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20260915 023000 UTC
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[00:00:03] Live from Singapore now on BBC
[00:00:07] News, Business Today. AI linked stocks
[00:00:14] stocks are plunging worldwide after after the heads of major AI companies
[00:00:18] companies warned the technology is is developing too quickly, raising
[00:00:20] raising fresh concerns about the the future of the industry. Retail
[00:00:24] Retail sales slow in the world's world's second largest economy as
[00:00:27] as efforts to boost domestic consumption consumption fall short in China and
[00:00:31] and Tesla gears up to unveil its its long delayed second generation
[00:00:34] generation Roadster nearly nine years years after the original prototype
[00:00:37] prototype was revealed. Hello and
[00:00:45] and welcome to Business Today with with me Steve Lai AI linked stocks
[00:00:49] stocks are under pressure globally globally after the bosses of some some of the biggest AI companies
[00:00:52] companies called for a slower pace pace of development, warning of potentially
[00:00:55] potentially serious risks from the the technology. Amongst the biggest
[00:00:58] biggest losers were Nvidia and Micron, Micron, which fell more than three
[00:01:02] three and 5%, respectively. The moves moves reflect concerns about what
[00:01:05] what a slowdown could mean for the
[00:01:07] the huge investment and spending spending boom behind artificial intelligence.
[00:01:10] intelligence. I spoke to Jason Oxman, Oxman, a president and CEO of the
[00:01:14] the Information Technology Industry Industry Council. He says the selloff
[00:01:16] selloff reflects uncertainty over over AI safety, but insists the technology
[00:01:20] technology remains a major driver
[00:01:21] driver of global growth. Markets Markets don't like uncertainty. I
[00:01:25] I think that's the message we got got today and there was a lot of
[00:01:29] of discussion over the weekend. As
[00:01:30] As you noted from a lot of AI leaders
[00:01:33] leaders about the need for policymakers policymakers to consider guardrails
[00:01:36] guardrails for safety, which is an an important discussion to have.
[00:01:39] have. We saw a lot of uncertainty uncertainty churning the market today,
[00:01:41] today, although I would note a lot lot of tech names were up today.
[00:01:45] today. And certainly as you look look ahead to futures in the US markets
[00:01:48] markets for tomorrow, they're already already pointing to recovery. But
[00:01:50] But I think the bottom line at a
[00:01:53] a macro level is that AI is an economic
[00:01:55] economic driver of growth around around the world. The AI powered
[00:01:59] powered innovations are important important to the global economy,
[00:02:02] economy, and what we've seen is sparking sparking a discussion about making
[00:02:06] making sure that the pace of AI innovation
[00:02:08] innovation and the pace of AI safety safety proceed in parallel with one
[00:02:12] one another. And I think that's an an important discussion for policymakers policymakers to have going forward.
[00:02:16] forward. Yeah. And speaking of those those discussions, what was the reaction
[00:02:19] reaction inside the industry then then to the weekend statements from
[00:02:22] from Altman Amodei and Musk? Yeah,
[00:02:24] Yeah, I think one of the most interesting interesting things about these weekend
[00:02:28] weekend statements is you very rarely
[00:02:30] rarely see all of those very prominent prominent innovators running companies
[00:02:34] companies that are competing against against each other in the marketplace
[00:02:37] marketplace agree with one another. another. And they did very quickly
[00:02:40] quickly and very clearly. And the the agreement that they had with
[00:02:43] with one another was that this discussion discussion of pacing AI innovation
[00:02:47] innovation is an important one. Not Not calling for a halt to AI innovation
[00:02:50] innovation because of course, that that that would be enormously detrimental
[00:02:54] detrimental to society as a whole. whole. AI tools are very important,
[00:02:57] important, but they all did agree agree that policymakers need to make
[00:03:01] make some decisions here in the United
[00:03:04] United States, where I sit. Very Very important for the US Congress
[00:03:06] Congress to move forward with establishing establishing a federal framework,
[00:03:10] framework, but equally important important to that is no one country
[00:03:13] country can do this alone. We need need to see the US government talking
[00:03:16] talking to other governments around around the world. We need to see
[00:03:19] see governments agreeing on common common standards to make sure that
[00:03:23] that we have a global approach to to AI safety. These are valuable valuable tools. We want them deployed.
