Sam Altman is returning as CEO of OpenAI just days after his ouster, capping frenzied discussions about the future of the startup at the center of an artificial intelligence boom. The ChatGPT maker also unveiled a new initial board with former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor as chair and Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, and […]
Greece expects its economy to grow faster in 2024 on the back of strong projected tourist inflows, higher investment and domestic demand, the government’s 2024 final budget showed on Tuesday. The government expects economic output to rise 2.9% next year following a 2.4% expansion this year, partly with the help of European Union recovery funds. […]
OpenAI’s board of directors approached rival Anthropic’s CEO about replacing chief Sam Altman and potentially merging the two AI startups, according to two people briefed on the matter. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei declined on both fronts, the people said. The news, reported earlier by The Information on Monday, follows various reported calls to find Altman’s […]
A successful transition to a green economy depends crucially on the availability of various critical raw materials. Currently, China dominates the production and processing of many of these materials, and most of the reserves are in countries that are not politically aligned with the Western economies. This column discusses the current situation and potential policy […]
Since its creation in 1944, the World Bank has issued bonds to raise funds from private investors that have mobilized close to $1tn for sustainable development projects and programs in middle-income countries. But while both the World Bank and the banking industry have changed over the past several decades — a period that has included […]
The next generation of the Toyota Camry, the best-selling sedan in the U.S. market, will come with only a gas-electric hybrid powertrain, the boldest move yet by the Japanese automaker to push hybrid technology into the heart of the U.S. market. The 2025 Camry will combine a 2.5-liter gasoline engine with an electric drive system […]
Concessional finance—that is, grants and low-interest loans is more important than ever for the world’s poorest countries. Yet today’s aid architecture is highly complex, fragmented, and offers limited concessionality. In this context, it’s important to find ways to leverage the available resources for the biggest, most effective impact. The International Development Association (IDA) is the world’s largest […]
SpaceX’s uncrewed spacecraft Starship, developed to carry astronauts to the moon and beyond, failed in space shortly after lifting off on Saturday, cutting short its second test but making it further than an earlier attempt that ended in an explosion. The two-stage rocketship blasted off from the Elon Musk-owned company’s Starbase launch site near Boca Chica […]
In recent years, most advanced economies have adopted or tightened existing foreign investment screening mechanisms, which empower national authorities to restrict foreign takeovers in strategic sectors. This column develops a composite index suitable for comparing the main features of such mechanisms. It shows how country-specific macroeconomic characteristics and geopolitical factors are correlated with the restrictiveness […]
The UN recognizes access to clean drinking water as a fundamental human right, yet even residents of high-income countries are regularly exposed to unsanitary drinking water. Each year, an estimated 16.4 million cases of acute gastroenteritis in the US are attributed to contamination in community water systems. This column provides new estimates of the impact […]
