Wall Street Journal (January 22)
“Employees say AI isn’t saving them much time in their daily work so far, and many report feeling overwhelmed by how to incorporate it into their jobs. Companies, meanwhile, are spending vast amounts on artificial intelligence, betting that the technology’s power to speed everything from sales to back-office functions will usher in a new era of efficiency and profit growth.”
Tags: AI, Artificial intelligence, Back-office functions, Daily work, Efficiency, Employees, Jobs, Overwhelmed, Power, Profit growth, Sales, Speed, Technology
South China Morning Post (November 26)
“No winter lasts forever, but the deep chill in the Beijing-Tokyo relationship set off by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan could last a long time.” There is speculation “that Japan’s new prime minister could tighten her hold on power should relations between Beijing and Tokyo remain frosty, but there is one big wild card: “US President Donald Trump’s reluctance to show open support for Japan, America’s closest ally in the region.”
Tags: Ally, Beijing, Deep chill, Frosty, Japan, Power, Relationship, Reluctance, Speculation, Support, Taiwan, Takaichi, Tokyo, Trump, U.S.
Washington Post (November 4)
America may still be “the world’s leading scientific research power, but competition is growing more fierce.” Even though “it’s a dangerous time to dull the country’s competitive edge,” Trump’s moves against universities have done just that. “Scientists in the United States increasingly see European bureaucracy as a safer setting for conducting their cutting-edge research than their home country’s own institutions.” The European Research Council “has seen a surge in applications,” with “nearly triple the number of proposals from Americans compared with the year before.”
Tags: Applications, Bureaucracy, Competition, Competitive edge, Cutting-edge research, ERC, Europe, Fierce, Leading, Power, Proposals, Safer setting, Scientific research, Trump, U.S., Universities
BBC (October 15)
“Silicon Valley is on the hunt for new sources of power to drive enormous data centres and in particular, the high-power chips that have become the backbone of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.” Nuclear power is capturing Increasing attention, especially small modular reactors (SMRs), which “sound like the perfect solution to the growing energy AI demand.” Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. The SMRs being discussed would only produce a small fraction of AI’s needs. Moreover, SMRs generate more nuclear “waste than larger conventional reactors.” Nevertheless, “big tech is making a big bet on nuclear – Microsoft has even recently joined the industry’s lobbying group, the World Nuclear Association.”
Tags: AI, Chips, Conventional reactors, Data centers, Lobbying, Microsoft, Nuclear power, Power, Silicon Valley, SMRs, Solution, Sources, Waste
The Economist (September 6)
“Insurgents who want to smash the system often end up running it.” Europe’s hard right is a threat to the economy and leading or polling strong in Britain, France and Germany. “In Italy they are in power; in the Netherlands they briefly led a coalition; and in Poland in June their presidential candidate saw off the nominee from the centre. By 2027 the hard right could be in office in economies worth getting on for half of European GDP.” The best case scenario is ” stagnation, at worst a bond-market rout.”
Tags: Bond-market rout, Britain, Economy, Europe, European GDP, France, Germany, Hard right, Insurgents, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Polling, Power, Smash, Stagnation, Threat
MarketWatch (March 19)
“There is a long-running academic debate about why the dollar’s strength has persisted for so long, with some arguing that its value goes hand in hand with U.S. power as a security guarantor and the dominant player in the post-World War II multilateral institutions. If the U.S. is now abandoning these roles, others will be forced to stand up for themselves, and the dollar’s unquestioned dominance could finally come to an end.”
Tags: Abandoning, Debate, Dollar, Dominance, End, Long-running, Multilateral institutions, Persisted, Power, Security guarantor, Strength, U.S.
Washington Post (February 21)
“By the end of 2023, some 43 percent of global electricity generation was powered by solar, wind and other renewable sources — up dramatically since the turn of the 21st century, when these sources accounted for only 18 percent. Yet the distance to 100 percent remains daunting.”
Tags: 100, 18, 2023, 43%, Daunting, Electricity, Generation, Global, Power, Renewable sources, Solar, Wind
Wall Street Journal (December 6)
“Better productivity growth has helped the U.S. power past similar economies such as the European Union’s and Canada’s…. Over the past five years, quarterly year-over-year productivity growth has averaged 2.1%, a sharp improvement from growth over the 10 years prior.” This “critical development… has allowed for strong economic output and declining inflation, even as the labor market cools.”
Tags: 2.1%, Canada, declining inflation, Economic output, Economies, EU, Improvement, Labor market, Power, Productivity growth, Strong, U.S.
CNN (July 7)
“Macron’s gamble has kept the far right out of power, but plunged France into chaos.” His “explosive gamble” brought a surprise result. A left-wing alliance came “in first with 182 seats” while the far-right trailed “in third place – a shocking reversal of last Sunday’s first-round results.” Despite the visible relief at pulling “back from the brink,” France appears certain to “enter a prolonged period of instability as three opposing blocs with competing ideas and agendas try to form coalition or find themselves stuck in a state of paralysis.”
Tags: Brink, Chaos, Coalition, Far right, France, Gamble, Instability, Left-wing alliance, Macron, Power, Relief, Reversal, Surprise
New York Times (April 21)
“The mundanity of the courtroom has all but swallowed Donald Trump, who for decades has sought to project an image of bigness and a sense of power…. For the next six weeks, a man who values control and tries to shape environments and outcomes to his will is in control of very little.”
Tags: Bigness, Control, Courtroom, Environments, Mundanity, Outcomes, Power, Project, Shape, Swallowed, Trump
