Microsoft just launched powerful AI ‘agents’ that could completely transform your workday — and challenge Google’s workplace dominance new AI “agents” designed to function as digital colleagues that can perform complex workplace tasks through deep reasoning capabilities. ........ “Frontier Firms” — organizations restructuring around AI-powered intelligence and human-agent collaboration. ......... At the center of Microsoft’s vision are two new AI agents named Researcher and Analyst, powered by OpenAI’s deep reasoning models. These agents are designed to handle complex research tasks and data analysis that previously required specialized human expertise. .......... Microsoft is positioning Copilot as a central organizing layer for AI interactions, similar to how web browsers organize internet content ........ 80% of the global workforce reports lacking the time or energy to do their work. The company’s telemetry data shows employees face 275 interruptions per day from meetings, emails, or messages—an interruption every two minutes during core work hours. ......... 81% of business decision makers saying they want to rethink core strategy and operations with AI. ......... “Work Charts”—more fluid, outcome-driven team structures powered by agents that expand employee capabilities. ......... The company expects every employee to become an “agent boss”—someone who manages AI agents to amplify their impact. ......... 78% are also considering hiring for new AI-specific roles, including AI trainers, data specialists, security specialists, and AI agent specialists. ......... “the browser for the AI world.” Just as previous technological revolutions fundamentally changed how we work, the shift to human-agent teams promises to transform not just what work gets done—but who, or what, does it.
US Treasury secretary says trade war with China is not ‘sustainable’ and he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. ....... talks between the United States and China had yet to formally start. ........ “Neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable.” ....... The U.S. president said that the final tariff rate with China would come down “substantially” from the current 145%. ........ Trump has shown no public indications that he plans to pullback his baseline 10% tariff, even as he has insisted he’s looking for other nations to cut their own import taxes and remove any non-tariff barriers that the administration says have hindered exports from the U.S.
Nvidia Thinks It Has a Better Way of Building AI Agents The chip giant’s agent-building platform relies on open-source models like those from Meta Platforms and Mistral ....... Nvidia joins the ranks of companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon and Google that aim to help businesses build their own AI agents, which are technologies that can independently perform tasks across various functions. ........ Nvidia pegs the size of the AI agent market at $1 trillion—roughly the same as the enterprise software market that it predicts agents will replace.
Musk to reduce Doge role after Tesla profits plunge Treasury Sec. Bessent says China, U.S. have ‘opportunity for a big deal’ on trade “Intentional policy choices by other countries have hollowed out America’s manufacturing sector and undermined our critical supply chains, putting our national and economic security at risk......... Bessent called out the World Bank for lending to nations that have advanced economic growth, including China. ............ Treating China — the second-largest economy in the world — as a ‘developing country’ is absurd. ........ “While it has been at the expense of many Western markets, China’s rise has been rapid and impressive,” he said. “If China wants to play a role in the global economy commensurate with its actual importance, then the country needs to graduate up, we welcome that.”
Vance Outlines U.S. Plan for Ukraine That Sharply Favors Russia Vice President JD Vance said the cease-fire plan would freeze territory along the current front lines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that the U.S. would “walk away” if both parties did not agree. .......... Mr. Vance, speaking during a trip to India, said the United States would “walk away” from the peace process if both Ukraine and Russia refused to accept the American terms. But President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was clearly the target. ......... The vice president’s comments came just hours after Mr. Zelensky said his country will never accept Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea as legal, adding that doing so would violate Ukraine’s Constitution. He also said that Ukraine could not accept any prohibition against becoming part of NATO. ........ “Ukraine is ready to negotiate — but not to surrender. There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence.” ........ and from President Trump, who said in the Oval Office that if the two sides don’t agree quickly to a deal, “we’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people, and we’re going to just take a pass.’” .......... A freeze would essentially force Ukraine to effectively surrender huge swaths of land to Russia and would violate the principles of self-determination and borders that has animated the United States and European nations to support Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. ........ and another session was set to start on Wednesday in London before Mr. Rubio announced on Tuesday night that he would no longer attend.
China’s secret weapon in the trade war is an army of factory robots, powered by artificial intelligence, that have revolutionized manufacturing.
......... Factories are now more automated in China than in the United States, Germany or Japan. China has more factory robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any other country except South Korea or Singapore ......... China’s automation drive has been guided by government directives and backed with huge investment. And as robots replace workers, automation positions China to continue to dominate mass production even as its labor force ages and becomes less willing to take industrial jobs. ........ He Liang, founder and chief executive of Yunmu Intelligent Manufacturing, one of China’s top producers of humanoid robots, said China was striving next to turn robotics into an entire new sector of business. ........... “The expectation for humanoid robots is to create another electric car industry,” he said. “So from this perspective, it is a national strategy.” .................... Near the end of Zeekr’s assembly line, a dozen high-resolution cameras take photos of each car. Computers compare the images to an extensive database of correctly assembled cars and alert factory staff if a discrepancy is found. The task takes seconds to complete. ....... “Most of our colleagues’ jobs involve sitting in front of a computer monitor,” said Pinky Wu, a Zeekr worker. ........... Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” initiative, which began a decade ago, set out 10 industries in which China sought to be globally competitive. Robotics was one of them. ........ The country’s top economic planning agency announced a $137 billion national venture capital fund for robotics, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. .......... China’s government-controlled banks have increased lending to industrial borrowers over the past four years by a staggering $1.9 trillion. .......... China’s universities produce about 350,000 mechanical engineering graduates per year ....... American universities graduate about 45,000 mechanical engineers each year. ......... “China’s demographic dividend is over,” said Stephen Dyer, head of the Asia industrial practice at AlixPartners, a consulting firm. “They’re now in a demographic deficit, and the only way out of that is productivity.”
