Up and down the promenade at the World Economic Forum this week, leaders agree on one thing about artificial intelligence. 

It's darn powerful and is starting to materially impact how business is done and will be done — think AI on the cusp of rendering human call centers and HR departments obsolete. 

What leaders can't agree on is if AI is already out of control and beyond the point of being successfully regulated or having the proper guardrails.

"I'm not sure it's [AI] out of control. I think there are use cases that sometimes people want to showcase either in their own benefits, to see, hey, this is the potential. But the reality is that enterprises are very smart," HPE CEO Antonio Neri told Yahoo Finance at the annual gathering of top business leaders.

"They have a very responsible approach to what they are doing first, because they need to understand the return investment on this technology."

Another big tech exec I chatted up said AI is already beyond regulation. "It could be legislated, not regulated," the exec told me. 

The tech is most out of control at social media companies such as Meta (META) and run the risk of damaging society, quipped the exec.

Another high-ranking industrial CEO told me AI has gotten too powerful and companies need to think deeply on how to build in safeguards for end users.

Whatever side of the fence one falls on, it's clear AI is beginning to bulldoze through office departments. And perhaps, it's veering on being out of control as leaders seek out investor-friendly cost savings and to automate menial tasks. 

The World Economic Forum's new future of jobs report projects that by 2030, AI and other information processing technologies will transform 86% of businesses. While that may spark the creation of 170 million new jobs worldwide, the report says 92 million existing jobs will vanish.

WEF surveyed 1,000 companies across 22 industries and 55 economies. 

Noted economist Nouriel Roubini said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast that many human jobs will be replaced — soon — by humanoid robots. 

For HPE, its financial results continue to please the Street despite the unknowns of its pending Juniper deal.

The company reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings in line with analyst estimates. Demand was brisk for servers as AI infrastructure build-outs continued. Two of the company's three main segments notched operating margin expansion in the quarter.

HPE shares have bucked the relative weakness in the Mag 7 names such as Nvidia (NVDA) and Amazon (AMZN) to begin the year, rising about 14%. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) is up 2% year to date.

The reason for the out-performance for HPE's stock shouldn't surprise anyone: AI hope.

Says Neri, "I do believe in the potential, but we need to find out that potential in things that advances the enterprise or solve some of the societal challenges. And then, from the consumer perspective, it is up to you to decide how much you want to consume."

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Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram and on LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com. Three times each week, Sozzi fields insight-filled conversations with the biggest names in business and markets on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid podcast. Find more episodes on our video hub. Watch on your preferred streaming service. Or listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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