[00:03:26] deployed. The innovation they bring bring is enormously important and
[00:03:29] and valuable. But those safety tools
[00:03:31] tools that we need to develop in
[00:03:34] in conjunction with those innovations innovations need to be done with
[00:03:36] with a Global Eye toward a common common approach. Retail sales in
[00:03:40] in China slowed more than expected expected in August, while investment
[00:03:43] investment also fell at its fastest fastest pace this year, adding more
[00:03:46] more pressure on Beijing to support support the economy. Retail sales
[00:03:50] sales rose just 0.4% from a year year earlier, while fixed asset investment
[00:03:54] investment fell 7.2% in the first first eight months. Policymakers
[00:03:58] Policymakers have so far resisted resisted more aggressive stimulus,
[00:04:00] stimulus, relying instead on incremental incremental measures to shore up
[00:04:03] up growth. But domestic demand is is clearly still not picking up.
[00:04:07] up. Let's get more on this with Han Han Lin, managing director and China
[00:04:10] China country director at the Asia Asia Group. Really good to get your
[00:04:13] your thoughts. Which numbers are are most revealing about the state state of China's economy then? What's
[00:04:17] What's got your attention? Well,
[00:04:19] Well, I think what the clearest message
[00:04:21] message from the China's latest economic economic data is that China's economy
[00:04:24] economy is running on two very different different tracks. You've got the
[00:04:28] the factories and exports remaining remaining remarkably strong. But
[00:04:31] But the households, property developers developers and private businesses
[00:04:34] businesses remain cautious. So in in other words, China can still produce
[00:04:38] produce and sell to the world. But But the harder challenge is persuading
[00:04:41] persuading the Chinese consumers consumers and companies to borrow,
[00:04:44] borrow, invest and especially to to spend at home. Yeah. And why are
[00:04:47] are those concerns so prevalent? prevalent? This is something that's
[00:04:50] that's dogged sort of low consumers consumers in China for quite a while.
[00:04:54] while. I think in large part you've
[00:04:57] you've got a crisis of confidence. confidence. So as you take a look
[00:05:01] look at employment figures, incomes,
[00:05:03] incomes, the job opportunities, the
[00:05:05] the property decline, these are all all weighing on the consumer confidence.
[00:05:08] confidence. And if there's a sense
[00:05:10] sense that the future is less predictable, predictable, then instead of investing
[00:05:14] investing or spending, they're actually actually choosing to save more. Yeah.
[00:05:17] Yeah. So what will the government government be most concerned about
[00:05:20] about then? The fact that consumer
[00:05:22] consumer confidence is so low? Well, Well, it looks like what Beijing
[00:05:26] Beijing will likely do is they'll they'll try to accelerate some fiscal
[00:05:29] fiscal spending, maybe some infrastructure infrastructure financing, and maybe
[00:05:33] maybe a bit of consumer subsidies subsidies and targeted property support.
[00:05:36] support. But officials really remain remain reluctant to launch a Western
[00:05:39] Western style stimulus check because
[00:05:42] because the policy priority is stabilisation. stabilisation. Without re-inflating
[00:05:45] re-inflating debt. So that may prevent prevent a sharp downturn, but it's
[00:05:48] it's unlikely to produce a dramatic dramatic consumer led rebound. Yeah.
[00:05:51] Yeah. So what would move the needle needle then? I suppose it seems like like you're saying that they don't
[00:05:55] don't really want to push this too too hard. They're almost they're
[00:05:58] they're OK with how things are going.
