FT: “As demand increases for AI solutions, the competition around the huge infrastructure required to run AI models is becoming ever more fierce. This affects the entire AI chain, from computing and storage capacity in data centres, through processing power in chips, to consideration of the energy needed to run and cool equipment. When implementing an AI strategy, companies have to look at all these aspects to find the best fit for their needs. This is harder than it sounds. A business’s decision on how to deploy AI is very different to choosing a static technology stack to be rolled out across an entire organisation in an identical way. Businesses have yet to understand that a successful AI strategy is “no longer a tech decision made in a tech department about hardware”, says Mackenzie Howe, co-founder of Atheni, an AI strategy consultant. As a result, she says, nearly three-quarters of AI rollouts do not give any return on investment.”
WSJ: “Bank of New York Mellon said it now employs dozens of artificial intelligence-powered ‘digital employees’ that have company logins and work alongside its human staff. Similar to human employees, these digital workers have direct managers they report to and work autonomously in areas like coding and payment instruction validation, said Chief Information Officer Leigh-Ann Russell. Soon they’ll have access to their own email accounts and may even be able to communicate with colleagues in other ways like through Microsoft Teams, she said. “This is the next level,” Russell said. While it’s still early for the technology, Russell said, “I’m sure in six months’ time it will become very, very prevalent.” What the bank, also known as BNY, calls “digital workers,” other banks may refer to as “AI agents.””
Rachel Kushner: “For the bewildered young, as I once was, I would like to say, with the double reflection of having already delivered my speech: Concrete career plans require focus, and focus involves certain kinds of blinders. If this is not you, if you instead choose art, a creative life, it can prove a powerful escape route from your alienation, but understand that it might take a while. In the meantime, pay attention. Look at everything. Even, and especially, when the prevailing attitude is to look away.”
NYTimes: “Analysts at Counterpoint Research calculated that India had succeeded in satisfying 18 percent of the global demand for iPhones by early this year, two years after Foxconn started making iPhones in India. By the end of 2025, with the Devanahalli plant fully online, Foxconn is expected to be assembling between 25 and 30 percent of iPhones in India.”
