AI: Private Equity Giants Keep Betting on an Uncertain Market

At Davos 2026, artificial intelligence established itself as the central topic of economic discussions. The private equity giants continue to bet on a still uncertain market, fueled by investors’ FOMO. Between record valuations and competition with crypto, the future of AI raises as many hopes as doubts.

AI valuations soaring at Davos

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, AI startups were at the heart of the debates. Indeed, OpenAI displays a record valuation of 500 billion dollars, while Anthropic doubled its value in a few months to reach 350 billion. In this regard, Orlando Bravo, co-founder of Thoma Bravo, summarized the situation by stating that funds are rushing to any AI story, confirming the magnitude of FOMO dominating the markets.

As a result, investors fear missing the next revolution and pour massive capital, even into still fragile AI projects. This frenzy recalls the Internet bubble of the 2000s, when valuations soared without correlation to revenues. In Davos, this situation shows that AI is now unavoidable, despite persistent economic and technological uncertainties.

Why private equity giants bet on AI

Private equity giants persist in investing in AI because they see it as a major transformative force. At Davos, Orlando Bravo nuanced his statement by affirming that AI will not disrupt more than half of software companies, but it will be disruptive for many of them. This vision reflects a clear strategy: securing a position in a market deemed unavoidable, even if tangible proof is still lacking.

Funds thus want to be at the heart of the technological revolution and prefer to take risks today rather than remain on the sidelines tomorrow. Davos could serve as a showcase to reaffirm this confidence and reassure the markets. The logic is simple: AI is seen as a strategic lever, and investors prefer to overpay now rather than regret it later.

Crypto: Can AI eclipse bitcoin?

While AI attracts massive capital, a question arises: will this frenzy eclipse interest in cryptos like bitcoin and ethereum? Global financing in 2025 reached 425 billion dollars, of which nearly 50% were captured by AI, mechanically reducing the share of investments in crypto. Some analysts believe AI could become the funds’ priority, relegating crypto to the background.

Yet, Bitcoin maintains its status as a digital reserve and Ethereum remains at the heart of decentralized applications. The competition between AI and crypto is not only financial; it is also narrative: AI is presented as the technological revolution, while crypto defends decentralization and digital sovereignty. While AI seems to dominate attention at Davos, crypto retains unique assets that could prevent its erasure.

At Davos 2026, artificial intelligence confirmed its status as an essential market, attracting massive capital despite uncertainty. At the moment when AI absorbs all of bitcoin’s energy and causes the Hashrate drop, a question arises: will artificial intelligence eclipse interest in crypto, or can these two technological revolutions coexist and strengthen each other?