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Speaking alongside Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Investment, Khalid Al-Falih, and Barclays Group CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Porat painted a sweeping vision of AI’s economic, social, and scientific potential, highlighting how many Nobel prize-winners she is fortunate to work alongside at Alphabet. She framed artificial intelligence not merely as a technological advance, but as a transformative force capable of reshaping entire industries, powering economic growth, and driving human progress at an unprecedented pace.

Porat said “people are playing” with AI through chatbots, and that is “great, because that gets you on the journey. But then the question is: what does it mean for my country? What does it mean for my business?” She argued that it’s underappreciated how “we’re already living” through significant breakthroughs in health and science.

Could AI cure cancer?

Porat pointed to breakthroughs in health care as proof of AI’s broader promise. She highlighted DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which maps protein structures in 3D, noting it has been described as “the greatest contribution to drug discovery in our lifetime.” The open-source project has been used by millions of scientists in more than 190 countries, accelerating research into diseases previously considered intractable.

She also said significant work is being done on early diagnosis of diseases. “We all know early diagnosis can be the difference between survival or not or how difficult the course of treatment is.” In cancer, for instance, that comes in seeing metastatic cells early enough to treat the disease before it spreads. This is very much the proverbial “finding the needle in the haystack,” she said, likening its application to cybersecurity and finding malicious code.

“We should be able to cure cancer in our lifetime,” Porat asserted, calling AI a key driver of scientific discovery. She spoke of early cancer detection, AI-powered cybersecurity defenses that identify threats before they occur, and productivity gains that free workers “from the administrative tasks that take us away from what matters most.”

Balancing speed and responsibility

Porat and Venkatakrishnan both discussed how the moment demands urgency from governments and businesses alike. “Every head of state I meet,” Porat explained, “wants to be part of this digital transformation.” She pointed to staggering potential economic benefits, noting that estimates show AI could unlock a $200 billion GDP boost for Saudi Arabia and “trillions globally.” But unlocking that value, she argued, will require serious investment in both energy and infrastructure.

In the United States, for example, she said simply modernizing the electrical grid could create 100 gigawatts of unused capacity, a figure backed up by independent research. She said the power is effectively sitting there, “waiting to be connected.” Another bottleneck is a lack of talent in the form of the blue-collar trades, specifically electricians, Porat noted, echoing other Fortune 500 leaders such as Ford CEO Jim Farley. Google, she added, is investing in training programs for electricians as part of its workforce initiatives, acknowledging that technological progress only matters if societies prepare workers to participate in it. “There are jobs that come in trades as well as the outside across business.”

Venkatakrishnan discussed the “huge amount of investment, hundreds of billions if not trillions happening all over the world.” He impliclitly acknowledged discussions about a potential bubble in AI infrastructure, saying that “in all large capital-investment cycles, there will be some misallocation, some misinvestment. It’s always true. And I think that’s important for people to guard against.” He argued that, whether the demand turns out to be 1x or 5x of a certain projection, investing in infrastructure—and by extension the tradesmen who build and run it—is a wise choice. Venkatakrishnan added that major capital cycles also require partners you can trust and “who are there for the long term and who will help you through the teething troubles.”

Her message echoed themes of inclusion and global partnership that ran throughout the panel, particularly as Saudi Arabia positions itself as a regional hub for digital infrastructure and AI investment. Al-Falih emphasized his country’s long-term strategy of building supply chain resilience and energy capacity to power the digital economy of the future.

Porat closed by urging leaders to really dig in and reimagine what’s possible in their own organizations. The transformative potential of this technology, she said, lies not only in boosting productivity but in elevating human creativity and purpose.

Story Continues

A Federal Reserve interest rate decision and a string of Magnificent Seven earnings are among the coming week’s top events for investors, who will also continue to monitor the effects of the government shutdown.

The Fed is generally expected to cut rates, and so many will look quickly to remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell for clues on what the central bank will do next. Last week the major U.S. indexes all posted gains, with a strong Friday session leaving the Dow finishing above 47000 for the first time.

