Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:05Live from Singapore now on BBC
00:00:09News, Business Today. Oil prices
00:00:17prices fall as global energy markets markets brace for more Russian supplies
00:00:20supplies after US President Trump Trump said Kyiv and Moscow had agreed
00:00:23agreed to an energy ceasefire. And
00:00:26And as Microsoft CEO calls for emergency emergency brakes on advanced AI,
00:00:30AI, BBC sits down with the company's company's president, who warns artificial
00:00:33artificial intelligence is moving
00:00:34moving faster than the speed of safety.
00:00:41safety. Hello and welcome to Business Business Today with me Steve Lyon.
00:00:45Lyon. Now to our top story this hour. hour. Oil prices are dropping on
00:00:48on the hope of some relief on the the global supply crunch after President
00:00:51President Donald Trump claimed Russia Russia and Ukraine have agreed to
00:00:54to an energy ceasefire. Both countries countries have been trading major
00:00:57major strikes on energy infrastructure infrastructure for weeks now. On On Friday, President Trump also said
00:01:01said that Russia had agreed to supply supply diesel to global markets in
00:01:04in an effort to lower fuel prices
00:01:07prices after the US temporarily lifted lifted sanctions on Russian fuel.
00:01:09fuel. Brent crude is trading near
00:01:13near the $103 mark as a barrel, while while WTI, the primary benchmark
00:01:16benchmark for US oil, is around $90
00:01:19$90 a barrel mark. However, global global energy markets remain on edge
00:01:22edge after strikes from the Houthis Houthis on Saudi Arabia's main airports
00:01:25airports raised concerns that the the escalation could exacerbate supply
00:01:29supply risks. Well, for more we can can go to Andy Lipow, president of
00:01:32of Lipow Oil Associates. Andy, get get to Saudi Arabia in just a moment.
00:01:35moment. But first, the reaction to to oil markets we're seeing as a a response to what President Trump
00:01:39Trump has been saying, that may not not necessarily be what's happening
00:01:41happening on the ground. Well, I
00:01:44I think that oil markets are hopeful hopeful that something will come
00:01:48come of the energy ceasefire. But
00:01:49But we saw President Trump on September
00:01:52September 14th announce a similar similar ceasefire on energy assets.
00:01:55assets. And following that, we continue
00:01:57continue to see Russia attack Ukrainian
00:02:00Ukrainian energy facilities and Ukraine Ukraine do significant damage to
00:02:04to Russian refineries and terminals
00:02:06terminals as Ukraine views the Russian
00:02:09Russian war as an existential threat.
00:02:12threat. And the fact that Trump has
00:02:14has sort of released or relaxed, relaxed, I should say, sanctions
00:02:17sanctions on Russia, is that encouraging encouraging for oil markets? Well,
00:02:21Well, I think some people think so. so. But this is happening at the
00:02:24the same time that Russia has banned
00:02:27banned diesel exports in October,
00:02:30October, as well as the fact that that a year ago Russia was exporting
00:02:34exporting 800,000 barrels a day of of diesel. Today it's zero due to
00:02:37to all the damage that Ukraine has has inflicted on the Russian refining
00:02:41refining system. So I'm pretty sceptical sceptical that we're actually going
00:02:44going to see large amounts of diesel diesel fuel coming out of Russia
00:02:47Russia to supply the world market. market. And what about the vulnerability
00:02:51vulnerability of Saudi Arabia and and its oil industry at the moment moment following these attacks on,
00:02:55on, on its airport and infrastructure? infrastructure? Well, I think these
00:02:58these attacks show that the Houthis
00:03:00Houthis are trying to damage the
00:03:02the Saudi reputation of being a safe safe place to do business with. And
00:03:06And certainly if they can hit the
00:03:08the Riyadh airport, they can go after
00:03:11after Yanbu, which is really strategic strategic for the Saudis going into
00:03:14into the Red Sea along with their
00:03:16their five refineries along that that coastline. So by compromising
00:03:20compromising Saudi Arabia, how big big an impact will this have on the
00:03:22the broader oil industry? Well, what
00:03:25what we've seen Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
00:03:28Kuwait, Iraq, the Emirates, they're they're all hiring supertankers vlccs
00:03:32vlccs to shuttle oil from the Persian
00:03:35Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman. Oman. Taking on the risk themselves
00:03:38themselves to sell their oil rather rather than having the customer take
00:03:42take the risk. And that, of course, course, is driving up freight costs
00:03:46costs and ultimately the delivered delivered price of oil. Andy, always always good to get your expertise.
