Business

Carnival Cruise Line CIO’s measured approach to navigating Gen AI

Published

5 months ago

September 3, 2025

Carnival Cruise Line has piloted over 100 different generative artificial intelligence projects. And while only six are in full production today, the cruise line operator’s chief information officer is pleased with the company’s measured progress.

“We have limited, for the time being, the number of tools that are available,” says Sean Kenny, who has served as CIO since 2017. “What we wanted to do was not have science experiments everywhere.”

Kenny says that Carnival Cruise Line established an AI governing body that meets monthly to determine which use cases should get capital funding, track progress during the piloting phase, and sign off on when an application of generative AI is ready for broader adoption.

Carnival Cruise Line’s generative AI adoption strategy is independently operated from the company’s other brands, which includes Holland America and Costa Cruises. Each division has been empowered to individually navigate their technology roadmap.

In his role as CIO, Kenny says part of his job is to bring employees along the adoption journey, promoting training courses offered from AI providers like Microsoft and corporate hackathons. He says one-on-one coaching is more effective than group sessions.

“Nobody wants to look dumb, especially if your boss is sitting at the table with you,” says Kenny, of the hesitancy he’s observed in AI group training sessions. Carnival’s employees can also reach out to a centralized AI team to ask questions if they get stuck while trying to use these relatively new AI tools.

One generative AI use case that Carnival has deployed is a tool that can help personal vacation planners, the company’s travel agents, answer guest questions. Another application of AI that Kenny is excited about is a tool helping servers make more appropriate recommendations for the perfect red wine to sip with steak. What Carnival hopes to see from the latter is an increase to the company’s net promoter score, a closely watched customer satisfaction metric that cruise lines, restaurants, retailers, and other consumer-focused companies track.

Kenny says he’s tapped the expertise of big tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and IBM for Carnival’s AI journey, but is also keeping a close eye on emerging players, especially in the cybersecurity arena. “We’re trying to be open minded to the startups,” he says. “I think it’s important for business and IT leaders to be open to the new players.”

While cruise line operators are enjoying a surge in popularity after the pandemic badly battered the industry—and Carnival itself reported an all-time high of $25 billion in annual revenue in 2024—investments in AI and other technologies could make travel by ship even more desirable.

Kenny says the technology will be especially powerful when it comes to personalization. A guest that books a Jamaican jerk chicken cooking excursion class may also be interested in a wine tasting on the boat. “In terms of the guest experience, it shows us trying to connect the dots,” says Kenny, who also cautions that Carnival doesn’t want to go overboard and be too pushy.

Kenny is closely monitoring other emerging technologies, including an ongoing test of a robotic tool that can comb through leftover food and remove foreign materials like plastic, glass, and wood. This allows Carnival to crush leftovers and pulverize it into literal fish food that can be dumped into the sea. Previously, this work was exclusively done by human hands.

Kenny is also excited about the prospect of using augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to improve training and to monitor and adjust the settings of the large diesel engines, which are so loud that they make in-person work extremely unpleasant. There aren’t any solutions available on the market that Carnival thinks are ready for adoption, but the company is keeping a close eye on progress from vendors.

What’s further along is the company’s WiFi capabilities. A decade ago, Kenny says most travelers expected that any hotel they’d check into would offer internet access, even if they had to pay extra for it, but that this expectation of connectivity wasn’t always true on a cruise ship. That’s been evolving and Kenny has mostly solved the issue by leveraging SpaceX’s Starlink and other providers to deliver far more steady internet access while at sea.

Better WiFi has allowed Carnival to upsell, giving travelers more access to an app where they can book excursions like snorkeling or visiting a historic cultural site when the boat lingers in a port. Excursions are an extra revenue boost for cruise operators like Carnival and AI-enabled travel recommendations, Kenny says, could make these journeys even more alluring.

“I don’t need my tool to go into the world wide web to pick out data and present it to you,” he says. “We can rely on our own terabytes of data.”

John Kell

Send thoughts or suggestions to CIO Intelligence here.

NEWS PACKETS

The AI PC market is rattled by tariffs. Demand for AI PCs in 2024 is expected to be softer than initially projected, as Gartner now says 78 million devices will be shipped this year, a more conservative estimate than the 114 million units the research firm had forecast last year, according to CIO Dive. Tariffs and slower economic growth have reportedly affected the adoption rate of AI PCs, though Gartner says that by 2029, these devices will be the norm among hardware providers including HP and Dell. Gartner says AI PCs will also impact the software landscape, with two in five software vendors investing in AI features that run directly on PCs by the end of 2026, up from merely 2% in 2024.

