NYTimes: “David Autor seems an unlikely A.I. optimist. The labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is best known for his in-depth studies showing how much technology and trade have eroded the incomes of millions of American workers over the years. But Mr. Autor is now making the case that the new wave of technology — generative artificial intelligence, which can produce hyper-realistic images and video and convincingly imitate humans’ voices and writing — could reverse that trend. “A.I., if used well, can assist with restoring the middle-skill, middle-class heart of the U.S. labor market that has been hollowed out by automation and globalization,” Mr. Autor wrote.” More: AI Could Actually Help Rebuild The Middle Class.
FT: “Social media platforms such as X, Facebook and Instagram make it easy to express approval: I can share, like, or “heart” a post. But showing instant disapproval? There isn’t an option for that. I could leave a negative comment, of course — but it is time-consuming both for me to write and the post’s author to read. The critical feedback drowns in the sea of noise. What does this mean for the content itself? In a collaboration between Warwick Business School and Pompeu Fabra University, our team hypothesised that such imbalanced feedback led to more extreme opinions being expressed online.”
WSJ: “Long beset by a labor crunch, the skilled trades are newly appealing to the youngest cohort of American workers, many of whom are choosing to leave the college path. Rising pay and new technologies in fields from welding to machine tooling are giving trade professions a face-lift, helping them shed the image of being dirty, low-end work. Growing skepticism about the return on a college education, the cost of which has soared in recent decades, is adding to their shine. Enrollment in vocational training programs is surging as overall enrollment in community colleges and four-year institutions has fallen. The number of students enrolled in vocational-focused community colleges rose 16% last year to its highest level since the National Student Clearinghouse began tracking such data in 2018. The ranks of students studying construction trades rose 23% during that time, while those in programs covering HVAC and vehicle maintenance and repair increased 7%.”
NYTimes: “On a windswept Icelandic plateau, an international team of engineers and executives is powering up an innovative machine designed to alter the very composition of Earth’s atmosphere. If all goes as planned, the enormous vacuum will soon be sucking up vast quantities of air, stripping out carbon dioxide and then locking away those greenhouse gases deep underground in ancient stone — greenhouse gases that would otherwise continue heating up the globe. Just a few years ago, technologies like these, that attempt to re-engineer the natural environment, were on the scientific fringe. They were too expensive, too impractical, too sci-fi. But with the dangers from climate change worsening, and the world failing to meet its goals of slashing greenhouse gas emissions, they are quickly moving to the mainstream among both scientists and investors, despite questions about their effectiveness and safety.”
FT: “India and its neighbours are not creating enough jobs to sustain their young populations, the World Bank has warned, putting the region’s demographic dividend at risk even as it enjoys the world’s fastest economic growth…The World Bank said the region’s employment ratio, or share of the working-age population in jobs, was falling, a sign that the countries were failing to create enough roles for their young, growing populations. “It’s a missed opportunity,” Franziska Ohnsorge, the World Bank’s chief economist for south Asia, told the Financial Times. “It’s almost like the demographic dividend is being squandered.” The employment ratio for south Asia was 59 per cent last year, the bank said, compared with 70 per cent in other emerging markets. It added that south Asia was “the only region where the share of working-age men who are employed fell over the past two decades”.”
