FT: “Despite all the talk of an existential AI race, China is somewhat less committed to AI than sometimes portrayed. Beijing regularly describes AI as a “national strategic priority” and has invested to avoid falling too far behind. But the state and its major companies are spending much more money to secure dominance in other domains, such as electric vehicles, batteries, robotics, solar panels, wind turbines and other forms of advanced manufacturing. These sectors may be less glamorous, but their returns are far less speculative. It is the US that is truly infatuated with AI, with investments influenced by goals that are as mystical as they are commercial, especially the pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence and “the singularity”. There is a strong belief in continued exponential progress — a rarity in the history of technology. The deeper one digs, the more otherworldly it becomes, among both AI proponents and doomsayers. The concentrated, monopolised nature of the US tech sector adds to the risk: with so much spending power in so few hands, the danger of groupthink grows.”
WSJ: “Over the past year, Ukraine and Israel have displayed a potent new fusion of old-style human spycraft with cutting-edge gear, giving clandestine action an outsize impact on high-stakes conflicts. The transformation has been made possible by increasingly compact electronics, batteries and explosives. Miniaturization, especially of power supplies, lets spy agencies equip field agents with capabilities unimaginable a few years ago.”
The Atlantic: “OpenAI’s push to build a family of services is already the go-to playbook for tech giants such as Apple and Google for locking users into their products. In this sense, the firm was already playing catchup. What should concern OpenAI most about the launch of Gemini 3 is not the model’s technical prowess but that Google immediately began integrating the bot into its existing ecosystem. Google has at least seven products that have 2 billion users each; OpenAI has yet to reach 1 billion on any. Altman’s “code red” declaration is a reminder that, despite OpenAI’s unprecedented rise, it remains very much a start-up.”
BCG newsletter on transformation programs: “Start with the future operating model. Successful programs define how the organization creates value and which activities and capabilities are essential. They redesign the operating model, clarify accountabilities, and reshape the senior leadership team. Without changes at the top, activities and roles stay in place because they are under a particular leader’s control. Companies that jump straight to cuts miss large structural opportunities…Attack overhead directly. Overhead has a way of creeping back. Successful organizations look hard at support functions and internal-facing activities, trimming excess layers and mirrored roles. Companies that address support functions in their cost program double their likelihood of success.”