00:03:50expertise. Thanks very much. Andy Andy Powell there, president of Powell
00:03:52Powell Oil Associates and Microsoft Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya
00:03:56Satya Nadella has called for advanced advanced artificial intelligence intelligence systems to be built
00:04:00built with an emergency brake. And And that lets people pause or shut
00:04:03shut down a model mid task. His comments comments come after warnings from
00:04:06from top tech executives that the the technology is moving too fast,
00:04:10fast, with limited guardrails. Conversely, Conversely, President Trump has dismissed
00:04:14dismissed AI risks. Speaking speaking speaking to the BBC for the Big Boss
00:04:17Boss interview, Brad Smith, the President President of Microsoft, says AI is
00:04:20is moving faster than the speed of
00:04:22of safety. When you look at AI agents
00:04:26agents that have escaped human control, control, when you look at models
00:04:29models that are so powerful that that they're putting the world's
00:04:33world's cybersecurity at risk. I I would say, look, the moment has
00:04:36has arrived. Let's speak calmly,
00:04:39calmly, maybe even softly but firmly,
00:04:42firmly, and start to bring people people together. I hope that's the
00:04:44the role we can play as a company. company. I hope that's the role the
00:04:47the UK can play as a country. So So there was this accord that came
00:04:51came out at the White House, wasn't wasn't you were notably not one of
00:04:54of the signatories as a company of
00:04:56of that, but that was all about and and I'm quoting the President again again here, tremendous self-regulation.
00:05:00self-regulation. It sounds like from from what you're saying to me, without without putting words in your mouth, mouth, you don't think self-regulation
00:05:04self-regulation actually goes far far enough. There should be one body
00:05:07body somewhere that people are compelled. compelled. Forced. What is it legally
00:05:10legally forced to put their models models through to test? I would say
00:05:13say two things. First, I applaud, applaud, I applaud, we applaud as
00:05:16as a company that statement and we're
00:05:19we're happy to sign it. It's a good good step. It's a necessary step.
00:05:22step. And fundamentally what it does does is it says companies should
00:05:25should have internal controls. It It should have its internal auditors
00:05:29auditors looking at things like AI AI safety. We've been doing that
00:05:31that since almost a decade ago, and
00:05:33and there ought to be some external external evaluators as well, all
00:05:37all to the good. It's necessary.
00:05:40necessary. I don't think it's sufficient
00:05:42sufficient any longer because the
00:05:45the challenge for any self-regulatory self-regulatory regime is if it's
00:05:48it's left to the industry alone, alone, frankly, the good companies
00:05:52companies will do what you want. want. It's the companies that are
00:05:55are not as responsible that you need need to worry about. We should always
00:05:59always worry that regulation can
00:06:00can become too heavy-handed. It can
00:06:03can slow innovation. And I think think President Trump is right to
00:06:06to remind us to think about even
00:06:09even worry about those concerns.
00:06:11concerns. But right now I'd argue
00:06:13argue that AI is moving forward faster
00:06:16faster than the speed of safety.
00:06:18safety. That's not good for the protection protection of the public. It's not
00:06:21not even good for the industry itself.
00:06:24itself. And usually what happens happens and you take I'll just say,
00:06:27say, our Congress in the United States, States, if a product moves faster
00:06:30faster than the speed of safety accidents
00:06:34accidents happen and then Congress Congress moves faster than the speed speed of thought, and then you just
00:06:38just end up with a dynamic where where everything comes to a halt.
00:06:42halt. I don't think that should be
00:06:44be our goal either. AI is an extraordinary
00:06:46extraordinary resource to grow the the economy, to solve societal problems,
00:06:50problems, or at least help. Let's Let's strike the right balance. Let's
00:06:53Let's take a look at some other stories stories making the news. South Korean
00:06:56Korean container ship Pan star Arco Arco has completed the country's
00:07:00country's first ever commercial round round trip to Europe via the Arctic.
00:07:04Arctic. On Sunday, president Lee Lee Jae myung has made Arctic shipping
00:07:07shipping a priority, and officials officials are hoping to launch this
00:07:10this service by 2030. The route runs runs to the Russian Arctic coast,
00:07:13coast, leading to challenges with with Western allies as they hope
00:07:15hope to keep Russia isolated during
00:07:18during their. Due to the ongoing ongoing war with Ukraine, Amazon
00:07:21Amazon is in talks to purchase AI AI Start-Up Descartes. That is. That
00:07:25That could be worth up to $7 billion
00:07:28billion and Descartes Lucy model model backed by Nvidia can edit live
00:07:31live video in real time. It is also
00:07:33also developed Oasis, a model that that generates simulated environments
00:07:36environments to train and test robotics robotics and autonomous driving systems.
00:07:40systems. Descartes has was valued valued at nearly $4 billion back
00:07:43back in May. Our US President Donald
00:07:46Donald Trump's August financial disclosure
00:07:49disclosure shows that he bought as as much as $25 million in Meta stock
00:07:53stock and as much as $5 million in
00:07:56in SpaceX debt, and that purchase purchase was just two days before
00:07:59before he signed a national space space transportation policy calling
00:08:03calling for the US to support more
00:08:04more than 1000 launches and re-entries re-entries annually by 2030. SpaceX
00:08:08SpaceX is a major Pentagon contractor, contractor, putting it in a prime
00:08:12prime position to benefit from policies policies aimed at expanding the US
00:08:16US commercial launch market. Well, Well, let's get more on this with
00:08:18with Richard Painter, former chief chief White House ethics lawyer for for President George W Bush. He's
00:08:22He's now currently a law professor professor at the University of Minnesota.