Meanwhile, investors will digest a busy run of earnings as they listen for the latest on artificial intelligence (AI) developments and other updates from tech leaders Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Google parent Alphabet. Numbers from oil firms, health care providers, credit card issuers, heavy-equipment makers, travel bookers and beverage sellers are also due this week.

Read to the bottom for our calendar of key events—and one more thing. 

Rate Cut Expected Amid Shutdown-Driven Data Drought

Market watchers expect the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates for a second time this year when it concludes its meeting on Wednesday. The central bank is seen reducing its federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point, bringing it down to a range of 3.75% to 4%.

The Fed’s next move comes amid increasing fears of weakness in the labor market; lower borrowing costs could help spur business activity and create more jobs. However, the rate cut decision arrives as inflation remains above the Fed’s target level, and rate cuts could mean upward pressure on prices.

The U.S. government shutdown is poised to enter its second month. The work stoppage has closed several statistical agencies that release data on employment, price levels, and other key economic metrics. Inflation data, factory orders, and the U.S. trade balance reports, originally scheduled for this week, are likely to be impacted by the shutdown. Private-sector data on consumer confidence, home price levels, and pending home sales are still on the schedule.

Magnificent Seven Reports Likely to Keep Focus on AI

Most of the Magnificent Seven will release quarterly earnings this week. They’re expected to provide more news and context on the state of artificial intelligence spending, which could add to the recent stretch of volatile market movements.

It’ll be a busy slate of corporate reports. Three big ones come Wednesday, with the world’s second-most valuable company, Microsoft, leading the list after it unveiled a new $40 billion AI data center deal that includes chipmaker Nvidia.  Alphabet’s report arrives as the search giant was reportedly close to sealing a major deal with AI startup Anthropic. Facebook parent Meta’s report is likely to provide more details into the company’s recent move into AI-power glasses. 

Thursday’s calendar is led by Apple, which is riding high after its share price hit a record on a strong sales report for its newly released iPhone 17 model. And investors may want to hear about internet outages at Amazon Web Services when it hosts its quarterly earnings call on Thursday afternoon. 

Earnings releases from Exxon Mobil, Visa, UnitedHealth Group, Caterpillar, Boeing, Eli Lilly, and Anheuser-Busch are likely to put attention on several other industrial sectors. 

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This Week’s Calendar

Monday, Oct. 27

• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: Durable-goods orders (September)
• Key Earnings: Welltower (WELL), Cadence Design Systems (CDNS), Waste Management (WM), Hartford Insurance Group (HIG)

Tuesday, Oct. 28

• Consumer confidence (October)
• More Data to Watch: S&P Case-Shiller home price index (August)
• Key Earnings: Visa (V), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Novartis (NVS), Booking Holdings (BKNG), Royal Caribbean (RCL)

Wednesday, Oct. 29

• FOMC interest-rate decisions
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell press conference
• More Data to Watch: Pending home sales (September)
• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: Advanced U.S. trade balance in goods (September), Advanced retail inventories (September), Advanced wholesale inventories (September)
• Key Earnings: Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta (META), Caterpillar (CAT), ServiceNow (NOW), Verizon (VZ), Boeing (BA), CVS (CVS), Starbucks (SBUX), Carvana (CVNA)

Thursday, Oct. 30

• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: Initial jobless claims (Week ending Oct. 25), Gross domestic product (Q3)
• Key Earnings: Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Eli Lilly (LLY), Mastercard (MA), Merck (MRK), Shell (SHEL), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Anheuser-Busch (BUD), Comcast (CMCSA)

Friday, Oct. 31

• Chicago Business Barometer (PMI) (October)
• Data Delayed by the Shutdown: PCE index (September), Employment cost index (Q3)
• Key Earnings: Exxon Mobil (XOM), AbbVie (ABBV), Chevron (CVX), Colgate-Palmolive (CL)

One More Thing

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays are facing off in the World Series. While only one team can win the Commissioner’s Trophy, Investopedia’s Aaron McDade has more on how much the players from each team stand to gain from being part of the Fall Classic.