If there’s one point of consensus among CES 2026 keynote speakers, it’s that AI is reshaping technology with a speed and scale unlike any previous technological revolution.
In a live taping Tuesday of the All-In podcast, co-host Jason Calacanis interviewed Bob Sternfels, global managing partner of McKinsey & Company, and Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst. Their discussion focused on how AI is changing investment strategies and the workforce.
“The world has completely changed,” Taneja said of the unprecedented growth of AI companies. While it took about 12 years for Stripe to reach a $100 billion valuation, Anthropic, another General Catalyst portfolio company, saw its valuation rise from $60 billion last year to “a few hundred billion dollars” this year, he said.
Taneja believes that we are on the verge of seeing a new wave of trillion-dollar companies. “This is not a unique idea with Anthropic, OpenAI and a few others,” he said.
Calacanis pressed them on what was causing this explosive growth. According to McKinsey’s Sternfels, while many companies are testing AI products, non-tech enterprises are hesitant about full adoption. Sternfels says McKinsey consultants often hear this question from CEOs: “Do I listen to my CFO or my CIO right now?”
CFOs, seeing low returns on investment, argue for delaying implementation. Meanwhile, CIOs claim it’s “madness” not to adopt AI because “we will be disrupted,” Sternfels said.
Another major concern is how AI is reshaping the labor force. “Some people are looking at AI and they’re scared,” Calacanis said, noting concerns that AI could replace entry-level jobs traditionally filled by recent graduates. He asked Sternfels and Taneja for advice on what the youth should do in this new scenario.
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Sternfels said that although AI models can handle many tasks, humans will have to bring the skills of sound judgment and creativity necessary to succeed in an AI-infested world.
Meanwhile, Taneja argued that people should understand that “skilling and re-skilling” will be a lifelong endeavour. “The idea that we spend 22 years learning and then 40 years working is broken,” he said.
Calakanis agreed that in a world where it can take less time to build an AI agent than to train a new employee, people need to find ways to stay relevant. “To stand out, you have to show enthusiasm, enthusiasm, passion,” he said.
Sternfels provided a glimpse of that future. While he expects McKinsey to have more and more “personal” AI agents on staff by the end of 2026, he said that won’t necessarily mean a reduction in headcount. Instead, the company is changing its structure; It is increasing staff working directly with customers by 25% while reducing back-office roles by the same percentage.
