Apr 22nd 2023

How to worry wisely about AI

The world this week

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

Why China wants to be a risk

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

The car industry

Sources and acknowledgments

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

Why is Ukraine suing eastern European countries over grain?

The Economist explains

Why is Sudan on the brink of civil war, again?

Obituary

The look of an era