How the massive winter storm ahead could be a milestone moment for the AI industry

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 23, 2026 at 16:28  |  2:55  |  CNBC
Speakers
Jon Fortt — Host, Fortt on Tech
Carl Quintanilla — Anchor, CNBC
Ariel Cohen — Co-founder and CEO, Navan

Summary

CNBC's Jon Fortt discusses how a massive winter storm could stress-test AI-powered travel and support systems, calling it a potential milestone for the AI industry. The segment also covers Navan's AI chatbot Eva and upcoming AI assistant launch, plus grid and power constraints tied to growing data-center electricity demand.

  • A major winter storm is expected to disrupt U.S. business travel and test AI support software.
  • Jon Fortt says the storm could be a milestone moment for the AI industry if systems perform well.
  • Navan CEO Ariel Cohen says AI chatbot Eva handled 54% of Q3 interactions and is critical for scaling support.
  • Navan is preparing to launch what Cohen calls its most important product ever, a more proactive AI assistant.
  • The segment discusses the administration asking grid operators to use data-center backup power for the grid.
  • Data centers are framed as huge electricity consumers, making power a gating factor for AI growth.
  • Companies may weigh frontier models against cheaper, less power-intensive models and chips.
Ideas
Jon Fortt Host, Fortt on Tech 0:26
Winter storm tests AI industry systems.
A major winter storm will disrupt U.S. business travel and create a real-world stress test for AI-powered software and customer-support systems; if those systems perform under heavy load, it could be a milestone moment for the AI industry.
AI industry MED
Ariel Cohen Co-founder and CEO, Navan 0:44
Navan AI support scales travel disruptions.
AI-powered support is essential for Navan because travel disruptions like a major winter storm create support volumes that cannot be handled by hiring enough human travel agents overnight; Navan's chatbot Eva already handled 54% of Q3 interactions, and Cohen says Navan is preparing to launch its most important product ever, a more proactive AI assistant.
NAVN MED
Carl Quintanilla Anchor, CNBC 1:35
Data centers stress test the grid.
The administration's move to tell grid operators to get backup power from data centers back to the grid will be an important test for the grid, especially as data centers become huge electricity consumers.
Grid infrastructure MED
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This CNBC video, published January 23, 2026, features Jon Fortt, Ariel Cohen, Carl Quintanilla discussing AI industry, NAVN, Grid infrastructure. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Jon Fortt, Ariel Cohen, Carl Quintanilla  · Tickers: AI industry, NAVN, Grid infrastructure