Anthropic’s new funding round nearly triples AI startup’s valuation. Bloomberg reports that Anthropic has closed on a deal to raise an additional $13 billion from investors, one of the largest ever for an AI company, at a valuation of $183 billion, up from the $61.5 billion valuation if fetched in March. The latest financing was led by investment firm Iconiq Capital, with other participants including Fidelity Management and Research Co., Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Qatar Investment Authority. Bloomberg says the total was higher than initially expected, due to strong investor demand. Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by former employees of rival OpenAI, said that the latest funding round reflected the company’s “unprecedented velocity and reinforces our position as the leading intelligence platform for enterprises, developers, and power users.”

Nvidia’s monster 2Q comes with some concerns. Fortune reports that Nvidia’s quarterly results were “by far the biggest event of this earnings season,” as the AI chip maker posted second-quarter revenue and profits that bested Wall Street’s sky-high expectations. But some analysts have worried about a disclosure from Nvidia that 44% of revenue from chip sales to data centers is derived from just two customers, presumed to be Microsoft and Meta Platforms. There are also growing fears of more local competition from China where one rival, semiconductor firm Cambricon, reported revenue that surged 4,300% in the first half of the year. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang touted the $50 billion AI market opportunity in China, but also warned that getting approval to sell the newest GPU chip will take time.

ADOPTION CURVE

AI coding tools proliferate, but over-reliance is a big worry. AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Windsurf continue to see strong adoption among developers, with a recent survey finding that 78% of developers rely on these tools every day and two-thirds reporting that their organization’s use of AI coding will “increase significantly” over the next 12 months. The survey of 300 technology decision makers across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, which was backed by Australian software maker Canva, also found that 95% of technologists were comfortable with candidates using AI during technical interviews.

The study did find some lingering concerns. One in three say over-reliance on AI without developer accountability was their top worry, while one in five were perturbed that junior engineers may see their development stunted. CIOs and CTOs generally have agreed that AI coding tools will dramatically change the workflows for developers to tilt in favor of editing more code rather than writing it. To that end, Canva’s survey found that 93% say AI-generated code is “always or often” reviewed.

Courtesy of Canva

JOBS RADAR

Hiring:

– State Street is seeking a chief data and AI officer, based in Boston. Posted salary range: $300K-$412.5K/year.

– AbsenceSoft is seeking a chief technical officer, a remote-based role. Posted salary range: $275K-$390K/year.

– Chanel is seeking a head of technology, based in New York City. Posted salary range: $248.6K-$300K/year.

– Starburst is seeking a chief information security officer, a remote-based role. Posted salary range: $250K-$300K/year.

Hired:

– Lululemon (No. 401 on the Fortune 500) announced the appointment of Ranju Das as chief AI and technology officer, effective September 2, and also disclosed that CIO Julie Averill will depart the apparel maker to pursue other opportunities. Das will report to CEO Calvin McDonald and joins Lululemon after previously serving as CEO and founder of Seattle-based startup Swan AI Studios. He also served as CEO of OptumLabs, the research and development arm of UnitedHealth Group.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 companies C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.

– Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group appointed Raphael Bick as CIO, joining the luxury hotel operator to oversee technology and AI. Bick joins from McKinsey, where he spent nearly 15 years in leadership roles, including most recently leading the consulting firm’s technology practice in Asia.

– Renault Group promoted Philippe Brunet to the role of CTO, overseeing engineering for both the French auto manufacturer and its electric vehicle arm Ampere. Brunet has worked at Renault for his entire career and has held a wide variety of leadership roles, including as SVP of powertrain engineering and as VP of software and tuning powertrain engineering.

– ArkeaBio announced the appointment of Zach Serber as CTO, joining the agricultural bioscience company to oversee the company’s scientific efforts to develop a vaccine to reduce methane emissions from cattle. Serber previously served as a founder and chief science officer at biotechnology company Zymergen and was chief operating officer at biotech startup Evozyne.

– Fetch has appointed Ori Schnaps as CTO, joining the mobile shopping rewards app to oversee product development and the application of AI to increase personalization. Schnaps most recently served as head of core product engineering at social media site Reddit. Before that, he held leadership roles at Meta and served as a co-founder of Thrive, a personal finance startup that was acquired in 2016.

– AI Proteins promoted James Bowman to serve as the biotech company’s first-ever CTO, where he will integrate machine learning, robotics, and large-scale data analysis to create novel protein therapeutics. Bowman previously served as director of protein engineering and initially joined AI Proteins in 2021. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Protein Innovation, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

– Ardent Mills appointed Ryan Kelley as CIO, joining the flour-milling and ingredient company after most recently serving as CIO at oil-and-gas exploration and production company Par Pacific Holdings. Kelley also previously served as a CIO and chief procurement officer at oil refinery operator Motiva Enterprises. He also served as a director of supply chain management at energy company Andeavor.

