Software development and software engineering could be the first economically viable capability that closes the gap between humans and AI, says Eiso Kant, the CTO of frontier AI company poolside. He shares what these changes mean for his company and sector, and for knowledge work generally. He also explains what he sees ahead and why he stays cautious about tech forecasts and predictions. Lastly, he breaks down how worry and fear can be a motivator to drive true learning and understanding in a fast-moving space, and the question we should ask to understand how we can uniquely contribute to societies and economies in the years ahead.
This interview was recorded in January 2025 at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
About this episode:
https://poolside.ai/
Related report:
Future of Jobs 2025: https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/
Related episodes:
Radio Davos: Do you need an AI mentor? This tech entrepreneur thinks so
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Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Secretary-General/Travel to Geneva, Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur
– Yemen
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Sudan
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Haiti
– World Statistics Day
– General Assembly Event
– Guests Today and Tomorrow
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
On Gaza, we are encouraged that the parties have reaffirmed their commitments to implementing the ceasefire in Gaza and commend the steadfast efforts of the mediators. We remain concerned by all acts of violence in Gaza and the reported attacks and strikes that took place yesterday.
We urge the parties to honor all their commitments, ensure the protection of civilians and avoid any actions that could lead to a renewal of hostilities and undermine humanitarian operations. We reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for the release of the remains of the deceased hostages.
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, wrapped up his visit to the Gaza Strip over the weekend. On Saturday, he went to a UNICEF nutrition centre in Gaza City, where humanitarians are working to get hunger levels down.
Mr. Fletcher also visited a hospital in Gaza City, he also witnessed a road clearance project run by the UN Development Programme, and a community kitchen run by our partner, World Central Kitchen.
Later on Saturday, the Under-Secretary-General exited Gaza through the Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem crossing. On Sunday, he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, where they discussed the massive humanitarian needs in Gaza, the 60-day aid scale up, the importance of sustaining the ceasefire, the situation in the West Bank, and the path to long-term peace.
Today in Jerusalem, Mr. Fletcher met with the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which brings together about 15 UN entities and representatives of some 200 NGOs, both international and local.
Also today, Mr. Fletcher and the Minderoo Foundation announced a contribution of $10 million Australian dollars from the Minderoo Foundation for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, delivered in close coordination with the 60-day plan.
With the ceasefire in place and as more areas become accessible, UNRWA, the Relief and Works Agency, said yesterday that they are expanding the number of temporary learning spaces set up in community shelters for displaced people.
SUDAN
Turning to the situation in Sudan, our humanitarian colleagues on the ground warn that the ongoing violence across the country is putting civilians at grave risk and forcing even more people to flee their homes.
In recent days, fighting has escalated in North and West Darfur states, with drone strikes and clashes reported across several areas. On Sunday, a drone attack on Sarf Omra’s main market in North Darfur reportedly killed at least seven civilians. Strikes in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, also caused casualties.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 3,000 people were newly displaced in North Darfur last week alone, including 1,500 from El Fasher, the besieged state capital, and another 1,500 from Abu Gamra village, following renewed fighting.
Tensions were also rising sharply in the Kordofan region. Nearly 1,000 people were displaced from Lagawa town in West Kordofan State on Saturday, due to heightened insecurity.
Meanwhile, in South Kordofan State, the town of Dilling and the state capital Kadugli remain under siege, with supply routes cut off and shortages of basic goods worsening by the day.
In Blue Nile state, clashes between armed groups displaced 600 people from Bout town in At Tadamon locality last week.
HAITI
From Haiti, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns of a resurgence of cholera in the Ouest department over the past month. Since September 8th, health authorities have reported new cases in the commune of Pétion-Ville, following 11 weeks with no cases confirmed across the country.
In just a single week between 5 and 11 October, 139 suspected cases were recorded, including more than 20 laboratory-confirmed cases. Five deaths were also reported.
Pétion-Ville, as well as parts of the capital Port-au-Prince, including the commune of Cité-Soleil, remain on red alert, amid concerns over cholera spreading at sites hosting internally displaced people.
Haiti’s Ministry of Health, with support from the Pan American Health Organization and humanitarian partners, has stepped up disinfection campaigns, community awareness activities, and the distribution of chlorine, safe water and hygiene kits in the most affected neighborhoods.
Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-10-20
European energy ministers agreed on the Repower proposal to phase out Russian gas imports by 2027.
This is a crucial step to make Europe energy-independent, and will be followed by a proposal to phase out nuclear energy imports at a later stage.
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The Petitions Committee has scheduled a debate relating to support & accommodation for asylum seekers.
Tony Vaughan MP has been asked by the Committee to open the debate. The Government will send a Minister to respond.
Read the petitions:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/705383
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/718406
Find petitions you agree with, and sign them: https://petition.parliament.uk/
What are petition debates?
