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00:00:00MUSIC
00:00:03Live from Singapore now on BBC News,
00:00:10News, Business Today. AI linked stocks
00:00:17stocks are plunging worldwide after after the heads of major AI companies
00:00:20companies warned the technology is is developing too quickly, raising
00:00:23raising fresh concerns about the the future of the industry. Retail
00:00:27Retail sales slow in the world's world's second largest economy as
00:00:29as efforts to boost domestic consumption consumption fall short in China and
00:00:33and Tesla gears up to unveil its its long delayed second generation
00:00:36generation Roadster nearly nine years years after the original prototype
00:00:40prototype was revealed. Hello and
00:00:46and welcome to Business Today with with me Steve Lai AI linked stocks
00:00:50stocks are under pressure globally globally after the bosses of some
00:00:53some of the biggest AI companies companies called for a slower pace
00:00:56pace of development, warning of potentially potentially serious risks from the
00:00:59the technology. Amongst the biggest biggest losers were Nvidia and Micron,
00:01:02Micron, which fell more than three
00:01:05three and 5% respectively. The moves moves reflect concerns about what
00:01:08what a slowdown could mean for the the huge investment and spending
00:01:11spending boom behind artificial intelligence. intelligence. I spoke to Jason Oxman,
00:01:14Oxman, president and CEO of the Information Information Technology Industry Council.
00:01:18Council. He says the sell off reflects reflects uncertainty over AI safety,
00:01:21safety, but insists the technology technology remains a major driver
00:01:24driver of global growth. Markets Markets don't like uncertainty. I
00:01:28I think that's the message we got got today and there was a lot of
00:01:31of discussion over the weekend, as
00:01:32as you noted from a lot of AI leaders
00:01:36leaders about the need for policymakers policymakers to consider guardrails
00:01:39guardrails for safety, which is an an important discussion to have.
00:01:41have. We saw a lot of uncertainty uncertainty churning the market today,
00:01:44today, although I would note a lot lot of tech names were up today.
00:01:47today. And certainly as you look look ahead to futures in the US markets
00:01:50markets for tomorrow, they're already already pointing to recovery. But
00:01:53But I think the bottom line at a
00:01:55a macro level is that AI is an economic
00:01:58economic driver of growth around around the world. The AI powered
00:02:02powered innovations are important important to the global economy,
00:02:05economy, and what we've seen is sparking sparking a discussion about making
00:02:08making sure that the pace of AI innovation
00:02:11innovation and the pace of AI safety safety proceed in parallel with one
00:02:15one another. And I think that's an an important discussion for policymakers policymakers to have going forward.
00:02:18forward. Yeah. And speaking of those those discussions, what was the reaction
00:02:22reaction inside the industry then then to the weekend statements from
00:02:25from Altman Amodei and Musk? Yeah,
00:02:27Yeah, I think one of the most interesting interesting things about these weekend
00:02:31weekend statements is you very rarely
00:02:33rarely see all of those very prominent prominent innovators running companies
00:02:37companies that are competing against against each other in the marketplace
00:02:39marketplace agree with one another. another. And they did very quickly
00:02:43quickly and very clearly. And the the agreement that they had with
00:02:45with one another was that this discussion discussion of pacing AI innovation
00:02:49innovation is an important one, not
00:02:51not calling for a halt to AI innovation innovation because of course, that
00:02:55that that would be enormously detrimental detrimental to society as a whole.
00:02:58whole. AI tools are very important, important, but they all did agree
00:03:01agree that policymakers need to make
00:03:04make some decisions here in the United United States, where I sit. Very
00:03:08Very important for the US Congress Congress to move forward with establishing
00:03:11establishing a federal framework, framework, but equally important important to that is no one country
00:03:15country can do this alone. We need need to see the US government talking
00:03:18talking to other governments around around the world. We need to see
00:03:22see governments agreeing on common common standards to make sure that
00:03:25that we have a global approach to to AI safety. These are valuable
00:03:28valuable tools. We want them deployed. deployed. The innovation they bring
00:03:31bring is enormously important and and valuable. But those safety tools
00:03:34tools that we need to develop in
00:03:37in conjunction with those innovations innovations need to be done with
00:03:39with a Global Eye toward a common common approach. Retail sales in
00:03:43in China slowed more than expected expected in August, while investment
00:03:46investment also fell at its fastest fastest pace this year, adding more
00:03:49more pressure on Beijing to support
00:03:51support the economy. Retail sales
00:03:53sales rose just 0.4% a year earlier,
00:03:56earlier, while fixed asset investment
00:03:58investment fell 7.2% for the first first eight months. Now policymakers
00:04:02policymakers have so far resisted resisted more aggressive stimulus, stimulus, relying instead on incremental
00:04:05incremental measures to shore up up growth. But domestic demand is is clearly still not picking up.
00:04:10up. I spoke with Han Lin, managing managing director and China country country director at the Asia Group.