– Amyris announced Sunil Chandran returned to the biotechnology company to serve as CTO following a two-year tenure as chief science officer at plant-based meats producer Impossible Foods. Chandran has spent 17 years at Amyris, rising up the ranks after initially joining as a scientist to eventually becoming head of research and development.

Source link

Business

On Netflix’s earnings call, co-CEOs can’t quell fears about the Warner Bros. bid

Published

2 hours ago

January 20, 2026

Jace Porter

When it comes to creating irresistible storylines, Netflix, the home of Stranger Things and The Crown, is second to none. And as the streaming video giant delivered its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday, executives were in top storytelling form, pitching what they promise will be a smash hit: the acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery.

The company’s co-CEOs, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, said the deal, which values Warner Brothers Discovery at $83 billion, will accelerate its own core streaming business while helping it expand into TV and the theatrical film business.

“This is an exciting time in the business. Lots of innovation, lots of competition,” Sarandos enthused on Tuesday’s earnings conference call. Netflix has a history of successful transformation and of pivoting opportunistically, he reminded the audience: Once upon a time, its main business entailed mailing DVDs in red envelopes to customers’ homes.

Despite Sarandos’ confident delivery, however, the pitch didn’t land with investors. The company’s stock, which was already down 15% since Netflix announced the deal in early December, sank another 4.9% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Netflix’s financial results for the final quarter of 2025 were fine. The company beat EPS expectations by a penny, and said it now has 325 million paid subscribers and a worldwide total audience nearing 1 billion. Its 2026 revenue outlook, of between $50.7 billion and $51.7 billion, was right on target.

Still, investors are worried that the Warner Bros. deal will force Netflix to compete outside its lane, causing management to lose focus. The fact that Netflix will temporarily halt its share buybacks in order to accumulate cash to help finance the deal, as it disclosed towards the bottom of Tuesday’s shareholder letter, probably didn’t help matters.

And given that there’s a rival offer for Warner Bros from Paramount Skydance, it’s not unreasonable for investors to worry that Netflix may be forced into an expensive bidding war. (Even though Warner Brothers Discovery has accepted the Netflix offer over Paramount’s, no one believes the story is over—not even Netflix, which updated its $27.75 per share offer to all-cash, instead of stock and cash, hours earlier on Tuesday in order to provide WBD shareholders with “greater value certainty.”)

Investors are wary; will regulators balk?

Warner Brothers investors are not the only audience that Netflix needs to win over. The deal must be blessed by antitrust regulators—a prospect whose outcome is harder to predict than ever in the Trump administration.

Sarandos and Peters laid out the case Tuesday for why they believe the deal will get through the regulatory process, framing the deal as a boon for American jobs.

“This is going to allow us to significantly expand our production capacity in the U.S. and to keep investing in original content in the long term, which means more opportunities for creative talent and more jobs,” Sarandos said.

Referring to Warner Brothers’ television and film businesses, he added that “these folks have extensive experience and expertise. We want them to stay on and run those businesses. We’re expanding content creation not collapsing it.”

It’s a compelling story. But the co-CEOs may have neglected to study the most important script of all when it comes to getting government approval in the current administration; they forgot to recite the Trump lines.

The example has been set over the past 12 months by peers such as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. The latter, with his company facing various federal regulatory threats, began publicly praising the Trump administration on an earnings call last January.

And Nvidia’s Huang has already seen real dividends from a similar strategy. The chip company CEO has praised Trump repeatedly on earnings calls, in media interviews, and in conference keynote speeches, calling him “America’s unique advantage” in AI. Since then, the U.S. ban on selling Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China has been rescinded. The praise may have been coincidental to the outcome, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

In contrast, the president went unmentioned on Tuesday’s call. How significant Netflix’s omission of a Trump call-out turns out to be remains to be seen; maybe it won’t matter at all. But it’s worth noting that its competitor for Warner Bros., Paramount Skydance, is helmed by David Ellison, an outspoken Trump supporter.

It’s a storyline that Netflix should have seen coming, and itmay still send the company back to rewrite.

Source link

Business

Americans are paying nearly all of the tariff burden as international exports die down, study finds

Published

3 hours ago

January 20, 2026

Jace Porter

After nearly a year of promises tariffs would boost the U.S. economy while other countries footed the bill, a new study shows almost all of the tariff burden is falling on American consumers.

Americans are paying 96% of the costs of tariffs as prices for goods rise, according to research published Monday by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank.

In April 2025 when President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, he claimed: “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike.” But the report suggests tariffs have actually cost Americans more money.

Trump has long used tariffs as leverage in non-trade political disputes. Over the weekend, Trump renewed his trade war in Europe after Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland sent troops for training exercises in Greenland. The countries will be hit with a 10% tariff starting on Feb. 1 that is set to rise to 25% on June 1, if a deal for the U.S. to buy Greenland is not reached.