[00:06:01] going. It looks like what might be
[00:06:02] be a key driver is the property sector.
[00:06:05] sector. So what we do see right now
[00:06:07] now is that the decline of property
[00:06:10] property sales and prices, the decline decline is slowing. But that's not not the same as a recovery itself.
[00:06:14] itself. So as we look at the new
[00:06:16] new home sales, prices fall by 0.1%
[00:06:19] 0.1% and then 3% from a year earlier. earlier. You can see that the buyers
[00:06:23] buyers remain cautious. Resale prices prices are under pressure and property
[00:06:26] property still weighs heavily on on household wealth. So it looks
[00:06:29] looks like Beijing has put a floor floor beneath the market, but that
[00:06:33] that has not yet restored the confidence. confidence. Hanlon always good to
[00:06:36] to get your thoughts there. Managing Managing director and China country
[00:06:38] country director at the Asia Group.
[00:06:41] Group. Tesla will unveil its long long delayed second generation Roadster.
[00:06:45] Roadster. It's a high performance performance electric sports car on
[00:06:48] on October the 1st. The new version version could feature SpaceX developed
[00:06:51] developed cold gas thrusters to boost boost acceleration, braking and cornering.
[00:06:55] cornering. Tesla first announced announced the car back in 2017, with
[00:06:58] with deliveries originally promised promised for 2020. Well, for more,
[00:07:01] more, we can speak with Karl Brauer,
[00:07:04] Brauer, executive analyst@iseecars.com. analyst@iseecars.com. Karl, this this will be quite a big step for
[00:07:07] for Tesla. Ten years in the making.
[00:07:10] making. Big and maybe a little overdue. overdue. But yeah, it's time to see
[00:07:14] see this Roadster we've been hearing hearing about for almost a decade.
[00:07:17] decade. And to me, it's interesting interesting because the original original figures that he was claiming
[00:07:21] claiming for 2020 would have been
[00:07:22] been very impressive for 2020. We're
[00:07:25] We're six years later than when the the car was supposed to hit the market. market. And I think he feels pressure
[00:07:29] pressure to have it be that much much more impressive given the delay.
[00:07:32] delay. And it's kind of a race. You You know, the longer we wait, the
[00:07:35] the better the cars got to be. So So when are we going to finally cross cross over and see it? Yeah, it's
[00:07:39] it's adding to the anticipation I I guess, and also adding to the expectation, expectation, as you rightly said,
[00:07:43] said, is there a big market for EV EV sports cars that this vehicle
[00:07:46] vehicle is coming into? You know,
[00:07:49] know, like all sports cars, it's it's always a relatively limited limited market, but that's kind of
[00:07:53] of the whole point. I think if you've you've got that kind of technology,
[00:07:57] technology, whether it's really fast fast acceleration or, you know, jets
[00:08:00] jets that that are never been seen seen before on a production vehicle
[00:08:03] vehicle and you make the cost really really high and the production pretty
[00:08:06] pretty low. That's kind of the whole whole point. The halo effect, small
[00:08:10] small volume, but very impressive impressive vehicle that turns a lot
[00:08:13] lot of heads and gets a lot of news news and, you know, headlines wherever
[00:08:16] wherever it goes. So I think Tesla Tesla would benefit if they could
[00:08:19] could come out with something like like we're hearing rumblings. Yeah. Yeah. And just to tell us a bit about
[00:08:23] about what we could expect then October October 1st isn't too far away. How
[00:08:26] How soon before people can get behind behind the wheel? Well, that's the
[00:08:29] the interesting thing is, is I don't don't think there's still a production
[00:08:32] production display. It's a kind of of a technology tease. So I'm assuming
[00:08:36] assuming if he's showing us the car, car, it's got to be relatively close close because you don't want to change
[00:08:40] change it a bunch from the time you you show it like this to when it
[00:08:42] it goes on sale. But if this is just just a display of that jet technology,