00:04:13Group. He says China can still produce produce and sell to the world, but
00:04:17but the bigger challenge is getting getting consumers and companies to
00:04:19to spend and invest at home. I think
00:04:22think what the clearest message from from the China's latest economic
00:04:26economic data is that China's economy economy is running on two very different
00:04:29different tracks. You've got the the factories and exports remaining
00:04:32remaining remarkably strong, but but the households, property developers
00:04:36developers and private businesses businesses remain cautious. So in
00:04:39in other words, China can still produce produce and sell to the world. But
00:04:42But the harder challenge is persuading persuading the Chinese consumers
00:04:45consumers and companies to borrow, borrow, invest and especially to
00:04:48to spend at home. Yeah. And why are are those concerns so prevalent?
00:04:51prevalent? This is something that's that's dogged sort of local consumers
00:04:54consumers in China for quite a
00:04:59while. I think in large part you've you've got a crisis of confidence.
00:05:01confidence. So as you take a look
00:05:03look at employment figures, incomes,
00:05:05incomes, the job opportunities, the
00:05:08the property decline, these are all all weighing on the consumer confidence.
00:05:11confidence. And if there's a sense
00:05:12sense that the future is less predictable,
00:05:16predictable, then instead of investing investing or spending, they're actually actually choosing to save more. Yeah.
00:05:19Yeah. So what will the government government be most concerned about
00:05:22about then? The fact that consumer
00:05:24consumer confidence is so low? Well, Well, it looks like what Beijing
00:05:28Beijing will likely do is they'll they'll try to accelerate some fiscal
00:05:31fiscal spending, maybe some infrastructure infrastructure financing and maybe
00:05:35maybe a bit of consumer subsidies subsidies and targeted property support.
00:05:38support. But officials really remain remain reluctant to launch a Western
00:05:41Western style stimulus check because
00:05:44because the policy priority is stabilisation. stabilisation. Without re-inflating
00:05:47re-inflating debt. So that may prevent prevent a sharp downturn, but it's
00:05:51it's unlikely to produce a dramatic dramatic consumer led rebound. Yeah.
00:05:54Yeah. So what would move the needle needle then, I suppose? It seems seems like you're saying that they
00:05:57they don't really want to push this this too hard. They're almost they're
00:06:01they're OK with how things are
00:06:05going. It looks like what might be be a key driver is the property sector.
00:06:08sector. So what we do see right now
00:06:10now is that the decline of property
00:06:13property sales and prices, the decline decline is slowing. But that's not
00:06:15not the same as a recovery itself. itself. So as we look at the new
00:06:18new home sales, prices fall by 0.1%
00:06:210.1% and then 3% from a year earlier. earlier. You can see that the buyers
00:06:25buyers remain cautious. Resale prices prices are under pressure and property
00:06:29property still weighs heavily on on household wealth. So it looks
00:06:32looks like Beijing has put a floor floor beneath the market, but that
00:06:35that has not yet restored the confidence. confidence. Tesla will unveil its
00:06:39its long delayed second generation generation Roadster, its high performance
00:06:42performance electric sports car, car, on October 1st. The new version
00:06:45version could feature SpaceX developed developed cold gas thrusters to boost
00:06:48boost acceleration, braking and cornering. cornering. Tesla first announced
00:06:51announced the car back in 2017, with
00:06:53with deliveries originally promised promised for 2020. Well, for more, more, let's bring in Mack Hogan,
00:06:57Hogan, editor in chief of inside inside EVs, for his take on Tesla's
00:07:01Tesla's long awaited Roadster. It It is quite long awaited, isn't it?
00:07:04it? America. I mean, nearly ten years
00:07:06years still since they launched their their first prototype. Yes, it's
00:07:10it's been quite a long time since since that first unveil event, and
00:07:13and we haven't seen a tonne of public public progress on that. So I'm very very interested to see what we see
00:07:17see on October 1st. And how big a a deal is this for Tesla to be able
00:07:20able to get this right? So in terms terms of the commercial opportunity,
00:07:23opportunity, I wouldn't say it's it's a huge deal. Two door sports
00:07:26sports cars just don't sell a tonne tonne of volume in the US or really
00:07:29really any markets these days. But But more importantly, I would say
00:07:32say for Tesla is the halo effect effect that such a vehicle can provide
00:07:35provide for you. I think Tesla has
00:07:37has struggled with so much new competition, competition, pushing the boundaries
00:07:40boundaries on technology when it it comes to batteries and performance performance that it no longer makes,
00:07:44makes, you know, the quickest EVs EVs on sale or the fastest charging,
00:07:47charging, things like that. And so so being able to demonstrate that that to investors and the public
00:07:51public is very important for them. them. OK. So it's more of a showcase showcase of what Tesla is capable
00:07:54capable of. I suppose the last reference reference point would be the Cybertruck. Cybertruck. You wouldn't really call
00:07:58call that a success, would you? No. No. And it that has been a challenge
00:08:02challenge that's kind of hung over over Tesla's head recently is that
00:08:06that many of their products have have been delayed. They've struggled struggled to get them to market with
00:08:09with the promised specs. And now now I mean the Tesla that was revealed
00:08:12revealed in 2017, the Roadster, some some of the specs would no longer
00:08:15longer even be the class leading leading figures, so they might need need to reveal something even more
00:08:19more dramatic than they already did did nine years ago. Yeah. And you
00:08:22you also expecting to look out for for a sort of a target date for customers
00:08:26customers to get behind the wheel wheel because in 2017 they said 2020.
