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Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023.
Hard Numbers: X’s neo-Nazi problem, China’s export extravaganza, America’s economic bounce, Oreo’s antitrust woes, Russia’s bumpy flights
5.3: China’s economy, the world’s second-largest, grew more than many experts expected, expanding by 5.3% compared to the same period last year. That beat analysts' predictions by 0.7 points. The boom was driven largely by huge investments in manufacturing for export – in particular solar panels, cars, and steel. Concerns remain about the persistent weakness of China’s property sector, but at this pace, China will comfortably hit its “around 5%” growth target.
2.7: Meanwhile, the world’s largest economy, the US, is projected to grow 2.7% this year, according to new IMF figures. That’s not quite on China’s level, but it’s still double the rate of any fellow members of the G7, a club of the world’s largest democratic economies. Coupled with China’s strong showing, the US economic boom has helped to stave off a global recession.
340 million: The company that owns Oreos is about to get dunked, it seems. An EU antitrust probe has found that Mondelez, the US-based company that also makes Toblerone bars and Cadbury chocolates, deliberately restricted the flow of its products between European countries in a bid to keep prices higher. The company has reportedly set aside €340 million ($360 million) for the coming fine.
20*: Flying in Russia is getting more dangerous but less fatal. Western sanctions on plane parts and servicing have caused a sharp rise in aircraft malfunctions, but Russia’s 20 air travel deaths in 2023 were still the lowest in a decade. The asterisk is for the late Yevgeny Prigozhin, of Wagner insurrection fame, who was killed along with nine others when his plane went down last August. Authorities say the possibility of foul play means the incident isn’t included as a conventional air travel death.
Tesla and SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk pauses during an in-conversation event with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London, Britain, on Nov. 2, 2023.
OK, Doomer
British PM Rishi Sunak hosted several world leaders, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres and US Vice President Kamala Harris, at last week’s AI Summit. But the biggest celebrity draw was his sit-down interview with billionaire Elon Musk — among the world’s richest men and the controlling force behind Tesla, SpaceX, and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk has long played it both ways on AI — he frequently warns of its “civilizational risks” while investing in the technology himself. Musk’s new AI company, xAI, notably released its first model to a group of testers this past weekend. (We don’t know much about xAI’s Grok yet, but Musk boasts that it has access to Twitter data and will “answer spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.”)
Musk told Sunak he thinks AI will primarily be a “force for good” while at the same time warning that AI could be “the most destructive force in history.”
There’s a central tension in tech regulation ... between protecting against doomsday scenarios like the development of an all-powerful AI or one that causes nuclear destruction and the clear-and-present challenges confronting people now, such as algorithmic discrimination in hiring. Of course, regulators can try to solve both, but some critics have expressed consternation that too much time and energy is being spent catering to long-term threats while ignoring the dangers right in front of our faces.
In fact, one of the focal points of the Bletchley Declaration, last week’s agreement brokered by Sunak and signed by 28 countries including the US and China, is the potential for “catastrophic harm” caused by AI. Even US President Joe Biden — whose executive order did more to tackle the immediate challenges of AI than the UK-brokered declaration did — said he became much more concerned about AI after watching the latest “Mission Impossible” film, which features a murderous AI.
The thing is, the two sets of concerns – coming catastrophe vs. today’s problems – are not mutually exclusive. MIT professor Max Tegmark recently said that the people focused on looming catastrophe need to speed up their thinking a bit. “Those who are concerned about existential risks, loss of control, things like that, realize that to do something about it, they have to support those who are warning about immediate harms … to get them as allies to start putting safety standards in place.”
Elon Musk claims he's lifting weights to prepare to fight Mark Zuckerberg.
What We’re Ignoring: Revenge of the nerds
There’s growing evidence that the much-ballyhooed mixed martial arts battle between X-Man Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may actually take place.
Musk first posted that he would be up for a cage match against Zuckerberg in June. Since then, the two moguls have traded multiple barbs on the topic. Now Zuckerberg, who trains in jiu jitsu, has shared a screenshot of a conversation with his wife Priscilla Chan in which he crows about installing a training cage in their backyard. (Her response: “I have been working on that grass for two years.”)
Not to be outdone, Musk posted to X that he is preparing for the fight by “lifting weights throughout the day,” and that the "Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X. All proceeds will go to charity for veterans.”
Zuckerberg says he is "not holding his breath" because he offered a date of Aug. 26 but didn't hear back. No word yet on whether Threads will attempt a rival broadcast. Stay tuned. Or don’t.