[00:08:46] technology, it could still be a ways ways out before we see and feel like
[00:08:50] like a production version is around around the corner. I don't feel like like we're there yet even now. Yeah,
[00:08:53] Yeah, it seems like that would be be the logical assumption, but that that was probably what was thought
[00:08:57] thought in 2017 as well. And we're we're still haven't seen it. So I
[00:09:00] I guess we might have to just sort sort of play this one by ear and
[00:09:03] and see how we go. What else should should we know about this launch launch then, or about Tesla in particular
[00:09:07] particular when it comes to its vehicles? vehicles? The Cybertruck sort of
[00:09:10] of is it mixed reflection, mixed mixed reactions? Is that how you you describe it after it's been released
[00:09:14] released for so long now? Yeah, I I mean, and I think that's the other
[00:09:17] other thing is that Tesla could really really use a hit because as you say, say, Steve, the Cybertruck has been
[00:09:21] been out for a while. It really hasn't hasn't been very well received on
[00:09:24] on any metric that you would use use to measure success. We've got
[00:09:28] got the Cybercab, of course, flirting flirting with, you know, widespread
[00:09:31] widespread use, but still not there there either. I think if we could
[00:09:35] could see a roadster that's not supposed supposed to pay any bills because because they just won't sell enough.
[00:09:39] enough. But is this kind of proof proof that when it comes to crazy
[00:09:42] crazy expectations and technology, technology, Elon can still execute, execute, it'd be a good boost for
[00:09:46] for the company. All right, Carl, Carl, we'll leave it there. Thanks Thanks as always for talking to me
[00:09:49] me about all things automobiles. automobiles. Karl Brauer, Executive
[00:09:53] Executive analyst@iseecars.com. Let's Let's take a look at some other stories
[00:09:55] stories making the news. Waymo is is expanding its robotaxi service
[00:09:58] service in Las Vegas, its 15th commercial commercial market, and the Alphabet-owned
[00:10:02] Alphabet-owned company is starting starting with dozens of vehicles vehicles and plans to scale over
[00:10:05] over time. The move comes as autonomous autonomous ride hailing competition
[00:10:08] competition intensifies, with Tesla Tesla and Zoox also seeking to expand
[00:10:11] expand their services in the city
[00:10:13] city and across the United States.
[00:10:15] States. Apple has released its redesigned redesigned Siri AI assistant ahead
[00:10:19] ahead of the latest iPhones hitting hitting stores this week. The new
[00:10:22] new Siri is launching in beta, with with users able to search personal
[00:10:26] personal data like messages and calendars, calendars, ask questions and have
[00:10:30] have more conversational exchanges. exchanges. Apple says some advanced
[00:10:33] advanced AI features will eventually
[00:10:34] eventually require a fee. The ten
[00:10:37] ten year US Treasury yield has hit
[00:10:39] hit 5% for the first time since 2023,
[00:10:43] 2023, as surging oil prices, fuel fuel inflation fears and driver global
[00:10:46] global bond sell off. The closely closely watched yield is a benchmark
[00:10:49] benchmark for borrowing costs worldwide, worldwide, meaning higher rates could
[00:10:52] could put further pressure on businesses, businesses, households and financial
[00:10:55] financial markets. Thanks for joining joining me on this edition of Business
[00:10:58] Business Today. See you soon. MUSIC
[00:11:09] MUSIC
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[00:15:19] I'm Tanya Arnold. Here are the top top sports stories. Leeds United
[00:15:22] United are up to third in the Premier Premier League after hammering Newcastle.
[00:15:26] Newcastle. Brendon McCullum wants wants Kevin Pietersen to challenge challenge him as the former England
[00:15:30] England batter joins the coaching
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[00:15:34] Madring circuit will be changed after after criticism from Formula One
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[00:15:54] Leeds United moved up to third in the Premier League with a thumping
[00:15:58] thumping 4-1 win over Newcastle