00:08:292020. And you know, here we are six six years later. Yeah, you can't
00:08:33can't pull that move again. So I I think it's important that they
00:08:35they say a date that's considerably considerably closer to the present, present, ideally before the end of
00:08:39of the year, because I think in this this time both investors and the
00:08:42the public have gotten a little bit bit less confident in the promised
00:08:45promised timeline that Tesla has has provided. Yeah. And you mentioned mentioned that there isn't a huge
00:08:48huge market for two door sports cars cars in general when it comes to
00:08:51to EVs and sports cars. You know, know, how big is that market? Like
00:08:54Like what's the competition for Tesla?
00:08:57Tesla? So there's a BYD Yang Wang Wang U9 extreme that is now it's
00:09:00it's a Chinese built electric car car that's now the fastest car in in the world production car, I should
00:09:04should say, of any propulsion type. type. So it's definitely a global
00:09:07global leader on the tech front. front. But in terms of actual volume volume vehicles, they're just not
00:09:11not that many because ultimately ultimately a lot of the people who who are buying sports cars want the
00:09:15the sound of the engine or the gearbox. gearbox. They want to feel more connected
00:09:18connected to this. They're an older older buyer that's maybe a little little bit less EV curious. And the
00:09:22the technology to build a really really great to drive vehicle with
00:09:25with a heavy EV battery is still still in development. So Tesla could
00:09:28could move the ball forward, assuming assuming that this is a real product. Yeah. And just quickly you
00:09:32you optimistic that they will. Are Are you sceptical that they won't. won't. What's your thought. I'm sceptical
00:09:35sceptical a little bit. I've been been burned by this company a couple
00:09:38couple times in terms of how optimistic optimistic their timelines and their their promises tend to be. All right.
00:09:42right. Thanks very much for giving giving us your thoughts and your your candid take. Mike Hogan, editor
00:09:46editor in chief of inside EVs. Now
00:09:49Now let's take a look at some other other stories that are making news
00:09:53news today. Waymo is expanding its
00:09:55its robotaxi service to Las Vegas, Vegas, its 15th commercial market.
00:09:59market. The Alphabet-owned company company is starting with dozens of
00:10:02of vehicles and plans to scale over over time. The move comes as autonomous
00:10:05autonomous ride hailing competition competition intensifies, with Tesla
00:10:08Tesla and Zoox all also seeking to
00:10:10to expand their services in the city
00:10:12city and across the United States.
00:10:15States. Apple has released its redesigned redesigned Siri AI assistant ahead
00:10:19ahead of the latest iPhones hitting hitting stores this week. The new
00:10:21new Siri is launching in beta, with with users able to search personal
00:10:25personal data like messages and calendars, calendars, ask questions and have
00:10:28have more conversational exchanges. exchanges. Apple says some advanced
00:10:31advanced AI features will eventually eventually require a fee, and the
00:10:35the ten year US Treasury yield has
00:10:37has hit 5% for the first time since
00:10:39since 2023, as surging oil prices prices fuel inflation fears and driver
00:10:43driver global bond sell off. Their Their closely watched yield is a
00:10:46a benchmark for borrowing costs worldwide.
00:10:49worldwide. That's it for this edition edition of Business Today. Thanks Thanks for joining me. I'll see you
00:10:53you again at the same time tomorrow. tomorrow. In the meantime, keep it
00:10:55it right here on BBC News.
00:11:09MUSIC
00:14:33I was here at the very first protest, the Cockroach Janta Party
00:14:37Party had organised about a month
00:14:39month ago, and this is so much bigger. bigger. I've been driving. Towards
00:14:42Towards the site of this wildfire, wildfire, but we've just stopped stopped at the side of the road here
00:14:46here because of what we saw out the the window. This man has been pulled
00:14:50pulled out successfully. It's taken taken a mammoth mammoth rescue effort.
00:14:53effort. This morning you get very very little sense of the terrible terrible scenes that were witnessed
00:14:57witnessed here last night. There
00:14:59There when the story breaks. BBC
00:15:03BBC News. Now on BBC News. A round
00:15:06round up of the day's sporting action action plus talking points analysis
00:15:09analysis and original journalism.
00:15:13journalism. BBC Sport. Hello, I'm
00:15:22I'm Tanya Arnold. Here are the top top sports stories. Leeds United
00:15:25United are up to third in the Premier Premier League after hammering Newcastle.
00:15:29Newcastle. Brendon McCullum wants wants Kevin Pietersen to challenge challenge him as the former England
00:15:33England batter joins the coaching
00:15:34coaching set up. And Madrid's Madring
00:15:37Madring circuit will be changed after after criticism from Formula One
00:15:41One drivers and fans.
00:15:57Leeds United moved up to third in the