Forbes Global CEO Conference 2026: AI Leaders Tackle Hype, Regulation And Security Risks

During a wide-ranging panel on artificial intelligence at the Forbes Global CEO Conference 2026 in Singapore last week, the leaders of two AI application unicorns argued that strong commercial demand shows AI is more than a hype.

“We build a product that helps companies deploy conversational agents, whether that’s for customer support, sales or operations,” said Mati Staniszewski, the billionaire cofounder and CEO of London-based ElevenLabs, an Nvidia-backed AI voice startup that doubled its valuation to $22 billion last month.

“It helps them deliver better value, and that’s a lot of what we are seeing today,” he added, pointing to the company’s partnership with Deutsche Telekom. At the Mobile World Congress in March, the German telecommunications group announced a call assistant powered by ElevenLabs’ voice AI. Users can say “Hey Magenta” to access tools such as live translation, call summaries and real-time help during calls.

In May, ElevenLabs said it had surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue, a key metric used by subscription businesses, up from $350 million at the end of last year. Other customers include Spanish banking giant Santander and Dutch telecommunications group KPN, which use its technology for advertising, product demonstrations, sales and customer support.

Alex Mashrabov, cofounder and CEO of Intel Capital-backed AI video startup Higgsfield, is also seeing rising demand for his company’s products. “Video AI can help businesses grow,” said Mashrabov, the former head of generative AI at Snap. Based in San Francisco, Higgsfield develops AI software that generates videos and other visual content for advertising and entertainment.

The panel also addressed concerns about using AI responsibly and who should be held accountable when things go wrong.

“It was like you only built a wall in front of your house, and they just walked in the back door,” Keller added. “The tools that AI can create today are so far ahead of the security apparatus we built.”