Davos 2026: AI is not a bubble, it’s the next industrial revolution, says OpenAI’s Christopher Lehane

As artificial intelligence dominates conversations at the World Economic Forum (WEF), a growing group of sceptics continues to question whether the technology is riding an unsustainable hype cycle. But OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Christopher Lehane says the debate is already settled.

Speaking with Business Today on the first day of the WEF Davos 2026, Lehane said AI is not a bubble but a “general-purpose technology” comparable to the combustion engine, electricity and the semiconductor, innovations that permanently reshaped global productivity and economic growth.

“AI is genuinely transformational,” Lehane said. “We’re releasing new data showing that individuals and companies using AI effectively are seeing a seven-times multiplier in economic productivity. That means one person can generate seven times more economic value, and companies can extract far more output from the same workforce.”

Lehane pointed out that the scale of adoption already contradicts the bubble narrative. More than 850 million people use AI tools regularly today, over four million developers are building with AI, and more than one million companies are integrating the technology into their products and operations.

“These numbers are only going up,” he said. “Tomorrow they will be higher. The day after, higher still. The real question isn’t whether AI is a bubble. It’s whether you’re building AI into your systems or falling behind.”

He described AI as a productivity technology rather than a consumer trend, comparing it to electricity. “We provide the power. People build the stoves, cars, airplanes and entirely new industries on top of it,” Lehane said.

A key risk, he warned, is what OpenAI calls the “capability gap,” the widening divide between individuals, companies and countries that adopt AI effectively and those that do not. Those on the wrong side of this gap risk falling behind economically at an unprecedented rate.

According to Lehane, 2026 will be a pivotal year for AI adoption, particularly in healthcare, education, enterprise and government systems, where AI is increasingly being embedded directly into national infrastructure.

“Treating AI as a bubble is a strategic mistake,” he said. “This is not social media. This is not crypto. This is a foundational technology for the Intelligence Age.”

In his view, the countries and companies that move fastest now will define the next phase of global economic leadership, while those that hesitate may struggle to catch up.

Watch the full interview here