CEO Larry Fink kicked off the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, delivering a blunt message to the global elite: The unrestrained growth of AI poses a risk of severely impacting the world’s working and professional classes. Moreover, he cautioned that it could be the next major failure of capitalism following a 30 – year period after the Cold War that has failed to meet the needs of the average person in society.
During his [speech] on Tuesday at the gathering of thousands of executives and global leaders, the billionaire head of the world’s largest asset manager—often regarded as one of Wall Street’s “[power players]”—stated that as those in power deliberate on the future of AI, they run the risk of leaving behind the vast majority of the world, just as they have for much of the past generation.
“Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, more wealth has been generated than at any other time in human history. However, in advanced economies, this wealth has accumulated in the hands of a far smaller proportion of people than what any healthy society can ultimately endure,” Fink remarked.
Fink, who has utilized his annual BlackRock letters and annual appearances at Davos to set the agenda for a more progressive form of capitalism, even one that could be considered “woke,” at times making him the face of ESG and stakeholder capitalism, warned that the benefits of the significant wealth creation since the 1990s have not been fairly distributed. He also added that the capitalist ideology driving the development and implementation of AI could come at the expense of the majority of wage – earners.
“The early benefits are flowing to the owners of models, owners of data, and owners of infrastructure,” Fink said. “The pressing question is: What will happen to everyone else if AI has the same impact on white – collar workers as globalization had on blue – collar workers? We need to address this issue directly today. It’s not about the future; the future is now.”
Fink’s past critiques of capitalism
Fink, who was appointed interim co – chair of the World Economic Forum in August 2025, taking over from founder Klaus Schwab, has long advocated for the reshaping of capitalism, seeing it as the responsibility of large asset managers like himself. Fink was formerly [position], and has argued that [issue], creating a necessity for executives to reallocate their capital to handle the crisis appropriately. In a [letter] to investors, published the day before the Davos summit, Fink emphasized a model of “stakeholder capitalism” where a business’s mandate is to serve not only shareholders but also employees, consumers, and the public.
Fink’s new prominent role in Davos is the first without [scandal], which was billed to the World Economic Forum, involving questionable travel spending, as well as claims of workplace misconduct and research report manipulation. The BlackRock chief emphasized the need for the gathering to prove its legitimacy in part by showing that it is concerned not only with the expanding growth of companies and countries but also with the economic well – being of their employees and citizens.
“Many of the people most affected by what we discuss here will never attend this conference,” Fink said. “That’s a central conflict of this forum. Davos is an elite gathering attempting to shape a world that belongs to everyone.”
Although BlackRock announced in early 2025 that it would [adjust] goals it set a few years ago, Fink has once again used his platform to call on leaders to transform their capitalist outlooks, this time regarding how they envision the AI future.
The cost of the AI boom
Last year marked an explosive growth in the AI sector. Morningstar analysts identified a group of 34 AI stocks, including [stocks]. AI companies and investors have witnessed their wealth soar in the past year. According to [source], the median increase in net worth last year was nearly $10 billion among the 50 wealthiest Americans. For example, Google co – founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin became $101 billion and $92 billion richer, respectively, in 2025.
The BlackRock CEO noted that these benefits, however, have been limited to a small number of the richest. This alludes to a K – shaped economy where the rich get richer while the poor continue to struggle. In short, the bottom half of Americans are not benefiting from the AI race. Although Fink didn’t delve into the politics of utilities setting electricity prices, it seems the poor are [bearing the burden] to support the data centers powering the AI boom. According to Federal Reserve data, the poorer demographic [has a certain situation], which means about 165 million people own $628 billion in stock. In contrast, the top 1% of the wealthiest households own nearly 50% of corporate equity.
Fink’s portrayal of the post – Cold War era as one of escalating inequality represents the mainstreaming of a once – niche view that has become increasingly prevalent in the 21st century. While the West’s victory over communism was seen as the ultimate triumph for capitalism, as exemplified by Francis Fukuyama’s [book], history has actually continued. The unprecedented rise of China as an economic superpower through its combination of socialism and capitalism “[model]” has complicated the narrative, as has the inequality mentioned by Fink.
An internal critic of the post – Cold War world order is Andrew Bacevich, a military veteran and historian who compared the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 to “removing the speed limiter from an internal combustion engine.” Bacevich’s 2020 book [book], was an early expression of the once – niche view that Fink supported on Tuesday.
What AI’s growth means for workers
Similarly, the risks of the AI boom to workers extend beyond who has a stake in the growth of the technology industry. Nobel laureate and “godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton has previously warned that this explosion of wealth for a few will [result in something], and workers will be displaced by the technology.
“What will actually happen is that rich people will use AI to replace workers,” Hinton said in September. “It will lead to massive unemployment and a huge increase in profits. It will make a few people much richer and most people poorer. That’s not AI’s fault; it’s the capitalist system.”
Some companies have already started reducing their workforce to increase profits, including enterprise – software firm IgniteTech. CEO Eric Vaughan [made cuts] in early 2023, according to figures reviewed by [publication]. Vaughan said the reductions occurred during a turning point in the tech industry, where failure to effectively adopt AI could be fatal for a company. He has since rehired for all those positions, and he would make the same decision again today, he told [publication].
According to Fink, sustaining a white – collar workforce will depend on the world’s most powerful people formulating an actionable plan that can counter the criticisms of capitalism, which has, so far, mainly benefited them.
“Now, instead of just having abstract ideas about future jobs, we need a credible plan for broad participation in these benefits. This will be the test,” Fink said. “Capitalism can evolve to turn more people into beneficiaries of growth, rather than mere onlookers.”