Where’s the Beef? Blackstone's Jon Gray on the Payoff From the Enormous AI CapEx Spend | Sept '26

Skeptics question whether significant investments in AI CapEx will deliver for investors. Blackstone President & COO Jon Gray addresses that question in a presentation to more than 100 top investors. Drawing on proprietary data from Blackstone's own portfolio, Jon argues that AI deployment is already translating into significant on-the-ground results for companies, including measurable productivity gains, revenue growth, and operational improvements. These benefits are leading to rapidly accelerating demand for AI. At the same time, supply constraints across power, chips, and data centers create a fundamental shortage, supporting the significant ongoing investment we see today. 00:00 How to Be a Global Finance Fitness Influencer? 1:38 Introduction 3:12 Revenue and Valuation Growth at Frontier AI Companies 5:05 What Are the Picks and Shovels of the AI Boom? 7:39 Powering the Future of AI 9:57 AI is the Next Industrial Revolution 11:40 AI Use Cases Rapidly Expanding 15:52 What Are the Benefits of AI? 22:02 Where Are We Going? 22:46 Building an AI Factory 24:36 Don't Underestimate Technological Disruption 26:21 Who Are the AI Winners? 27:13 What Are the Risks in the AI Revolution? 29:01 Where's the Beef? ROI From AI 29:38 Our North Star: Delivering Returns Follow us on Social: LinkedIn —   / blackstonegroup   X (Twitter) —   / blackstone   Instagram —   / blackstone   Sign Up for Blackstone Emails: https://www.blackstone.com/email-signup/