Davos by the Bay?
That’s what the leaders of Semafor, the digital media and events company, seem to have in mind for a new AI- and tech-focused conference planned for the Bay Area this November.
Founded in 2022 by former Bloomberg CEO Justin B. Smith and Buzzfeed News editor Ben Smith, Semafor will launch a multiday Silicon Valley conference in the mode of global gatherings like the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the Aspen Ideas Festival — but tailored to the AI age.
The event, to be called “Silicon Valley & the World,” will have two days of live journalism and breakout sessions anchored by Semafor’s team of reporters. To help shape the event, the company will call on a veritable murderers’ row of advisers, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic President Daniela Amodei, and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman.
Since its founding as a scrappy international news startup competing against august titles like the Financial Times and Economist, Semafor has developed a focus on events-centered journalism, raising $30 million in January (opens in new tab) to fuel its expansion plans. It caters to an audience of what Justin B. Smith calls “global decision makers”: business leaders, politicians, and policymakers.
Smith said the company wanted to expand its events program into the Bay Area because of the massive impact that AI development has had on the world economy.
“At Semafor, we try to put our finger on the most consequential big ideas shaping the world and build journalism platforms around them,” Smith said. “And we don’t see anything larger and more purposeful than this idea at this moment in time.”
The event will consist of panels, fireside chats, and dinners hosted by Semafor team members like technology editor Reed Albergotti and executive editor Gina Chon. The goal is to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and the international entrepreneurs, politicians, and business leaders who are trying to understand and implement its technology.
“A lot of the people in Silicon Valley are famously very focused on what they’re doing and perhaps not as engaged with the globe,” Smith said. “So there’s a real opportunity to bridge gaps of connections, gaps of understanding, gaps of dialogue between the rest of the world and … the creators of these technologies.”
The event will take inspiration from the company’s Semafor World Economy event in Washington, D.C., which completed its fourth year April 17. That gathering featured more than 350 live interviews and drew more than 6,500 attendees, including 17 U.S. senators, nine cabinet-level officials, and more than 500 CEOs; the company claims it was the largest gathering of CEOs on U.S. soil.
Headlines included Citadel CEO Ken Griffin warning of a global recession if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed this year, and prediction market Kalshi announcing a safety portal for parents.
What will differentiate Silicon Valley & the World from other major gatherings, according to Smith, is its service to journalism. All events will either be on the record or abiding by Chatham House Rules, meaning information can be reported, but participants and attendees cannot be named.
Semafor also hopes its list of high-powered advisers will signal that this is a different kind of gathering. Smith said the advisory board, which currently sits at 11 members, will participate in interviews during the conference — and hopefully in other events to come. In addition to Nadella, Huang, Amodei, and Hoffman, the board includes ICONIQ founding partner Divesh Makan ICONIQ, Google President Ruth Porat, Advanced Micro Devicers CEO Lisa Su, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins.
“We see the opportunity to create the most important technology leadership community in America and in the world,” Smith said. “We don’t see any of the incumbents doing that.”
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