The William Blair Thinking Podcast

Rising healthcare costs are pushing employers to reconsider how they fund, purchase, and manage health benefits. Ryan Daniels, William Blair's group head of healthcare technology and services research, explores the alternative funding models and care-delivery strategies gaining traction, as well as the potential opportunities emerging across the healthcare ecosystem.

William Blair macro analyst Richard de Chazal explains why investors may need to adjust to a world of structurally higher inflation, interest rates, and bond yields rather than expect a return to the economic conditions that defined the 2000-2020 period. He also examines how AI-driven productivity gains, capital investment trends, and Federal Reserve policy could shape markets and economic growth in the years ahead.

William Blair global services analyst Andrew Nicholas examines whether artificial intelligence threatens information services companies or could ultimately make their data assets even more valuable. He discusses the growing demand for trusted, decision-grade data, the rise of AI agents and model context protocols, and why improving fundamentals may create opportunity despite lingering investor skepticism.

In the latest episode of William Blair Thinking Presents, group head of consumer research Sharon Zackfia and consumer analyst Dylan Carden discuss the key findings from their State of the Consumer: The 2026 Edition report, examining why consumer spending has remained resilient despite inflation, higher energy costs, and economic uncertainty. They also explore the growing divide between income groups, shifting definitions of value, emerging margin pressures, and the consumer trends investors should watch as 2026 unfolds.

William Blair macro analyst Richard de Chazal and group head of technology, media, and communications Arjun Bhatia examine how low-cost, open-weight AI models, many of them emerging from China, are reshaping competition across the AI ecosystem and challenging assumptions about the future economics of artificial intelligence. They discuss the implications for model providers, hyperscalers, software companies, and enterprise adoption, exploring how falling inference costs could accelerate AI adoption while forcing investors to rethink where long-term value will be created.

Spanish economist and former Member of the European Parliament, Luis Garicano, Ph.D., joins William Blair macro analyst Richard de Chazal to discuss why AI is more likely to reshape jobs than replace them outright, arguing that the most valuable work combines cognitive, relational, and physical tasks that remain difficult to automate. He also discusses the implications for productivity, investing, education, and economic growth in an AI-driven economy.

William Blair's Arjun Bhatia and Jonathan Ho discuss the latest developments shaping the AI landscape, from intensifying model competition and pricing pressure to data center expansion, cybersecurity risks, and the pace of enterprise adoption. They explore what these trends could mean for investors as the AI economy continues to evolve.

William Blair macro analyst Richard de Chazal discusses how the Iran conflict, AI-driven investment themes from William Blair’s 46th Growth Stock Conference, persistent inflation pressures, and Kevin Warsh’s early approach as Fed chair are shaping the macro outlook for the second half of 2026.

William Blair industrials analyst Ross Sparenblek discusses how humanoid robotics could mark a structural shift in productivity by extending AI’s capabilities from digital tasks into real-world physical labor. He outlines the key forces accelerating adoption, from demographic pressures to supply chain dynamics, while highlighting both the long-term opportunity and the technical and scaling challenges still ahead.

As geopolitical tensions persist and inflation concerns resurface, equity markets remain resilient while bond markets signal a more cautious outlook. Richard de Chazal unpacks what’s driving this divergence, the durability of the U.S. consumer, and why quality may be coming back into focus.