Here's what's up for Jan. 20, 2026.

• CEOs talk AI at Davos;
• OpenAI, ServiceNow strike deal
• Have you been 'Claude-pilled'?

Good morning. Here’s a development that all corporate tech leaders need to understand, because it reinforces the foundation for AI adoption and investment. Anthropic’s Claude AI is more than just a breakthrough coding tool. Claude Opus 4.5, used within Claude Code, is a big step forward in model and agent development, and people are putting it to use in many fields beyond software development, the Journal’s Bradley Olson reports.

The latest iteration of Claude shows that the period of AI innovation that began in late 2022 is still moving forward. Model developers are still competing with one another, and collectively pushing the upper bounds of AI performance. This dynamic received a jolt of energy late last year with the launch of Google’s Gemini 3 models, and it continues now with Claude Opus 4.5, which is gaining traction in the market. Claude’s total web audience more than doubled in December compared with the previous year. Bloomberg says that Anthropic’s latest innovations are reviving fears of disruption in the software industry.

Bradley reports that many coders spent their holiday breaks on a “Claude bender,” testing out the capabilities of the latest Anthropic model, and that the buzz around Claude’s latest incarnation is something different (More below).

I experienced that buzz over the holidays when a relative pulled me into his study to share his excitement over Claude. He used it to advance his work as a software developer. He put it to use for broader purposes, such as reformatting news articles to suit his reading preferences.

That continual wave of innovation separates the AI boom from more ephemeral phenomena, and it’s the best way to understand the direction of AI investment and adoption. There’s a lot to be learned from the history of technology and investment cycles, but the key to understanding this boom is to follow the vector of AI innovation. It’s still pointing up.

Artificial intelligence is top of mind—among other major themes—for the business leaders gathering this week in Davos. On Monday, WSJ Leadership Institute President Alan Murray spoke with the chief executives of Qualcomm, Crusoe, Mastercard, and Marsh McLennan about how they see AI evolving and what it means for their businesses.

Video highlights of their conversations below. Stay tuned for more interviews this week.

While CIOs explore use cases for AI agents, the technology is embedding itself in the very business software they rely on.

The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Belle Lin reports on a three-year deal between OpenAI and ServiceNow that will integrate the ChatGPT-maker’s AI models into the software company’s offerings.

“Enterprises want OpenAI intelligence applied directly into ServiceNow workflows,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer.

The deal comes as OpenAI looks to build its enterprise business—both by selling direct access to its models and AI agents, and through business-software collaborations. The effort seems to be working. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar in a post Sunday said the company's annual recurring revenue hit "$20B+" in 2025, up from $6 billion in 2024.

For ServiceNow, which makes software for IT, customer service and other business operations, the deal is a way to put a leading model-maker’s technologies into its platforms without building those AI capabilities on its own.

And for CIOs, it's an opportunity to evaluate agentic capabilities without too much of a heavy lift. For instance, ServiceNow will embed OpenAI’s computer-use AI model into its platform, enabling agents to independently perform IT tasks like restarting a computer, according to Amit Zavery, ServiceNow’s president, chief operating officer and chief product officer.

A growing number of engineers and executives say they’ve been “Claude-pilled.” Stunned by the capabilities of Anthropic’s new Claude Opus 4.5 model, especially through its Claude Code tools, users are reporting that they’ve been able to finish in days projects that once took months.

There’s a fear that the AI boom may be the last chance to get rich before automation devalues money itself. Fanning the flames: The expectation that local AI companies, such as Anthropic and OpenAI will soon go public–cash in quick!-- and a habit by technologists to make predictions outside their field of expertise (see universal basic income). The WSJ's Tim Higgins has more.

Competition is intensifying among Chinese tech giants in the AI field with Baidu’s AI assistant recently surpassing 200 million monthly active users, WSJ reports. Last week, Alibaba said it is connecting its Qwen chatbot into its vast consumer ecosystem. Qwen surpassed 100 million monthly active users within two months of its November launch, Alibaba said.

Texas-based Noveon Magnetics raised $215 million to ramp up U.S. production of rare-earth magnets, key components for EVs, defense systems and electronics. The funding, led by One Investment Management, backs Washington’s push to cut dependence on China, which dominates global supply. Noveon, which sources its rare-earths from Australia, currently covers about 5% of U.S. demand, WSJ reports.

FuriosaAI, chip startup and holder of the best name in the industry, is seeking $300 to $500 million in a Series D round ahead of a potential 2027 IPO, Bloomberg reports. The Seoul-based company, which makes chips called neural processing units, or NPUs, is one of a number of AI hardware makers looking to muscle in on Nvidia’s business as AI work shifts from training to inference.

President Trump’s demands that Denmark hand over Greenland to the U.S. or risk a trade war and possible military action is confronting Europe with the unthinkable: Its major ally for more than 70 years has turned into one of its most urgent threats. (WSJ)

U.S. stock futures took a leg down after President Trump posted a series of messages doubling down on his quest to make Greenland part of of the U.S. (WSJ)

Denmark dispatched additional troops to Greenland on Monday as President Trump added a new dimension to his pursuit of the Danish island, telling Norway that he no longer needed to think “purely of peace” after not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. (WSJ)

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board of directors approved a new all-cash bid from Netflix for its studios and HBO Max streaming business and released financial details on its soon-to-be spun-off cable networks in a Tuesday regulatory filing. (WSJ)

The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.