Category: Semafor

China is trying to balance its society-wide AI push with mounting concerns over the tech’s disruptive socioeconomic effects. Beijing’s vice premier was “shaken” after China’s largest employers warned him last year of AI’s potential impact on their workforces, The Wall Street Journal reported. While policymakers have touted AI’s “job creation” ...

Reed’s view It’s an accident that the economic unit of AI is known as a “token.” The 19th century mathematician and philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce used the term in linguistics, and computer scientists later adopted it to break language down into the smallest possible fragments. Because large language models also ...

Saudi Aramco is offloading its 50% stake in a large refinery and petrochemicals project in Malaysia, transferring ownership to the country’s national oil company Petronas. The financial details have not been disclosed, but are likely to be significant — when the PRefChem joint venture was announced in 2017, Aramco pledged ...

David’s view The major US political parties are best understood by looking at Texas and California, whose 2026 primaries tell a clear story: Republicans are run from the top, while Democrats aren’t run at all. Texas Republicans did what the president asked them to on Tuesday, nominating state Attorney Gen. ...

In a first of its kind for retail investors, Robinhood has announced AI agents that can trade stock on a user’s behalf. What could go wrong? The tools allow anyone with a Robinhood account to compete more closely with institutional investors that have long deployed automated systems and have more ...

Schools continue to muddle through their approach to AI. The most recent case comes out of UC Berkeley’s law school, which just banned students from using AI to complete assignments, brainstorm ideas, outline papers, and even correct grammar. “Future lawyers may need to use artificial intelligence (‘AI’) fluently,” the new ...

Artificial intelligence may be transforming the classroom, but teachers aren’t getting a lot of training on how to use this fast-moving technology. Only 18% of K-12 teachers reported receiving formal guidance from administrators on how AI tools should be used across various classroom tasks, according to new polling from the ...

The US and Iran appeared still willing to reach a peace deal despite American strikes and Tehran’s threats of reprisals — but the global economic fallout from the conflict deepened. Bangladesh pressed the IMF for new financial support, while the African Development Bank forecast slowing growth across the continent this ...

Israeli forces intensified strikes in Lebanon and killed the military chief of Hamas in Gaza, moves analysts said were driven by fears a potential US-Iran deal may curtail Israel’s ability to hit its enemies. The attacks in Lebanon killed at least 31 people; Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah, and ...

Mounting concern in Europe over Russia’s military ambitions — and a lack of confidence in US support — is driving new defense alliances across the continent. With Moscow’s war in Ukraine languishing, European leaders are worried that the Kremlin “will try next to reshuffle the cards by expanding the conflict,” ...