FT: “AI-driven coding assistants have amassed nearly $1bn of funding since the start of last year, a signal that software engineering is becoming the first “killer app” for generative artificial intelligence. Companies such as Replit, Anysphere, Magic, Augment, Supermaven and Poolside AI raised $433mn so far this year alone, bringing the total since January 2023 to $906mn, according to Dealroom. The rush to pour money into AI coding assistants is an indication that computer programming is the first job function to be transformed by the latest wave of AI technology. “Today, software engineering and coding is the number-one area impacted by AI,” said Hadi Partovi, chief executive of education non-profit organisation Code.org and a long-time Silicon Valley investor and adviser to Airbnb, Uber, Dropbox and Facebook. “At this point, software engineering without AI is a little bit like writing without a word processor.””
Tavleen Singh: “When Modi became prime minister a decade ago, he seemed to mean it when he promised economic liberalisation, but this has turned out to be a false promise. When was the last time you heard of a government company being privatised? When was the last time you heard an official mention the word? It must be sadly said that Modi has spent ten years walking along the same path that Congress prime ministers walked and it is a path that leads to that decrepit socialist India in which midnight’s children and some who came a few years later spent their childhood and youth.”
FT: “China’s share of global footwear and apparel sales has slipped in recent years, with its portion of overall supply for brands Nike and Adidas falling from 20-27 per cent in 2017 to 16-20 per cent in 2022, according to the BofA report. While it remains the world’s largest supplier, China’s share of global footwear exports has declined by more than 10 percentage points over the past decade, according to figures from the 2023 World Footwear Yearbook. Much of that capacity has shifted to south-east Asian countries, particularly Indonesia and Vietnam, the report added. Vietnam, now the world’s second-biggest exporter, has been the biggest beneficiary, with its share rising from 2 per cent to about 10 per cent. The shift in part reflects companies’ search for lower labour costs but more recently the desire to de-risk supply chains amid rising geopolitical tensions. Any further retreat of traditional labour-intensive industries from China could lead to job losses, said HSBC’s Neumann, something which policymakers in Beijing are eager to avoid.”
Poonam Muttreja: The potential for the three dividends—demographic, gender and silver—should guide [India’s] policymaking to realize the vision of a Viksit Bharat and ensure that the country’s demographic changes become a catalyst for progress.”
NYTimes: “How do you find the motivation to get out there, especially when you’re feeling low, stressed, tired or lonely? One proven strategy is to strengthen what psychologists call your reward sensitivity. Our drive to seek out happiness is a muscle that we can develop. So is our ability to relish experiences. And almost anyone can learn to amp up their reward sensitivity by training themselves to notice and savor their positive emotions…Begin by planning one activity per day that will make you happy or give you a sense of accomplishment. This will make you less likely to postpone positive experiences. Be realistic — it can be as small as treating yourself to a favorite snack, reading a few pages of a novel or FaceTiming a friend. After you’ve enjoyed that daily moment, close your eyes and recount out loud, in the present tense, where and when you experienced the greatest joy. Home in on details and physical sensations, like the breeze cooling your face as the sun shines. This all might feel hokey, but don’t gloss over the specifics, Dr. Meuret cautioned. The idea isn’t just to remember how you felt, but to amplify and reexperience it.”
