Chinese Robots Break Usain Bolt’s Sprint Records But Face A Harder Test

A Chinese humanoid robot running 100 metres faster than the fastest human in history is an extraordinary demonstration of engineering progress, but the significance of the achievement lies less in beating a sporting record than in what it reveals about the direction of China’s robotics industry. Tiangong Ultra completed the distance in 9.39 seconds at…

Wealthy Investors Build Resilience Beyond Stocks and Bonds

The investment habits of wealthy households are increasingly diverging from those of ordinary investors, not necessarily because they possess access to secret investments, but because they approach wealth as a system rather than a portfolio. Recent wealth research and financial-industry analysis suggest that affluent investors are putting greater emphasis on diversification across private markets, real…

Moderna Ebola Trial Tests a Vaccine Gap Exposed by Congo Outbreak

Moderna has begun the first human trial of its experimental vaccine against Bundibugyo virus disease at a moment when the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing one of the fastest-growing Ebola outbreaks ever recorded. The trial is significant because the strain driving the outbreak has no licensed vaccine specifically approved against it, leaving health authorities…

Alibaba’s Qwen Revenue Plan Tests the Economics of Open AI

Alibaba’s reported plan to seek revenue-sharing agreements from major commercial users of its next open-weight artificial intelligence model marks an important change in the economics of open AI. The company appears to be trying to preserve the rapid adoption created by freely available model weights while capturing part of the commercial value generated by businesses…

AI Model Distillation Fuels US-China Battle Over AI Ownership

Artificial intelligence model distillation has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the growing technology rivalry between the United States and China, transforming a long-established machine learning technique into a debate over intellectual property, commercial rights and national security. The dispute is not centred on whether model distillation itself is technically legitimate. Instead,…

AI Supply Crunch Hits Apple’s Growth and Valuation

Apple’s weaker-than-expected revenue forecast has shifted investor attention away from quarterly earnings and towards a more fundamental question confronting the consumer technology industry: how the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom is reshaping global electronics supply chains. Despite reporting stronger-than-expected financial results and continued demand for flagship products, Apple warned that shortages of critical components are limiting…