If there’s one point of consensus among CES 2026 keynote speakers, it’s that AI is changing technology at a pace and scale unlike any previous technological revolution.

In a live taping of the All In podcast on Tuesday, co-host Jason Kalakanis interviewed McKinsey & Company global managing partner Bob Sternfels and General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja. His discussion focused on how AI is changing investment strategies and the workforce.

“The world has completely changed,” Taneja said of the unprecedented growth of AI companies. He noted that while another General Catalyst portfolio company, Anthropic, took nearly 12 years to reach Anthropic’s valuation of $60 billion this year, it grew to $60 billion this year.

Taneja believes we are on the verge of seeing a new wave of trillion dollar companies. “It’s not a celestial theory with Anthropic, Openei, and some others,” he said.

Calacanis pressed him on what was driving this explosive growth. According to McKinsey’s Sternfels, while many companies are testing AI products, non-tech enterprises are on the fence about full adoption. Sternfels says McKinsey advisers often hear from CEOs: “Do I listen to my CFO or my CIO right now?”

CFOs, seeing little return on investment, argue for delaying implementation. Meanwhile, CIOs claim that not adopting AI is “crazy” because “we’re going to be disruptive,” Sternfels said.

Another major concern is how AI is changing the workforce. “Some people are looking at AI and they’re scared,” Kalakanis said, noting concerns that AI could replace entry-level jobs traditionally held by recent graduates. He asked Sternfels and Taneja for advice on what the youth should do in this new landscape.

Sternfels said that while AI models can handle many tasks, sound judgment and creativity are skills humans must bring to succeed in an AI-influenced world.

Meanwhile, Taneja argued that people should recognize that “skilling and re-skilling” will be a lifelong effort. “The idea that we spend 22 years learning and then 40 years working,” he said.

Kalakanis agreed that in a world where it may take less time to build an AI agent than to train a new worker, people will have to find ways to stay relevant. “To stand out, you have to show chutzpah, drive, passion,” he said.

Sternfels provided a glimpse of that future. While he expects McKinsey to have more “personalized” AI agents on staff by the end of 2026, he noted that the headcount won’t necessarily decrease. Instead, the firm is changing its composition. This has increased employees who work directly with customers by 25% while reducing back office roles to 80%.