Davos 2026 - growth is great, but what about morality? Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff goes off piste and lays into US AI firms hatred of regulation

The questions were very simple, the answers apparently less so, and the gap exposed between the two blew open some of the complacency around AI that has characterised this year’s World Economic Forum meeting.

The questions? They were from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff who demanded of the Davos disciples:

What's more important to us - growth or trust? What's more important to us - growth or our kids? What's more important to us - growth or our families? What’s more important - growth or the fundamental values of our society?

These queries were aired during a panel session entitled Where can new growth come from? And it was all too clear from the reaction of the other panelists that talking up AI opportunities for powering growth was a far more comfortable topic for them than being confronted with questions of basic morality.

But someone had to say it - and ...