It was precisely this honesty that we saw as a sign of progress.

Summary

One feeling dominated across the panel and both roundtables. It is no longer about experiments. AI is already changing how organizations work, unevenly, imperfectly, but irreversibly.

We heard frustration, ambition, caution, and conviction. We saw leaders grappling with responsibility, not just opportunity. We sensed a shared awareness that the next phase of AI deployment will not belong to those who are simply the fastest, but to those who let their systems learn, continuously adapt, and openly engage with uncertainty.

The big reorganization isn't happening sometime in the future. It's already happening, quietly, in organizations that are willing to ask uncomfortable questions.

We are grateful to everyone who participated with openness, depth, and honesty. These conversations do not end in Davos. They are just beginning.

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