What CFOs say about AI when they’re speaking off the record

s·CEO DailyWhat CFOs say AI when they’re speaking off the recordBy Diane BradyBy Diane BradyExecutive Editorial Director, Fortune Media and author of CEO DailyDiane BradyExecutive Editorial Director, Fortune Media and author of CEO DailyDiane Brady is an award-winning journalist and author who has interviewed newsmakers worldwide and often speaks the global landscape

As executive editorial director of the Fortune CEO Initiative, she brings together a growing community of global leaders through conversations, content, and connections

She is also executive editorial director of Fortune Media and interviews newsmakers for the magazine and the CEO Daily .SEE FULL BIO Rebecca Patterson of the Council on Foreign Relations and former chief investment strategist at Bridgewater Associates.Photo: The Council on Foreign Relations.In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to CFOs how AI is affecting their companies

The big story: Yet more tariffs, this time with a new policy on semiconductor chips

Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune

Everyone is talking AI

Earlier this week, we hosted a dinner with 17 CFOs from some of the world’s largest companies, where they talked how they’re using AI in their jobs

Some are using it to highlight how different words are ly to impact sentiment on earnings calls, based on historical data

Many use it to create scenarios around earnings jections against the vagaries of tariffs, policy shifts, nology investments and more

They’re creating hyper-personalized data sets and go-to-market strategies that not only use AI agents but tailor interactions to customers’ AI agents

I also learned their strategies for embedding AI knowledge throughout their organizations, from top-down learning to metrics for getting moted into the senior ranks

And while most are not yet cutting jobs in response to AI, they’re also not adding to their overall headcount

The dinner, sponsored by Deloitte and ServiceNow, was conducted under the Chatham House rule to encourage conversation by sharing highlights anonymously

But during my on-the-record chat with economist Rebecca Patterson, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and former chief investment strategist at Bridgewater Associates, we heard the impact of a shift in fiscal policy. “It’s not just the fact that Congress ignored the Congressional Budget Office and historical norms in enacting the reconciliation bill,” she noted. “It’s also the size of the increase to future deficits at a time when the economy has been growing above its long-term potential

I thought we would see some fiscal hawks push back more and water down the ultimate bill, or that there would be a longer fight

I was wrong.” Patterson also said she expects policies under the Trump Administration to “lean towards” structurally higher inflation

And she talked the continued strength of the U.S. relative to other economies and the transformative impact of AI

Insights from leaders on the front lines are critical in shaping the themes of this column and underscore the unique role that Fortune plays in convening and creating connections

Next up is Brainstorm , which Andrew Nusca will lead on Sept. 8 to 10 in Park City, Utah

One Strategy Group CEO David Meadvin told me yesterday that “there’s nowhere better for genuine relationship building.” I believe him

I’ll be going there to moderate some conversations and cohost a dinner for CEO Initiative members with Qualtrics CEO Zig Serafin

If you’d to join us at Brainstorm , you can apply here

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter failed to change the White House’s mind over the last few days even though it remains un why Switzerland was singled out for such a harsh rate

Quote of the day: “We are now in a new world

Even to trade nerds, the complexity of this is just bonkers,” Chad Bown, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told the FT.100% tariff on semiconductor chipsThe president said he would double the price of imported computer chips but not for companies that are “building in the United States.” Few other details are available.Apple pledges $600 billion U.S. investmentIn an amazing coincidence, the iPhone maker yesterday said it would add $100 billion to its existing domestic “manufacturing” commitments and add 20,000 jobs to its payroll

The guru predicts that AGI will be better at everything than most humans

Only the best workers in their fields will keep their jobs “for a while,” and even “evil” government leaders might be replaced by the robots, he said.Microsoft raids Google’s AI ranksMustafa Suleyman, one of the founders of Google’s DeepMind, who is now head of Microsoft AI, is raiding his old company for talent, calling them personally on the phone with the mise that life at Microsoft has more of a startup vibe than Google does

He has poached two dozen Googlers with compensation that far exceed those paid at DeepMind.Trump favors meeting with Putin to end Ukraine warThe president told European leaders and U.S. reporters yesterday that he was open to meeting Putin soon to get a ceasefire in Ukraine

But he also sounded sceptical Putin’s motives, saying he had “been disappointed before with this one.” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelensky” and “wants this brutal war to end.”Disney earnings and NFL dealDisney posted solid earnings on Wednesday, just a day after announcing that Disney’s ESPN sports network is acquiring major NFL media assets in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN

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