- Nearly 200 economists, researchers and tech figures, among them 15 Nobel laureates and the chief economists of OpenAI and Anthropic, signed a statement calling for urgent work on understanding and steering the economics of AI, a notable shift for a field that has treated AI as a slow, ordinary technology.
- Federal Reserve officials are reported to be weighing AI-linked price increases, which began with a surge in memory chip demand, among the factors that could justify raising interest rates.
- Consumer hardware is absorbing the cost, with a high-end MacBook rising from 1,699 to 1,999 dollars, layoffs at Microsoft's Xbox division tied to the components shortage, and one analyst expecting at least a year before prices ease.
- A song that appears to be an AI-generated cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer leads the Australian charts, and compulsory licensing rules mean the original artist cannot block it as long as royalties are paid.
- In Salem Township, Pennsylvania, 96 families sold land to data center developers for large sums, which the writer reads as a sign that AI buyers can gradually strip communities of power one deal at a time.
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For a trunkful of beads
By Mitchell Howe
Economists' warning, a chart-topping AI Madonna cover, data center sellouts, and more
Read the full dispatch on AI StopWatch
From AI StopWatch, published with their permission.
The summaries and the full Spanish translation are produced automatically. The original is always linked.