How to worry wisely about AI

The world this week

Politics
Business
KAL’s cartoon
This week’s cover
Leaders


Technology and society
How to worry wisely about artificial intelligence
Rapid progress in AI is arousing fear as well as excitement. How worried should you be?

Waiting for the order
Ukraine’s coming counter-offensive may shape its future—and Europe’s
It will set the scene for any future peace talks

On the brink
Bolivia’s crisis shows the limits of left-wing populism
The country is running out of money. It should serve as a warning to Latin America

The curse of civil war
In Sudan and beyond, the trend towards global peace has been reversed
Conflicts are growing longer. Blame complexity, criminality and climate change

The prize of size
Why America will soon see a wave of bank mergers
Cheap valuations and a stricter rulebook point towards more consolidation

Great wheels from China
Why the world should welcome competition from Chinese carmakers
Deglobalisation would be bad for drivers and the planet

Letters

On economics and business, the rice crisis, cyberwar, drought, cycling in London, the Beatles
Letters to the editor
By Invitation


Digital warfare
Kaja Kallas says Ukraine is giving the free world a masterclass on cyber-defence
Artificial intelligence
The world needs an international agency for artificial intelligence, say two AI experts
Essay


Browsers, the printing press, Freud and AI
How AI could change computing, culture and the course of history
Asia


Fumbling the future
How Japan is losing the global electric-vehicle race
Two wheels good
Forget Teslas, India’s EV revolution is happening on two wheels
People power or power grab?
Uzbekistan’s president clings to power while passing liberal reforms
Banyan
Michael Lipton: The big man of land reform
China


Welcome to ChatCCP
Can Xi Jinping control AI without crushing it?
The lessons of Kong Yiji
What China’s graduates really think about their job prospects
Spiky relations
China’s alleged theft of a pineapple cultivar has Taiwan livid
Chaguan
What “de-risking” China means
United States


Audience capture
The Dominion lawsuit showed the limits of Fox’s influence over its audience
Rulings have consequences
Abortions have become 6% rarer since the end of Roe v Wade
Tiny trucks
Rural Americans are importing tiny Japanese pickup trucks
Of arms and harms
The Daniel Perry case shows the contradictions of gun enthusiasts in Texas
Postal piety
America’s Supreme Court weighs religious accommodations in the workplace
Counting Christians
American religion is becoming less exceptional
Lexington
Detroit is working again

Middle East & Africa


Sudan’s crisis
Sudan is sliding towards civil war
Pretty words for petty corruption
How to ask for a bribe without asking for a bribe
Together in the Sinai desert
Arab tourism to Israel is still thwarted by politics and Palestine
It’s time we stop
A prisoner swap is a symbolic step towards ending the Saudi-led war in Yemen
The Americas


Out of gas and good ideas
Bolivia is on the brink of an economic crisis
Europe


Waiting for D-Day
Ukraine’s counter-offensive is drawing near
Enter the dummies
How Ukraine is using fake tanks and guns to confuse the Russians
Financial indigestion
Italy needs to spend more, faster
Elections in Greece
Greece is a European success story
Charlemagne
Annalena Baerbock’s trip to China shows her talent and her limitations
Britain


Empty chairs
English schoolchildren are still missing months of classes
Thistle hurt
A deepening crisis in Scotland’s ruling party
Picture perfect?
The first big test of Britain’s voter-ID requirements is imminent
Beep prepared
Britain’s emergency text alert is a signal of something bigger
Bread and circuses
Britain’s inflation rate is not falling fast enough
Less jam tomorrow
Britain needs to embrace road pricing
Bagehot
If English nationalism is on the rise, no one has told the English
International


Forgotten conflicts
The world’s deadliest war last year wasn’t in Ukraine
Special report


The car industry
Everything about carmaking is changing at once
Electrification
The future lies with electric vehicles
Barriers to entry
It is getting easier for new entrants to make cars
The new challenge
China is leading the challenge to incumbent carmakers
The software shuffle
Software is now as important as hardware in cars
Hands off the wheel
Autonomous vehicles are coming, but slowly
Geopolitics
How geopolitical tensions could disrupt the global car industry
Direct drive
Car firms are trying out new ways to sell mobility
Changing lanes
A changing car industry should result in more choice and better motoring
Business


The too-big four
Why EY and its rivals may eventually break up, after all
Branching out
Why Apple is betting big on India
Ahead of the pack
Why crashing lithium prices will not make electric cars cheaper
Bartleby
What makes a good office perk?
Close to the edge
Big pharma’s patent cliff is fast approaching
Faster, please
Uniqlo’s success mirrors the growth of Japan’s industrial giants
Schumpeter
How businesses are experimenting with ChatGPT-like services
Finance & economics


The art of interpretation
How to explain the puzzle of the world economy
After the storm
Is the worst now over for America’s banks?
Waiting for ever
As China fixes its property mess, can foreign capitalists benefit?
Cautious pioneers
Development finance needs to be bolder
Buttonwood
Warren Buffett is shaking Japan’s magic money tree
Free exchange
Is China better at monetary policy than America?
Science & technology


Generative AI
Large, creative AI models will transform lives and labour markets
Generative AI
How generative models could go wrong
Generative AI
Large language models’ ability to generate text also lets them plan and reason
Culture


With a little help from his friends
Shakespeare’s First Folio assembled the world’s greatest literature
Say no more
Han Kang’s new novel, “Greek Lessons”, is a reflection on loss
On the scent
Two perfumers helped lay the foundations of organic chemistry
Lessons unlearnt
An entertaining history of humanist thought
World in a dish
How the chocolate fondant became a ubiquitous indulgence
Economic & financial indicators

Indicators
Economic data, commodities and markets
Graphic detail


Rainy-day funds needed
Accounting for flood risk would lower American house prices by $187bn
The Economist explains


The Economist explains
Why are eastern European countries banning Ukrainian produce?
The Economist explains
Why is Sudan on the brink of civil war, again?
Obituary


The look of an era
Mary Quant launched the clothes that made the Sixties swing