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The 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos made one reality unmistakably clear: artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies have moved from emerging topics to essential pillars of global economic stability and competitive advantage. This year’s discussions, particularly within the AI House and quantum‑focused panels, highlighted a decisive convergence of technology, governance, and leadership. The message from global leaders, policymakers, and technologists was unified: The pace of innovation demands equally rapid alignment in security, ethics, and readiness.
Artificial intelligence takes center stage
The AI House hosted some of the most consequential dialogues of the week. Across sectors, executives, policymakers, and technologists aligned on a common theme: AI must be human‑centric, governed responsibly, and secured at every layer. Leaders recognized that with the pace of AI adoption, it is important to build the infrastructure and trust to deploy technologies at scale without amplifying risk. As quickly as AI is being built, threat actors are similarly exploiting generative AI for scalable attacks. Enterprises are facing growing pressure to implement scalable, trustworthy, and well‑governed systems.
Cybersecurity, accordingly, sat at the center of nearly every AI conversation. As AI models become deeply embedded across operations, such as the expansion of communications across boundaries, the attack surface expands dramatically. Organizations are now grappling with challenges such as model poisoning, prompt‑based vulnerabilities, data leakage, and the need to continuously monitor automated decision systems. Davos participants highlighted the expectation that the responsible, risk-based deployment of AI is integral to maintaining trust and accountability at scale, as well as boosting competitiveness.
One of the most anticipated Davos moments was the unveiling of the Global Responsible AI Compliance & Ethics (GRAICE) framework, poised to become a framework enabling humanity to thrive with Artificial Intelligence. GRAICE provides an operating model for ethical, compliance, and human-centric AI (Global Council for Responsible AI | GCRAI - Ethical AI Governance).
Quantum moves from theory to a swift reality
Quantum technology also featured prominently, with panels highlighting that quantum is transitioning from theoretical research to practical, real‑world applications. For example, quantum sensors were mentioned for use in hospitals for patient monitoring, with even IBM's CEO stating that commercial quantum use could be as early as 2026 or 2027 (Davos: Waiting on quantum computing is not an option | CIO).
Quantum was also mentioned from a cybersecurity perspective, with worries of the “quantum divide,” where only 24 of 193 UN member states have a quantum strategy. This is troubling because of the potential impact of quantum attacks, such as the ability to break today’s public-key cryptography in minutes. Similar to the Y2K scare in the 1999 to 2000 transition, “Q‑Day,” the moment when quantum computers can break classical encryption, remains an undefined but inevitable milestone.
Companies were urged to begin quantum readiness now through cryptographic inventorying, adoption of post‑quantum algorithms, and planning for data exposed to “record now, decrypt later” threats.
Insights on artificial intelligence readiness
Multiple core themes arise from AI discussions in Davos: scalability, reliability, and oversight. AI, like most prior technological waves, follows an adoption process and curve. There are trailblazers who adopt technologies quickly, paving the way for implementation, and governmental agencies that retroactively attempt to govern technology amid a quick rollout. Here are some of the top takeaways related to AI:
- Ensure a business-wide AI framework is established, accounting for compliance changes that may emerge (e.g., the EU AI Act, California SB 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act). This includes a formal intake, a defined policy set, and even instituting AI champions within the organization to ensure AI is deployed securely, compliance is met, and may be scaled to new AI implementations.
- Create and enforce the AI secure lifecycle so that AI within the organization is backed by appropriate requirements, design, threat modeling, validation, and monitoring procedures. This allows datasets to be governed by controls and outputs to be validated, reducing harm to both the business and its users.
- Develop an AI risk management plan and tie it to the enterprise risk management framework. Not all AI developments may substantially benefit the business. Addressing the use and scope of AI, along with the types of users, may reveal scenarios where risks outweigh benefits, but also yield massive value in others.
- Create community forums that bring together internal AI stakeholders and peers from other organizations to foster cross-sector collaboration and generate actionable insights to guide the development and scaling of AI frameworks and processes.
Insights on quantum readiness
Organizations should consider the quantum threat posed by the types of data they hold. This includes the definition of a quantum readiness strategy that includes the following:
- Inventory and encryption around sensitive data held within the organization, along with tying business dollar values to data elements. All data should have a clear data owner who understands the value of the data and the risk to the organization in the event that the data is leaked.
- Review vendors that may support acceleration of the transition to Quantum and Quantum-Safe security. This includes collecting and researching the inventory of avenues that facilitate transmission across the organization (e.g., endpoints, applications, libraries, certificates, network components).
- Plan to implement post-quantum cryptography: Initiate conversations with vendors of products that process high-value information to plan for supporting quantum-resistant cryptography. Technical system and risk owners for both enterprise and bespoke IT should begin financial planning to update their systems to use post-quantum cryptography, so upgrades can be planned to occur within technology refresh cycles and implementation.
Key takeaways
For leaders and operators alike, the message from Davos was decisive: AI and quantum innovation will define the next era of economic performance and geopolitical alignment—but only if matched with strong cybersecurity, ethical governance, and inclusive leadership. Organizations that invest now in secure, responsible, future‑proofed technologies will be best positioned to thrive amid the accelerating disruption ahead.
We are committed to supporting artificial intelligence and quantum as businesses adapt to these rapid changes. AlixPartners works with senior leaders across organizations using a risk-based approach to identify the most critical assets and data to the business and evaluate the key controls that need to be implemented. A QuickStrike® assessment of the cybersecurity program is a helpful way for organizations to understand their critical assets and key control gaps, enabling targeted investment in security. If you would like to discuss our QuickStrike® assessment or learn more about the path forward in AI and Quantum security, please contact one of our experts.
