As journalists, of course, many of our conversations are on the record because our goal is to share insights and news with readers like you. But I’ve increasingly come to appreciate the value of off-the-record gatherings, where we bring leaders together to connect around shared interests and talk frankly about what’s really going on. Those events are crucial in building trust, helping us understand the stories we may be missing and creating a village green for leaders to connect with us and with each other.   

Qualtrics CEO Zig Serafin and I cohosted such a dinner on Sunday night for 15 CEOs at a stunning outdoor location on Gracie’s Farm, a horse-rescue sanctuary in Wanship, Utah. This is one of several Fortune CEO Initiative dinners that we host around the country and—I hope—we will take it to other parts of the world. Enterprise Mobility CEO Chrissy Taylor hosted a recent dinner at her home in St. Louis and QXO chairperson Brad Jacobs will host one in Greenwich, Connecticut, next month.

It was a diverse group of leaders from around the country. While the conversation itself was off the record, I asked Serafin to share some takeaways from the evening. Here are some highlights he shared with me:

The optimism around AI was contagious, and it’s not just hype. It’s about taking a pragmatic approach to solving real problems, one at a time. While many investments aren’t yet yielding results, in the places where AI is working, it’s helping organizations better connect with people. That’s an incredible opportunity.

Trust is the new currency of innovation, especially with AI. Its adoption will only succeed if it deepens trust with both customers and employees. This means using data responsibly and building deeper connections—something that’s more important than ever as consumers deal with higher prices and a new economic reality. This is also where AI’s greatest potential lies: By automating predictable/rudimentary tasks, we can unleash human creativity to focus on building more human-centered experiences. As a side note, this is at the heart of what Qualtrics is doing by helping organizations deeply understand and improve the human experiences of their customers and employees. 

Even amid global shifts like tariffs and changing trade dynamics, there’s a powerful optimism. Leaders at the table saw a new era of globalization where countries are collaborating on innovation and new investment opportunities are emerging.

Serafin shared another takeaway that really resonates with me: how important it is to be deliberate about how we spend our time … on what is deeply purposeful, meaningful, and what ultimately fuels the soul. I sense a growing desire among leaders I meet to connect as human beings and tackle challenges that matter. If you’re interested in joining these conversations or want to learn more about the CEO Initiative, reach out to my colleague Sarah Worob at sarah.worob@fortune.com. I’ll have more insights from Brainstorm Tech tomorrow.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

Top news

Murdoch empire will go to Lachlan

A dramatic legal battle in which 94-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch tried to change an irrevocable trust to bar his more liberal children from majority control of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal has ended in a multibillion-dollar settlement that leaves the outlets in the hands of his conservative son, Lachlan Murdoch. Lachlan’s siblings will receive more than $1 billion each for giving up control of the company.

Oil and gas industries shed thousands of jobs

A long period of low prices for crude oil has led Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and others to axe thousands of jobs in oil and gas operations, the FT reports.

Hyundai deportations rock companies with U.S. operations 

The sight of hundreds of South Korean workers employed at a Hyundai plant wearing shackles prior to being deported has triggered a wave of legal inquiries inside multinational companies that send workers to the U.S. “Clients are flooding our inboxes,” Matthew Dunn of law firm HSF Kramer, told the FT. “They ask if corporate headquarters should be concerned, they ask if their U.S. managers are at risk, and they wonder if their foreign national population here on work-sponsored visas will be targeted by [the] government.”

ASML investment values Mistral AI at $14 billion

Dutch chip equipment maker ASML has invested 1.3 billion euros in French firm Mistral AI. The funding round values the company at $13.8 billion. Other Mistral investors include Nvidia, DST Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Bpifrance, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, and Lightspeed.

Ramp’s escalation

In just six years, Ramp has quickly become a $22.5 billion company and a venture capital darling thanks to its corporate credit cards that streamline processes like expense reports and lean heavily into AI. Can the company sustain its growth?

Kenvue shares drop on Tylenol accusation

Shares of Tylenol parent company Kenvue declined as much as 6% on Monday as news outlets announced that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to link the use of prenatal Tylenol to autism in an upcoming report. The company maintains that there is no causal link between prenatal Tylenol use and the development of autism.

Morgan Stanley analyst: We’re transitioning “from a rolling recession”

A note published by Morgan Stanley’s Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Mike Wilson on Monday argues that “the economy has been much weaker for many companies and consumers over the past 3 years than what the headline economic statistics like nominal GDP or employment suggest.” Wilson also argues that last week’s poor jobs report signals the movement “from a rolling recession to a rolling recovery.”

The Epstein “birthday book” released

A book of photos, letters, and mementoes celebrating Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday was released by the House Oversight Committee. The 238-page book names names but contains a lot of redactions. You can see the whole thing here. Yes, Donald Trump’s name is in it. The president and his loyalists deny that is his signature in the book, even though the two were longtime friends. The WSJ has a handwriting analysis comparing the president’s signature to the one in the book here.

The markets

S&P 500 futures were up 0.15% this morning. The index closed down 0.21% in its last trading session. STOXX Europe 600 was flat in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.22% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.42%. China’s CSI 300 was down 0.7%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.26%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.38% before the end of the session. Bitcoin rose to $113K.

Around the watercooler

The one-time ‘Oracle of Wall Street’ who called the 2008 crash sounds the alarm for Gen Z and Millennials in the year ahead by Nick Lichtenberg

The energy department said wind and solar capacity is ‘worthless’ without sunlight or wind. Elon Musk reminds DoE about batteries: ‘Um… hello?’ by Eva Roytburg

Vodafone’s new ad proves even influencers can be replaced by AI by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

Here’s how many jobs have been lost in sectors affected by tariffs since Trump’s trade war started by Jason Ma

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.