ITK Daily | March 1
India, No Labels, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Criterion Collection, ATP Tour, plus 1,000 more actionable insights.
ITK Daily is geopolitical business news + intelligence for comms pros.
Always Be Communicating.
Happy Friday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily:
*** Globalization + Geopolitics ***
Why is Trump trying to make Ukraine lose? The former president isn’t in office—but is still dictating US policy. Anne Applebaum
WSJ: Putin warns an anxious West over nuclear war
Putin delivers avalanche of threats, billions and promises ahead of Russia's presidential election: Le Monde reports in his address to the nation, the Russian leader once again raised the prospect of a nuclear conflict with the West. Above all, he announced a deluge of promises for the period up to 2030.
Dutch farmers back Wilders as centrist nightmares come true: Politico reports the far-right radical seen as last chance to avoid EU pollution rules.
India proposed a nonbinding framework for how to approach artificial intelligence rulemaking that has a lot of similarities to those proposed by Western countries. More here.
To see India’s future, go south: The country’s regional division could make it—or break it. Economist
Nikkei: Tata, Powerchip to build India's first semiconductor fab
+ Taiwanese, Japanese, Thai firms join projects to fuel Modi's chip ambition
Xi’s one-man rule over China’s economy is spurring unrest: Chinese leader’s consolidation of power makes him bigger target as economic slowdown that’s hit household wealth sees protests rise. Bloomberg
Nikkei: China charges ahead in EVs as Apple gives up decadelong dream
+ Japan has opening to learn from US tech leader's stumble
North Koreans are used as modern slaves in China's fish processing plants: Journalists from The Outlaw Ocean Project have found that Chinese companies are employing North Koreans, despite UN sanctions. Mostly women, they work in awful conditions and are often sexually assaulted. Le Monde
Bloomberg: Nigeria detains Binance executives in overseas tax crackdown
+ World’s biggest crypto exchange under fire amid FX crackdown
+ Nigeria missing out on revenue from unregistered operations
Argentina’s Javier Milei says he doesn’t need congress to save the economy: Libertarian president argues that ‘capitalism, savings and hard work’ are the way to exit poverty. FT
Former US ambassador admits to serving as secret agent for Cuba: WP reports Manuel Rocha, a retired US ambassador, said Thursday that he will plead guilty to charges of serving as a secret agent for Cuba’s spy agency, affirming what the Justice Department described as one of the most serious infiltrations of US government in history.
Inside the White House program to share America’s secrets Time
AI Joe: The dangers of artificial intelligence and the military Public Citizen
Nikkei: US launches inquiry into Chinese connected cars
+ Biden orders review of dangers of data collection on drivers and passengers
Chinese automakers pose national-security threat, Biden says: WSJ reports President Biden warned that connected vehicles could collect sensitive data for foreign governments, posing a national-security risk.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development announced a new group of experts focused specifically on the intersection of privacy, data protection, and AI. More here.
*** US Politics + Elections ***
Biden is too old but Trump is dangerous, swing-state poll shows: Trump leads Biden in seven key states, with perceptions of an improving national economy failing to translate into a significant increase in support for the incumbent. Bloomberg
Bloomberg: Biden amasses cash lead as Trump bleeds money in 2024 fight
+ Democratic groups have pledged $700 million to help Biden team
+ Biden and his allies have amassed fundraising lead over Trump
“Nightmare in America”: How Biden’s ad team should attack Trump: In 1984, Ronald Reagan’s reelection campaign ran a series of ads that evoked how different life felt in America compared to under his opponent’s administration four years prior. Today, Joe Biden should do the same. Bill Scher
No Labels will decide whether to jump into the 2024 election next week Ed Kilgore
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) will deliver the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7.
Vladimir Putin hardly needs to interfere in American democracy: Domestic politicians are happy to spread dysfunction on their own. Economist
FBI Director Chris Wray warned that AI is primed to introduce unprecedented challenges to the 2024 vote: "The US will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace, and enabled by new technology,” Wray said during a speech at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, where he called out the risk of deep fakes and synthetic media.
Bloomberg: AI chatbots not ready for election prime time, study shows
+ The AI Democracy Projects engage the implications of AI systems and tools, including predictive algorithms, machine learning, and frontier models, for democratic society.
+ Questions to leading chatbots gave often inaccurate answers
+ Tech companies, startups are working to establish safeguards
+ All of the models performed poorly. The results found that just over half of the answers given by all of the models were inaccurate and 40% were harmful.
+ “If you want the truth about the election, don’t go to an AI chatbot. Go to the local election website.”
Report: Seeking reliable election information? Don’t trust AI The AI Democracy Projects
*** Disruption + Innovation ***
450%: The amount by which Nvidia’s share price has surged since January 2023.
NASDAQ closes at record high amid AI optimism: WSJ reports the NASDAQ notched its first record close since 2021. The tech-heavy index rose 0.9% to 16091.92, as enthusiasm about artificial intelligence has helped lift technology shares.
Ideogram, an AI startup that rivals Midjourney and Dall-E, has raised $80 million
Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia back $2.6bn robot start-up: Figure AI aims to transform labour market as it raises total $675mn in a funding round that also includes Jeff Bezos. FT
Robotics startups hope the AI era means their time has come: Humanoid robots are still mostly in the prototype phase, but companies see an inflection point ahead. Bloomberg
Reuters: Duolingo stock soars as online learning surge and AI boost forecast
SEC investigating whether OpenAI investors were misled: WSJ reports the regulator is examining internal communications of CEO Sam Altman, after board last year temporarily ousted him for alleged lack of candor.
Digital media outlets sue OpenAI for copyright infringement: Raw Story, AlterNet, and The Intercept sued for copyright infringement over the way the ChatGPT creator trains its technology. NYT
Google’s AI isn’t too woke. It’s too rushed. The search giant has a chronic habit of dashing off half-baked AI products and neglecting safety checks. Parmy Olson
Google, Microsoft risk ongoing backlash by pushing ahead with flawed AI: The race to launch AI products is creating recurring PR crises for both companies. Bloomberg
TikTokers bank on business of AI-generated true crime deepfakes: Behind the avatars or people created by artificial intelligence that abound on the platform is a race for virality and dubious training course sales. Le Monde
Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs: Where are they now? Bloomberg
*** Culture ***
Why recorded music will never feel as good as the real thing: The answer, according to neuroscience. Economist
Sure, It won an Oscar. But is it Criterion? How the Criterion Collection became the film world’s arbiter of taste. NYT
*** Sport ***
WP: Caitlin Clark announces she will enter this spring’s WNBA draft
AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale pledges to build new stadium in city: FT reports he move to construct ‘American-like’ arena comes amid effort to boost club’s match day revenues.
ATP Tour announces Saudi Arabia 'strategic partnership': BBC reports the ATP has announced a "multi-year strategic partnership" with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund as the state increases its involvement in professional tennis.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
ITK Daily | March 1
