Benedict Evans, a renowned independent analyst and thought leader in the tech industry, is set to captivate audiences at the upcoming B2BMX 2026 with his keynote, “AI Eats the World.”
Known for his ability to distill complex technological trends into actionable insights, Evans has been at the forefront of analyzing the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI). His keynote will delve into the competitive dynamics of AI, its adoption challenges, and its potential to reshape industries.
In this interview, Evans shares a sneak peek into his keynote themes, including the $400 billion investment in AI by major tech platforms in 2025, the misconceptions about AI, and the hurdles businesses face in integrating it.
Demand Gen Report (DGR): Benedict, thanks for joining us today to preview your keynote at B2BMX 2026 titled “AI Eats the World.” This is a living presentation that you constantly adapt throughout the year. As this event takes place in March, could you give us a sneak peek into the key themes we’ll be looking at then?
Benedict Evans: Great to join you and glad to. I think there are two big questions this year: how competition between the main foundation model companies shakes out, and how everything that isn’t just a raw chatbot goes from concept, demo and announcements to hundreds of millions of users, whether that’s ads, agentic commerce enterprise.
DGR: In your session description, you note that the big four tech platforms spent over $400 billion on AI in 2025. When investment hits that scale, how does it usually reshape where value is created across the ecosystem?
Evans: Right now this spending is driven by FOMO and by opportunity, without creating fundamental competitive advantage. But the science is always changing under out feet, so this may look very different in a year
DGR: How do you see AI fundamentally reshaping the way B2B teams approach marketing and sales in the coming years?
Evans: It already is!
DGR: In your opinion, what is the biggest misconception about AI today?
Evans: I think there are two equal and opposite misconceptions: that is a magic wand that can change everything right now, and that it’s all a bubble that will never work. This is a normal technology that will take time.
DGR: You’ve written extensively about AI adoption challenges. What do you think is holding businesses back from fully integrating AI into their strategies?
Evans: This technology is still only three years old. It takes time to work out enterprise use-cases, to build enterprise software, and time to buy it and deploy into production. Everyone is going through that process now; everyone is doing pilots, some which are already being used, with a lot more coming.
DGR: Finally, what excites you the most about the future of AI and its potential impact on the tech and marketing industries?
Evans: We have a fundamental change in what computers can do. That only happens every 15 years, or maybe every 50. Who wouldn’t be excited?
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