Elon Musk, Kamala Harris, Isaac Herzog: Takeaways from the 2023 DealBook Summit

Vice President Kamala Harris, President Isaac Herzog of Israel, Elon Musk and other leaders in business and politics spoke on everything from artificial intelligence, economic tensions between the United States and China, and Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel at the annual DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday.

The event, hosted by The New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, has taken place since 2011.

Here are the takeaways:

Elon Musk, the owner of X, used an expletive to dismiss a move by big brands to pull their advertising from the platform after he endorsed antisemitic remarks. He apologized for the post but accused the companies of “blackmail,” and said the public would blame them if the platform died because of the lost revenues. His blunt directive added to the challenges facing Linda Yaccarino, X’s chief executive who was in the audience. She has been tasked with wooing advertisers back to the platform after many were spooked by Mr. Musk’s erratic posts.

Vice President Kamala Harris defended the Biden administration’s economic record, as polls show that the president trails Donald J. Trump in battleground states ahead of the 2024 election. Ms. Harris said President Biden has done more to tackle inflation “than most advanced economies” but more work was needed to convince voters.