00:08:26Minnesota. Richard, really good to to be able to talk to you about this this today. Is there anything illegal
00:08:29illegal here or is this more a question
00:08:30question of ethics and appearance?
00:08:33appearance? Well, it's not legally legally impermissible for the President
00:08:36President of the United States to to be buying and selling stocks while
00:08:40while in office. But Donald Trump
00:08:41Trump is the first president in American
00:08:44American history to be buying and and selling a significant number
00:08:46number of stocks during his presidency.
00:08:48presidency. And indeed, even during during his first presidency, Donald
00:08:52Donald Trump did not buy a lot and
00:08:54and sell a lot of individual stocks
00:08:57stocks in his second presidency. presidency. He's bought and sold
00:09:00sold an enormous number of shares.
00:09:03shares. And the problem is that most
00:09:05most of these holdings conflict with
00:09:07with his official duties. And you
00:09:09you would think that if the President
00:09:11President wanted the public to believe believe that he was impartial in
00:09:15in his decision making and not trying trying to serve his own personal
00:09:18personal financial interest, he would would simply buy a mutual fund or
00:09:22or broadly diversified mutual fund fund like most other Americans do,
00:09:26do, rather than being in and out
00:09:27out of the market constantly with
00:09:30with thousands, thousands of purchases
00:09:32purchases a year at this point. So
00:09:35So it is quite troubling for most
00:09:37most of the American people who aren't aren't really able to afford much
00:09:40much by way of savings. And again, again, to the extent that Americans
00:09:44Americans are able to save, almost
00:09:46almost all of us have our money in
00:09:49in diversified mutual funds. So aren't aren't trading in the market or.
00:09:53or. The White House says that outside outside managers make these trades
00:09:57trades without the President's input. input. Do you buy that? And would
00:09:59would that be a valid enough argument?
00:10:01argument? Well, that's an argument argument against the accusation that
00:10:04that he's trading on the basis of of government information. So if
00:10:08if true, if the outside advisers advisers are making the purchases,
00:10:11purchases, then the President couldn't couldn't be charged with criminal
00:10:14criminal insider trading because because certainly if he were trading
00:10:16trading on non-public government government information, that would
00:10:19would be a criminal offence. But
00:10:21But that's the only part of the debate.
00:10:24debate. The other concern is the
00:10:27the conflicts of interest. If a president
00:10:29president has a large portfolio of of defence industry stocks, including
00:10:32including a lot of defence contractors contractors with the United States
00:10:36States government and then requests
00:10:38requests a $1.5 trillion defence defence budget in, in America start
00:10:41start to wonder where all the money
00:10:43money is going from their taxes. taxes. If it's going into companies
00:10:46companies the President owns stock
00:10:49stock in, then we start to wonder
00:10:50wonder is the President himself profiting profiting from the enormous military
00:10:54military threat the. United States States really does certainly raise raise a lot more questions. I'm afraid
00:10:58afraid we're out of time to try and and get some answers from you. Richard Richard Painter, their former chief
00:11:01chief White House ethics lawyer, lawyer, now professor at the University
00:11:04University of Minnesota. I'll be be back shortly at the top of the
00:11:08the hour. MUSIC
00:14:22going to be with us for years to to come. We're going to have to learn
00:14:25learn to live with it, but will not
00:14:26not see our lives dominated by it.
00:14:35it. MUSIC
00:14:43Being able to inspire someone
00:14:45is always the greatest joy. I saw
00:14:48saw Souza one time at the Grammys Grammys and she said that she studied studied some of my songs for their
00:14:52their songwriting, and I thought thought that that was the biggest
00:14:54biggest compliment ever. My support
00:14:56support for Ukraine is unwavering.
00:15:00unwavering. It is 100%. When the
00:15:01the big names talk, they talk to
00:15:05to us. On BBC News, a round up of
00:15:08of the day's sporting action plus plus talking points analysis and
00:15:11and original journalism. BBC Sport.
00:15:22Sport. Hello, I'm Tanya Arnold with with your latest sports news. Manchester
00:15:26Manchester City's first game since since being found guilty of breaching
00:15:30breaching Premier League financial financial regulations ends in victory
00:15:32victory as they outclass Liverpool. Liverpool. Red Bull's Max Verstappen
00:15:35Verstappen secures his first win win at the Singapore Grand Prix to
00:15:38to take his second victory within
00:15:41within a week and Alexander Zverev Zverev hits another milestone in
00:15:45in his standout season to notch his
00:15:47his 60th tour level victory of 2026.