On Monday, Trump threatened a 200% tariff on French wine, after French President Emmanuel Macron refused to join Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza, which has a $1 billion buy-in for permanent membership.

“The claim that foreign countries pay these tariffs is a myth,” wrote Julian Hinz, research director at the Kiel Institute and an author of the study. “The data show the opposite: Americans are footing the bill.”

The research shows export prices stayed the same, but the volume has collapsed. After imposing a 50% tariff on India in August, exports to the U.S. dropped 18% to 24%, compared to the European Union, Canada, and Australia. Exporters are redirecting sales to other markets, so they don’t need to cut sales or prices, according to the study.

“There is no such thing as foreigners transferring wealth to the U.S. in the form of tariffs,” Hinz told The Wall Street Journal.

For the study, Hinz and his team analyzed more than 25 million shipment records between January 2024 through November 2025 that were worth nearly $4 trillion.They found exporters absorbed just 4% of the tariff burden and American importers are largely passing on the costs to consumers.

Tariffs have increased customs revenue by $200 billion, but nearly all of that comes from American consumers. The study’s authors likened this to a consumption tax as wealth transfers from consumers and businesses to the U.S. Treasury.

Trump has also repeatedly claimed tariffs would boost American manufacturing, butthe economy has shown declines in manufacturing jobs every month since April 2025, losing 60,000 manufacturing jobs between Liberation Day and November.

The Supreme Court was expected to rule as soon as today on whether Trump’s use of emergency powers to levy tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was legal. The court initially announced they planned to rule last week and gave no explanation for the delay.

Although justices appeared skeptical of the administration’s authority during oral arguments in November, economists predict the Trump administration will find alternative ways to keep the tariffs.

Source link

Business

Selling America is a ‘dangerous bet,’ UBS CEO warns as markets panic

Published

4 hours ago

January 20, 2026

Jace Porter

Investors are “selling America” in spades Tuesday: The 10-year Treasury yield is at its highest point since August; the U.S. dollar slid; and the traditional safe-haven metal investments—gold and silver—surged once again to record highs.

The CEO of UBS Group, the world’s largest private bank, thinks this market is making a “dangerous bet.”

“Diversifying away from America is impossible,” UBS Group CEO Sergio Ermotti told Bloomberg in a television interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. “Things can change rapidly, and the U.S. is the strongest economy in the world, the one who has the highest level of innovation right now.”

The catalyst for the selloff was fresh escalation from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened a 10% tariff on eight European allies—including Germany, France, and the U.K.—unless they cede to his demands to acquire Greenland.

Trump also threatened a 200% tariff on French wine and Champagne to pressure French President Emmanuel Macron to join his Board of Peace. Trump’s favorite “Mr. Tariff” is back, and bond investors are unhappy with the volatility.

But if investors keep getting caught up in the volatility of day-to-day politics and shun the U.S., they’ll miss the forest for the trees, Ermotti argued. While admitting the current environment is “bumpy,” he pointed to a statistic: Last year alone, the U.S. created 25 million new millionaires. For a wealth manager like UBS, that is 1,000 new millionaires a day. To shun that level of innovation in U.S. equities for gold would be a reactionary move that ignores the long-term innovation of the U.S. economy.

“We see two big levers: First of all, wealth creation, GDP growth, innovation, and also more idiosyncratic to UBS is that we see potential for us to become more present, increase our market share,” Ermotti said.

But if something doesn’t give in the standoff between the European Union and Trump, there could be potential further de-dollarization, this time, from Europe selling its U.S. bonds, George Saravelos, head of FX research at Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note Sunday. Indeed, on Tuesday, Danish pension funds sold $100 million in U.S. Treasuries, allegedly owing to “poor” U.S. finances, though the pension fund’s chief said of the debacle over Greenland: “Of course, that didn’t make it more difficult to take the decision.”

Europe owns twice as many U.S. bonds and equities as the rest of the world combined. If the rest of Europe follows Denmark’s lead, that could be an $8 trillion market at risk, Saravelos argued.

“In an environment where the geo-economic stability of the Western alliance is being disrupted existentially, it is not clear why Europeans would be as willing to play this part,” he wrote.

Back in the U.S., the markets also sold off as the Nasdaq and S&P both fell 2% Tuesday, already shedding the entirety of Greenland’s value on Trump’s threats, University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers noted. Analysts and investors are uneasy, given the history of Trump declaring a stark tariff before negotiating with the country to take it down, also known as the “TACO”—Trump always chickens out—effect. Investors have been “burnt before by overreacting to tariff threats,” Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank noted. That’s a similar stance to the UBS bank chief: If you react too much to headlines, you’ll miss the great innovation that’s pushed the stock market to record highs for the past three years.

“I wouldn’t really bet against the U.S.,” he said.

Source link