Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.
On today's podcast:
1) The US is expected to hold off announcing new tariffs on China and other trading partners until after next week’s summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter, a delay that could preserve such a threat as leverage in the negotiations.
2) The current round of panic over artificial intelligence is based on the conviction that the technology has slipped out of human control to do its own bidding in several recent incidents. To some disillusioned AI researchers — and some senior employees at leading AI companies — this is an early sign of a true threat to human civilization. But other experts in the field are pushing back, claiming that such talk allows companies to sidestep accountability for real-world impacts of their technology. Critics see AI’s environmental impacts, the threat of job displacement, or the potential for mass surveillance as more urgent targets for policymakers.
3) At least two liquefied natural gas shipments transited the Strait of Hormuz this week as producers look for ways to increase flows to a market struggling with a lack of supply and surging prices.A tanker that loaded at Qatar’s Ras Laffan export plant in late August appeared in the Gulf of Oman earlier this week, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, indicating it had passed through the contested waterway. The vessel wasn’t sending a signal when it traversed Hormuz, but jamming and interference is common in the area, complicating efforts to ascertain the exact location of ships.