Mary Callahan Erdoes on the ‘Summer of Capital’ at the 2026 Forbes Iconoclast Summit

“This is the summer of capital — like nothing else we’ve ever seen,” said AWM CEO Mary Callahan Erdoes during a panel at the 2026 Forbes Iconoclast Summit this week in New York City. Her remarks highlighted the strength and resilience of today’s capital markets, and the unique opportunities for firms that can deploy capital with discipline and agility.

Mary Callahan Erdoes was joined by Alex Clavel, SoftBank Vision Funds CEO; Oscar Fahlgren, Mubadala Capital CIO and Global Head of Private Equity; and Baroness Dambisa Moyo, global economist and U.K. House of Lords member for a conversation about where opportunity is emerging and what risks deserve more attention than the headlines suggest. Forbes Editor Michael Noer moderated the conversation.

After a brief discussion of global growth challenges, Erdoes shifted the focus to the opportunities emerging in today’s capital markets.

China, capital formation and a “race for all things”

Erdoes addressed China as both an opportunity and a risk, beginning with a clear point: it is important to stay focused on what actually drives markets up and what causes them to reset.

Mary Callahan Erdoes described what she’s seeing in capital markets right now: “This is the summer of capital,” with “very healthy capital markets” and what she called “an unbounded market for CapEx” as companies reinvest at speed — “it is a race for all things.” She also emphasized a practical watchpoint: “Interest rates are the basis of everything that makes everything go up in capital markets.”

China, she said, is a useful case study in how quickly that investment agenda is moving. At the firm’s Global China Summit, the story is not job loss, but AI as a partner, alongside robotics. “Robotics is China’s next EV,” she said, highlighting it is the next wave that will reshape manufacturing.

AI, productivity and staying ahead of risks

Throughout the discussion, Erdoes returned to the theme of AI as a tool for growth and efficiency. Quoting NVIDIA President and CEO Jensen Huang, she offered a line that encapsulates the competitive shift: “AI won’t take my job; it’s the person using AI that’ll take my job.”

The opportunity, she said, is to use AI to remove repetitive, low-value tasks — what she called the “no joy work” — so teams can move faster and focus on higher-impact activities.

Erdoes also addressed the risks that come with rapid technological advancement. She stressed the importance of staying ahead of vulnerabilities, especially as AI models become more powerful and accessible. “The opportunity comes with real risk,” she said, underscoring the need for ongoing investment in security and risk management.

‘The antithesis of AI’

As the conversation wrapped, Mary Callahan Erdoes reflected on what remains essential in an AI-driven world. She pointed to the enduring appeal of live sports and entertainment, calling them “the antithesis of AI.” She noted the staying power of shared experiences is a key reason why valuations across teams and leagues have continued to climb.

Erdoes’s remarks at the Iconoclast Summit captured the spirit of today’s market — emphasizing the strength of capital cycles, the transformative power of AI, the importance of disciplined investment and risk management, and the enduring value of human connection.