CNBC AI Forum 2026 Live Updates: Enterprise AI in Dallas

In an aerial view, the Stargate Oracle AI data center campus is seen on August 26, 2026 in Abilene, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images CNBC is hosting its second-annual AI Forum today in Dallas, Texas, for live conversations about how artificial intelligence is reshaping companies, workers and customers. CNBC’s AI Forum will focus on the practical challenge of moving from experimentation to enterprise-scale deployment, along with the risks posed by autonomous agents, cybersecurity threats, the data center buildout and uneven regulation. Follow this live blog for updates, key quotes and takeaways from sessions on AI infrastructure, governance, financial services and the global race for technological leadership. 6 Min Ago How Wells Fargo is thinking about ROI when it comes to AI The price tag around AI is continuing to grow, and that is pushing Wells Fargo to put what Saul Van Beurden, Wells Fargo Co-CEO of Consumer Banking & Head of AI, said at the CNBC AI Forum was an “enormous focus on what we call the high impact use cases.” “We were chasing a lot of ants, small little animals, instead of hunting elephants and just the big use cases that drive a lot of ROI, whether it’s cost savings, whether it’s revenue,” he told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “Cost is just an outcome of something that is bigger and higher in terms of purpose, and that’s ROI,” he said. “That’s also how we prioritize our book of work; that’s how we prioritize all the use cases.” Van Beurden acknowledged that some of that analysis is assessing which model is best for which task, as it is crucial to “drive the best cost for the best model in terms of use for that case.” Wells Fargo has been doing a full token spend report to track AI spending that encompasses the whole company, including personal productivity platforms, agents, and other models, Van Beurden said. It also has placed some spending limits on employees, and it also has AI contracts that vary between usage and seats that it has to manage. “When you start to look at all that, it’s not like we faint or anything like that. We don’t have a horror story on spend,” he said. Van Beurden said that there has been a “top-down message to the whole organization” when it comes to AI investments: “If we want to invest in AI, you need to come and stick out your neck.” “Make sure that you are chipping in as a leader, because only if you chip in and you have a great ROI, you will get the money,” he said. “That is the way to do that and manage cost.” —Ian Thomas 23 Min Ago OpenAI’s Bret Taylor talks outcomes-based pricing Bret Taylor Co-founder of Sierra and Chairman of OpenAI speaks during CNBC’s AI Forum in Dallas, Texas on Oct. 1, 2026. CNBC OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor dove deeper into why his artificial intelligence startup Sierra uses outcomes-based pricing, in a conversation with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin and Wells Fargo’s Saul Van Beurden Thursday. “People are willing to spend more the more they know it converts into a sale,” Taylor said. “So, the closer you get to an outcome that’s economically valuable, the easier it is for companies to understand that value.” Taylor said that getting paid only when the products work is riskier, but that the new model would be a “really healthy thing” for businesses. “AI agents can perform jobs autonomously. You should pay for a job well done, and I think it is a new era of software,” he said. — CJ Haddad 37 Min Ago Wells Fargo’s Saul Van Beurden on keeping “optionality” when it comes to AI vendor deals Saul Van Beurden, Wells Fargo’s Head of AI and Co-CEO of Consumer Banking and Lending speaks during CNBC’s AI Forum in Dallas, Texas on Oct. 1, 2026. CNBC Wells Fargo Co-CEO of Consumer Banking & Head of AI Saul Van Beurden said the financial services firm is keeping “optionality” when it comes to what AI models, agents and vendors it is striking deals with so that it can “make the right choices.” “Nobody can predict what happens in six months from now, a year from now; nobody can predict which model will be winning or not,” Van Beurden told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “You see us doing multiple deals with multiple companies for shorter terms than would normally be the case, given that we’re in an environment that nobody can predict what is going to happen in six months from now.” Van Beurden, who appeared on stage alongside OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor, said OpenAI is “one of the two horses in a race that we have around agents,” but keeping that optionality is “super important.” “That means that we disappoint sometimes people where they want to have a big deal with us and a commitment for three years and an exclusive deal,” he said. “But that means we have multiple horses in the race all the time, because in this era you cannot say, ‘Okay, we go for you, and we go for you.’” —Ian Thomas 5 Hours Ago Who is speaking at the 2026 CNBC AI Forum Kyle Bass, Founder of Conservation Equity Management, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Feb. 29th, 2024. CNBC In addition to OpenAI’s Bret Taylor and Wells Fargo’s Saul Van Beurden, CNBC has convened several executives, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and researchers to talk about the wide-ranging impact of AI. That includes: Andy Markus, chief data & AI officer at AT&T, who will join CNBC’s Contessa Brewer for a conversation about the economics of AI, managing token usage and how companies can spend strategically on the technology. John Arnold, co-founder &co-chair of Arnold Ventures, who will speak with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin about Texas’ statewide AI boom, the massive infrastructure required to power that boom and how data centers have become a lightning rod topic ahead of the midterm elections. Mike Fey, Island co-founder, and Navrina Singh, Credo AI founder & CEO, who will join CNBC’s Contessa Brewer for a conversation about the challenges of keeping pace with AI risks and ways to safeguard against threats in the age of rogue agents and AI-powered human hackers. Kyle Bass, Rochefort Asset Management founder & co-CEO, who is talking with CNBC’s Scott Wapner about the threat of China gaining a technological and military advantage with AI and whether America can afford to hit the brakes. Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences co-founder & CEO, who will talk to CNBC’s Julia Boorstin about the science of de-extinction,the possibility of AI bringing back long-extinct creatures like the woolly mammoth and the debate surrounding the science. —Colleen McKown 6 Hours Ago OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor to speak at CNBC’s AI Forum Bret Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Sierra, speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22nd, 2026. Oscar Molina | CNBC OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor is one of the most anticipated speakers at the CNBC AI Forum in Dallas. Taylor, the co-founder of AI startup Sierra, will be joined on stage by Saul Van Beurden, Wells Fargo co-CEO of consumer banking & head of AI, for a conversation with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin about how organizations can scale AI to create value. It’s been a big week for OpenAI: the company held its annual DevDay developer conference Tuesday, where the AI company unveiled a number of new products and developer tools. This year’s DevDay took place amid intense pressure on OpenAI to address safety concerns after it disclosedseveral incidents where models behaved in unintended ways. —Colleen McKown 6 Hours Ago The latest on AI regulation US President Donald Trump, from center left, US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, and Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., speak to members of the media following a meeting with tech executives on artificial intelligence at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Tierney L. Cross | Bloomberg | Getty Images At the CNBC AI Forum last year in Nashville, Senator Marsha Blackburn kicked off the event, pushing for federal regulation of AI, saying that her constituents were growing increasingly concerned about safety and privacy. However,