The AI race should be less about supremacy and more about sustainability

In today’s CEO Daily: Women leaders are moving the AI debate beyond who builds the best model.

The big leadership story: Jensen Huang dismisses an AI doomsday The markets: Mostly up globally after an AI-led rally in the U.S. on Monday.

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune .

Good morning.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year in New York City—if you like talking about geopolitics, climate action and AI.

At Climate Week, the United Nations General Assembly, and related gatherings, a key theme is how leaders can build the infrastructure, guardrails and partnerships to make AI sustainable and accessible to all.

On the climate side, there’s the literal challenge of how we power the AI revolution: the data centers, the energy sources, the critical minerals, the financing, all of it.

The Iran War has sent oil prices surging and federal policy shifts have stalled investments in clean energy at a time when other countries are pushing forward and business is calling for everything, everywhere all at once on the energy front.

And of course there are bigger questions about the environmental toll of AI, not to mention the societal impact as policymakers impose moratoriums on data center buildouts, citing concerns about everything from water use to grid reliability.

On the geopolitical side, there’s the debate about safety standards, job disruption, the growing power of those building the models, chips, and infrastructure.

It doesn’t help that the five “hoarse” men of the apocalypse—as I now think of Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jensen Huang—are busy debating whether AI will kill us.

A dinner I moderated last night with women leaders, hosted by the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, offered a more useful frame.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was there, as was UN Women Executive Director Dr.

Sima Sami Bahous, along with high-level ministers, ambassadors and corporate leaders from around the world.