Good morning, happy Friday and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:
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Xi warns of AI risks and calls for global co-operation
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Trump revives claims 2020 election was “stolen”
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The billionaire scions fighting to escape the family shadow
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Yamal vs Messi in Sunday’s World Cup final
We start today in Shanghai where President Xi Jinping has outlined China’s ambitions to challenge the US as the global leader in artificial intelligence.
Speaking at an AI conference, China’s president called for international co-operation as he warned of the risks of the new technology that was developing at “staggering speed”.
A China-led push for international co-operation: The comments came a day after 30 countries, including Russia, Brazil and Indonesia but not western countries, signed up to a new group that will give Beijing more influence over the international standards governing AI. Xi called the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization an “important milestone in the history of AI development”.
China’s AI start-ups have released increasingly powerful models capable of challenging leading US labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Yesterday Chinese AI start-up Moonshot debuted a large language model that highlighted the narrowing gap between US and Chinese technology companies.
AI trade goes into reverse: Xi’s speech coincided with big falls on global stock markets on Friday as investors continue to cool on some of the biggest winners from the AI boom. Asian markets took their lead from yesterday’s steep falls on US stock markets, led by memory and computer storage makers. US semiconductor companies are on track for their worst week since last year’s “liberation day” market rout.
Japan’s tech-heavy Nikkei 225 index fell 4 per cent and China’s CSI 300 weakened 3.6 per cent. Futures indicate the Nasdaq 100 will open 1.3 per cent lower and the S&P 500 will fall 0.8 per cent at the open of trading today.
Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:
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Economic data: On the calendar today is the release of US monthly import and export prices as well as industrial production. In Brazil, inflation as measured by the IGP-10 price index is updated for July.
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New UK leader: Andy Burnham will begin his transition to become the UK prime minister when he is made leader of the ruling Labour Party. On Monday he will travel to Buckingham Palace and be formally sworn in as prime minister.
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World Cup final: The reigning champions Argentina face Spain in New Jersey on Sunday.
Five more top stories
1. Donald Trump used a lengthy primetime speech last night to revive previously debunked claims that China interfered in the “stolen” 2020 presidential election. Just three months before the midterm elections the president released declassified US intelligence that he claimed showed “shocking vulnerabilities” in the American election infrastructure.
2. Netflix shares fell nearly 10 per cent last night after the streaming giant forecast its worst revenue growth in three years. The stock fell in after-hours trading even as Netflix largely met expectations for its second-quarter earnings. Investors have worried about rising competition and questions about Netflix’s strategy following its failed attempt to buy Warner Bros Discovery.
3. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is facing one of the biggest displays of dissent since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion after a move to oust his defence minister prompted a public and political backlash. Zelenskyy spent much of yesterday talking to his chief of staff seeking to co-ordinate a path out of the turmoil, aides to the president said.
4. The US escalated its military campaign against Iran overnight, striking deeper inside the Islamic republic and hitting infrastructure including six bridges in a southern port, a railway and an airport, according to Iranian state media. The latest strikes come as President Donald Trump seeks to increase the economic pressure on Tehran, as the US and Iran battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
5. Christopher Nolan’s hotly anticipated adaptation of The Odyssey is set to push the summer box office to pre-pandemic levels, boosting cinema executives’ hopes for a record year. The film is on track to take more than $200mn in box-office opening sales this weekend, according to estimates shared with the FT, putting it ahead of the Oscar-winning director’s hit Oppenheimer three years ago.
Heirs apparent
Many millennial and Gen-Z members of the world’s biggest family businesses are preparing to take up the hereditary mantle, with more than $60tn poised to pass into their hands in the US alone before 2048 as part of the “great wealth transfer” that is gripping Wall Street.
Some heirs are preparing to take over family businesses while others are using their financial freedom to turn passions into businesses or start their own companies.
Here are the billionaire scions fighting to escape the family shadow.
We’re also reading . . .
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Investor fatalism: Reports of a plan by Russia and China to disable satellites underline how markets are ignoring geopolitical threats to the tech boom, writes Gillian Tett.
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Iran’s return to war: Tehran believes that further escalation will force the US to offer the security and economic relief the country craves, writes Vali Nasr, professor at Johns Hopkins University.
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Extraterrestrial life: Astronomers have made what they called a milestone in the search for life elsewhere in the galaxy.
Chart of the day
Are we really entering an AI-induced jobs apocalypse? Companies in sectors ranging from consulting to engineering and fashion are updating their hiring practices and training programmes after realising that young staff can bring an AI fluency to work. The heaviest adopters of the technology are actually bringing in more entry-level employees, whose roles are being reshaped for the AI era.
Take a break from the news . . .
On Sunday Lamine Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, faces Lionel Messi’s Argentina in the World Cup final. Though below his best in this tournament, fighting recurrent injuries, Yamal is already probably the most successful young footballer in history, writes Simon Kuper.