Petition debates are ‘general’ debates which allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions, and put their concerns to Government Ministers.
Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means that MPs will not vote on the issues raised in the petition at the end of the debate.
The Petitions Committee can only schedule debates on petitions to parliament started on petition.parliament.uk
Find out more about how petition debates work: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/content/194347/how-petitions-debates-work/
Stay up-to-date
Follow the Committee on Twitter for real-time updates on its work: https://www.twitter.com/hocpetitions
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The cross-party Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy will explore how the UK can help sustain nuclear stability amid increasing concern about adversary intentions, US deterrence and risks around unintended escalation.
The session will also cover the UK’s relationships with India and countries in the Middle East in the context of growing challenges around the trade-offs between security and economic relationships, and the transfer of sensitive technology.
The session forms part of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the UK’s new National Security Strategy, published earlier this year.
Witnesses will include security and geopolitics experts and former senior officials with experience working at NATO, the US State Department, India’s diplomatic service and think tanks.
Members of the Committee are likely to ask witnesses:
• How the UK should respond to the risks of nuclear proliferation and concerns about safeguarding the credibility of the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent;
• The options and risks around reducing strategic dependence on the United States;
• What role the UK could play in containing Iranian activity, and how the Government should prioritise across the Euro-Atlantic, Indo Pacific and Middle East regions;
• How the changing security environment in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East is likely to affect the UK’s relationships in the regions.
Amid major geoeconomic and geopolitical shifts, compounded by rapid technological advancements, the need for agile, collaborative and cross-disciplinary thinking has never been more urgent.
What steps are required to foster constructive, iterative dialogue in an era of rapid change and uncertainty?
Speakers:
Robert M. Lee, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Dragos
Sylvia Earle, Creator, Mission Blue Foundation, National Geographic Society
Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, Office of the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates
Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum
This is the full audio from the opening plenary session of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meetings of the Global Future Councils and Cybersecurity on 15 October, 2025.
You can watch it here: https://www.weforum.org/meetings/annual-meetings-of-the-global-future-councils-and-cybersecurity-2025/sessions/opening-plenary-0b0af6edda/
Check out all our podcasts on wef.ch/podcasts (http://wef.ch/podcasts) :
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Radio Davos (https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/radio-davos) – subscribe (https://pod.link/1504682164) : https://pod.link/1504682164
Meet the Leader (https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader) – subscribe (https://pod.link/1534915560) : https://pod.link/1534915560
The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are organising their 2025 conference WE_ARE_IN Macroeconomics and Finance. The aim of the conference is to bring together women in economics who will present and discuss new research on macroeconomics and finance which is of particular interest to central banks.
WE_ARE_IN stands for Women in Economics: Advancing Research in Economics Internationally. It complements the WE_ARE initiative, a CEPR seminar series in which junior women present their work and receive constructive feedback from their peers and from senior economists.
Secretary-General António Guterres today (17 Oct) stressed his “determination” for the United Nations to become more efficient and cost-effective, but said, “success also depends on Member States fulfilling their commitments.”
Presenting his proposed programme budget for 2026 to the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, Guterres said, “ultimately, effective delivery in 2026 will depend on the timely and full payment of assessed contributions,” and lamenting that “despite earlier hopes, the downward trend of collections has continued.”
The budget proposal brings resource requirements for 2026 down to 3.238 billion US dollars, a reduction of 577 million dollars, or 15.1 percent, compared with 2025, while staffing has been revised to 11,594 posts, a reduction of 2,681 posts, or 18.8 per cent, compared with 2025.
The Secretary-General said, “today – in the last quarter of 2025 – we still have significant uncertainty about the collections for the year. And given the present level of uncertainty about the income, we could end 2025 with a deficit of more than 450 million dollars, even after reducing the spending by nearly 600 million dollars.”
He said, “this will wipe out nearly all our liquidity reserves and leave us highly vulnerable to any delays in collections next year,” and stressed that the Organization is also required to return 300 million in credits to Member States at the beginning of 2026.
Guterres noted that the UN “will again spend less than the budget in 2026 because we did not collect enough.”
This, he said, “will probably lead to a collapse of the regular functioning of our organization. And then potentially face the prospect of returning 600 million dollars in 2027 or potentially 20 percent of the budget.”
The Secretary-General said, “that means a race to bankruptcy” adding that “unless arrears are substantially reduced or the return of credits is suspended, this will constrain the implementation of the programme budget before you.”
He pointed out that his report on Improving the Financial Situation of the United Nations had proposed a mechanism to suspend credit returns whenever liquidity shortfalls threaten full budget implementation of the following year.
Noting that the Member States had not yet reached a decision on the report, Guterres said, “failure to reach an agreement on addressing the deteriorating liquidity situation could jeopardize critical elements of our programme of work” and urged them “to consider these proposals carefully and to meet their financial obligations – in full and on time.”
